Registration for this Workshop has ended. Please contact nancy@tbcforcbt.com for more information.

Training Information

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.