Training Information

Part 1 of 4-Day DBT Training:  Friday and Saturday, April 12th and 13th, 2024.

Presenter:  Nancy Gordon, LCSW.  DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™ 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, an Overview:  Treating Clients Who Experience Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation (12 CE’s)

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Linehan, 1993) was developed by Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D. at the University of Washington.  DBT was initially developed as a comprehensive, evidence-based outpatient treatment which combines cognitive behavioral theory and eastern mindfulness for adults who meet criteria for borderline personality disorder, who were also at high risk for hospitalization, life-threatening behaviors and who did not respond to standard treatments that were available.  Since then, DBT has been adapted and researched to be successful in treating people with other serious diagnoses such as eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, depression, PTSD, and others.   In addition, DBT has been adapted to be effective with other client populations such as children, adolescents, and their families.

Because of the success of DBT, programs from all levels of care; outpatient, inpatient, intensive outpatient, forensic and even school settings have incorporated the model and are using DBT to achieve more effective outcomes with recovery from mental health symptoms and behaviors.

Part 1 of this 4-Day training is designed to introduce theories and research related to DBT, and core DBT interventions and strategies to teach adaptive coping and achieve client stability.  The participant will come away from the training with a beginning understanding of this complex treatment model, specific interventions and strategies that can be utilized immediately in their practice, and where they can get more intensive training.

This training is intended for mental health professionals who are newer to DBT or are looking for a refresher to training they have had. Participants can expect to learn concepts of DBT to be delivered in an easy-to-understand lecture, engage in role-plays, and practice exercises, hear numerous case examples, to demonstrate specific techniques of DBT.  Participants who enroll in this training are asked to make a full commitment to participate in a willing manner to maximize their learning and the learning of others.

Learning Objectives
As a result of completing this training, participants can expect to:

  1. Participants will recount 2 research outcomes demonstrating the effectiveness of DBT
  2. Participants will be able to explain the Biosocial Theory
  3. Participants will describe the concept of Dialectics
  4. Participants can identify the four key modes of treatment in standard DBT
  5. Participants will describe the difference between DBT-informed and comprehensive DBT.
  6. Participants will demonstrate how to apply a Diary Card into their practice
  7. Participants will demonstrate how to apply a Behavior Chain Analysis into their practice
  8. Participants will describe the 5 modules of skills that are taught to clients and their families
  9. Participants will describe the use of at least one of the DBT commitment strategies with their clients
  10. Participants will name the change and acceptance treatment strategies.
  11. Participants will complete and practice at least one mindfulness exercise and explain the role of mindfulness in DBT
  12. Participants will share how they will incorporate DBT into their practice setting 

Part 2 of 4-Day DBT Training:  Friday and Saturday, May 3rd, and May 4th, 2024

Presenter:  Nancy Gordon, LCSW.  DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™ 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Group: A Closer Look at One Mode of the Treatment. (12 CE’s)

DBT Skills Training is the mode of treatment in comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in which clients learn and practice new coping skills. This two-day training covers the fundamentals of facilitating a skills training group including exposure to the skills themselves. Participants learn how to set up a group, define participant criteria, set group goals and guidelines, model effective teaching methods, learn the roles of co-leadership, identify and solve common problems in skills groups, give meaningful homework assignments, and review homework assignments in a way that promotes active engagement with different client populations and settings. The participants will be provided with a copy of the DBT Skills Training Modules adapted by Nancy Gordon from the original DBT Skills Training Modules by Marsha Linehan in 1993.

This course requires some basic knowledge of the DBT model of treatment since Skills Group is only one of 4 modes of that treatment. Participants are expected to be familiar with DBT treatment.  This training assumes that participants already have a working knowledge of the concepts and strategies of the treatment and want to focus on increasing their competence at teaching DBT skills.  At a minimum, participants should have attended a 1- or 2-Day DBT training or read Linehan’s (1993) Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder prior to attending the training.  It is also recommended that participants buy the “2nd Edition DBT Skills Training Manual and Worksheets” and “DBT Skills Training Manual” by Linehan or the “DBT Skills Manual for Adolescents” by Rathus and Miller.

This training is intended for mental health professionals who:

– Have some experience, a working knowledge, and/or prior training in DBT Skills.

– Want to learn to teach or to improve their teaching of DBT Skills to clients.

Learning Objectives

As a result of completing this training, participants can expect to:

  1. Identify the five skills training modules taught in DBT
  2. Be able to orient clients to DBT Skills Training Group
  3. Describe how to structure a DBT skills Training Group
  4. Teach at least one skill per skills training Module
  5. Identify the target hierarchy of DBT Skills Training Group
  6. Explain the difference between “therapy destroying” vs. “therapy interfering” behavior
  7. Explain what is meant by “skill acquisition”, “skill strengthening” and “skill generalization”
  8. Explain how to conduct a missing link analysis
  9. Implement at least one mindfulness exercise in DBT Skills Training Group
  10. Explain the difference between comprehensive DBT vs. DBT Skills-Only
  11. Identify the roles and responsibilities of the primary leader and co-leader in DBT Skills Training Group  
  12. Generalize suggested adaptations for providing DBT skills into their practice setting.