The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Team Building Intensive Program is a rigorous, post-graduate level curriculum designed by Behavioral Tech and Marsha Linehan for the experienced mental health clinician committed to learning and implementing DBT to a high standard of fidelity. The goal of this training is to assist in establishing an effective DBT practice and to prepare clinicians for DBT-Linehan Board Certification.

Over the course of two years, practitioners will participate in a total of 240 training hours through web-based learning communities, independent online learning courses, Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training™, and weekly online DBT consultation teams facilitated by ongoing expert DBT consultation. All learning modes and modules of study are required to complete the program. Throughout the training, practitioners are required to apply DBT strategies and principles in their ongoing clinical work as they learn them.

With suicide among the top ten causes of death in the United States, the ability to effectively assess suicide risk is a critical skill for those in the health care professions. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress. This 3-hour workshop is intended to help health care professionals learn best practices for suicide risk assessment. Participants will become familiar with chronic and acute risk factors for suicide, protective factors for suicide, and how to formulate an overall level of suicide risk based on these factors. In addition, participants will learn when to screen for suicide risk, how to talk with individuals at risk for suicide, and how to document the suicide risk assessment process. Finally, participants will learn how to make appropriate referrals for persons at risk for suicide.

This workshop is intended for Educators, Health Care Professionals, Law Enforcement/First Responders, Social Service Workers, and Mental Health Professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be in one of the target audience professions, or a student in the target audience professions.

Before attending the workshop participants should reflect upon and discuss with significant others their beliefs and attitudes about death, suicide, and intervening in the suicide attempts of others.

With suicide among the top ten causes of death nationwide, the ability to effectively assess and manage suicide risk is a critical skill for those in the health care professions. Facing such situations can be a source of extraordinary stress. This 6-hour workshop is intended to help health care professionals learn best practices for suicide risk assessment and management.Participants will become familiar with chronic and acute risk factors for suicide, protective factors for suicide, and how to formulate an overall level of suicide risk based on these factors.In addition, participants will learn when to screen for suicide risk and how to talk with individuals who may be suicidal to assess and manage risk.Participants will be taught suicide risk management strategies used in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993), an evidence-based treatment for suicidal behaviors.These will include general guidelines for risk management and a specific protocol for intervening in a suicide crisis situation.Finally, participants will learn how to use the Linehan Risk Assessment and Management Protocol (LRAMP) as a means of documenting the suicide risk assessment and management process.

This workshop is intended for Health Care Professionals, Law Enforcement/First Responders, Social Service Workers, and Mental Health Professionals. Requirements for this workshop include the education or licensure requirements necessary to be in one of the target audience professions, or a student in the target audience professions.

Methods of instruction include lecture, clinical case illustrations, demonstration of strategies, discussion, and participant practice.

This 3-day training is intended to meet the specific needs of experienced DBT clinicians who have completed the equivalent of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive Training™ or Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training™. The content of the training is based on topics requested by participants, and follows a model of teaching, demonstration, and practice. Participants will be oriented to topics by didactic instruction, application of the concepts to clinical practice will be demonstrated, and participants will be expected to practice what has been demonstrated. Video of recorded therapy sessions, as well as unscripted live demonstrations, will be used to demonstrate the application of treatment.

Participants are encouraged to prepare for the training by choosing and formulating a case before coming to the training that will allow them to apply the concepts learned. Helpful cases will include those with sufficient knowledge of the client's goals, presenting problems, history related to the problems, targets, and a chain analysis of the top target behavior. The most helpful cases will include difficulties regulating emotions, impulsive behaviors such as suicidal behaviors, and therapy interfering behaviors.

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Children (DBT-C) Training for Experienced Clinicians is a comprehensive course designed for those who have attended the Dialectical Behavior Therapy Intensive™ or Foundational™ training who are interested in the application of DBT with children. This training is intended for clinicians invested in learning DBT-C to a high standard in order to better implement the treatment in their setting. It includes content on child individual counseling, didactics on emotions, parent training component and DBT-C skills.

Training is conducted in two three-day sessions of instruction divided by six to nine months of home study and monthly consultations via teleconference.

• In Part 1, lectures and small group exercises are used to teach DBT-C strategies in depth.
• Between Parts 1 and 2 participants consolidate and apply their learning with the help of practice assignments. During this time, teams design and begin implementing their own DBT-C program or integrate DBT-C into an ongoing treatment setting. Monthly 1-hour consultation is provided by DBT-C experts to teams. Consultation is designed to help build or integrate DBT-C into practice settings, improve understanding of the material, and enhance effectiveness of program implementation.
• In Part 2, each team presents their work and receives expert consultation on specific cases. Teams are provided with further practice on application of techniques and identification of strategies.

Mindfulness has emerged as an important focus of several empirically supported treatments. The roots of Mindfulness stem from the contemplative practices common to both Eastern and Western spiritual disciplines and the emerging scientific knowledge about the benefits of “allowing” experiences rather than suppressing or avoiding them. Both Eastern and Western psychologies, as well as spiritual practices, are converging on these same insights. This training will be both didactic and experiential, consisting of practice and discussion of various mindfulness exercises and practices (both in and outside of the workshop).

All of the core mindfulness and reality acceptance skills are part of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), an empirically supported treatment for individuals with difficulties regulating emotions and impulsive behavior, which has an international body of evidence supporting its effectiveness.Evidence suggests that having your own mindfulness practice not only benefits your clients (Davis and Hayes, 2012) but also can mitigate burnout (Bullock, 2017). Participants learn mindfulness skills to use in their own practice and with clients, as well as strategies for integrating these skills into clinical practice.

The workshop is intended for people interested in developing a personal mindfulness practice or the use of mindfulness in psychotherapy, regardless of their specific approach to treatment. It is not aimed specifically at DBT® or CBT therapists.

Effective training in DBT skills requires acquisition, strengthening, and generalization. This workshop focuses on the role of direct care and educational staff in strengthening and generalizing the skills DBT clients are taught. This training emphasizes the importance of proactively rehearsing skills as a means of preventing problems in the milieu. Specific strategies are taught that increase clients’ willingness to rehearse skills, as well as strategies for coaching clients in the use of skillful behavior when in crisis. This training is appropriate for those who have an interest in, and are familiar with, DBT skills training in milieu settings with adolescents or adults.

The workshop will use lecture, extensive clinical examples, and demonstration to achieve its objectives. We recommend participants be familiar with the DBT Skills Training Manual (Second Edition), and bring a copy of the manual and the DBT Skills Training Manual Handouts and Worksheets (Second Edition) with them to the workshop.

Research on DBT shows that skills serve a critical function in the treatment. This workshop covers the basic structure and strategies required to engage in DBT skills training. Participants learn how to plan, structure, and conduct DBT skills classes. This workshop also addresses the targets for skills training, as well as how to apply fundamental DBT strategies in skills training. Extensive teaching and use of clinical examples are used to illustrate specific skills training procedures, assignment and review of homework with clients, and troubleshooting common skills training obstacles.

This course is designed for all mental health professionals who want to learn to teach DBT skills or to improve their teaching with clients. It will be of particular interest to those with questions about how to set up DBT skills training in their programs. This training does not cover the content of skills and requires a basic familiarity with the skills content.

The workshop will use lecture, extensive clinical examples, and demonstration to achieve its objectives. We recommend participants be familiar with the DBT Skills Training Manual (Second Edition), and bring a copy of the manual and the DBT Skills Training Manual Handouts and Worksheets (Second Edition) with them to the workshop.