Introduction
BPS Approved DBT Full Practitioner training is for qualified mental health or social work professionals. It is a ten day course with 7.5 hours supervision, casebook submission, case presentations by participants and a DBT exam. It leads to a DBT Practitioner Certificate from GreenWood Mentors Ltd., an established and reputable DBT training provider. The course content is accepted as part of the accreditation requirements of the Society for DBT (SfDBT), the UK DBT accreditation body.
The training will be delivered online to an exclusive group of up to twenty participants. We aim to replicate as far as possible the feeling of being in a room together, so that we can get to know each other and become a supportive and productive, validating group. The small number allows this, and also allows you to receive personal feedback and attention to your own work context.
The trainer for December 2022 will be Dr Fiona Kennedy, who has delivered DBT training since 2006, throughout the UK and internationally. She is known for her knack of making complex concepts accessible and for having fun. She has won awards from BUPA and a recommendation from the National Audit Office for her DBT training and service.
Dates for December are 12, 13, 16 19 and 20, five days, online only, followed by 3 x 2.5 hour supervision sessions over the next months and four training days in June/July 2023. The course also includes casebook presentation and marking, exam marking and personal feedback form leading to a DBT Practitioner Certificate.
The cost of this course is £2,600 including a deposit of £600 now, the remainder to be paid before December 2022. A payment plan is available: the deposit of £600 plus 8 monthly payments of £250.
If you are a qualified mental health practitioner and seriously interested in signing up for this course please call Dr Kennedy on 07841573732 or e mail
Registration form here
Course Content
The course uses the Kolb-Lewin model of adult learning to facilitate effective teaching. This involves presenting information, acting on the information, observing what happens and then reflecting on what we have learned.
We will cover:
The theoretical underpinnings of DBT
The structure of DBT as a service delivery model
The evidence base for effectiveness of DBT
How to assess clients for DBT
How to commit clients to DBT
How to contract with clients
Structuring the therapy: treatment goals and targets
DBT techniques: Applied Behaviour Analysis; Acceptance Strategies; Dialectical Strategies;
Systemic Considerations: Consultation to the Client/Environment; Telephone Interventions
DBT Therapist Styles
DBT Skills Groups: content
DBT Skills Groups: how to conduct
DBT Supervision: peer supervision
Recursive practice of DBT
The theoretical underpinnings of DBT
Download the full course content here
Terms and conditions here
Learn how to
- Assess clients for suitability for DBT
- Use commitment strategies and techniques to motivate and commit clients
- Make a therapy contract with the client
- Identify and target behaviours which ruin the client’s life, interfere with therapy and spoil quality of life
- Set an agenda for and carry out DBT individual sessions
- Set up and run DBT skills groups or individual DBT skills training sessions
- Use acceptance strategies: mindfulness, validation
- Use change strategies: behaviour analysis, problem solving
- Manage self-harm/suicidal crises
- Negotiate and repair ruptures in therapy
- Handling PTSD in DBT
- Ending DBT
Take Aways
- Resources and materials for delivering DBT
- Checklists, sample contracts, DBT diaries, behaviour analysis worksheets, values sheets, etc.
- A DBT Full Practitioner Certificate
The Trainer
Dr Fiona Kennedy, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, is a respected and knowledgeable, fun trainer with a knack of making complex concepts accessible without losing their richness. She has delivered DBT training in many countries and received awards for her DBT services. She is an BABCP Accredited Trainer, Supervisor and Therapist, and a BPS RAPPS supervisor. She has edited the book “Cognitive Behavioural Approaches To The Understanding And Treatment Of Dissociation’ with Dr David Pearson and Dr Helen Kennerley, and written “Get Your Life Back: The Most Effective Therapies For A Better You”, which is a self help book integrating CBT, DBT, ACT and CFT. Her latest book is “Integrating CBT and Third Wave Therapies: Distinctive Features (CBT Distinctive Features)”. She has a special interest in trauma and dissociation.
Online Delivery
Live online event, replicating the conditions for a small group attending training in person. Breakout rooms, role plays, videos and didactic teaching will be used to give you as near as possible the feeling of being there in person. The first part will be delivered across two weeks in sets of one and two days. Then after a seven month supervised practice interval, the last part will also be delivered online.