Training 

DBT training for clinicians, teams and organisations

DBT UK provides gold-standard Dialectical Behaviour Therapy training for clinicians, teams and organisations across clinical, educational and community settings.

Our training is practical, experiential and grounded in real-world DBT delivery. We help professionals understand DBT not simply as a set of skills, but as a coherent therapeutic model for working with emotional dysregulation, self-harm, suicidal ideation, impulsivity, interpersonal difficulties and complex presentations.

We offer both bespoke organisational training and structured DBT skills training for clinicians, trainees, newly qualified professionals and teams wanting to strengthen their therapeutic toolkit.

Training can be adapted for a wide range of settings, including adult and adolescent services, schools, charities, inpatient and outpatient teams, community services, and family or parent programmes.

 

Our training can include

• Three-day DBT skills training
• Advanced DBT skills training
• Training for standard adult DBT programmes
• Training for DBT adolescent programmes
• Training for DBT family, parent and partner programmes
• DBT-informed approaches for schools, charities and community settings
• Training on emotional dysregulation, self-harm, suicidal ideation and risk
• Bespoke consultation for teams developing or strengthening DBT-informed services

 

Who our training is for

Our training is suitable for a wide range of professionals, including:

• Psychotherapists
• Psychologists
• Psychiatrists
• Counsellors
• Nurses
• Social workers
• Mental health practitioners
• Occupational therapists
• Teachers and school staff
• Charity and voluntary sector teams
• Professionals working with adults, adolescents or families affected by emotional dysregulation

It is suitable for professionals working with adults, adolescents or families, and for those who want to learn how to teach DBT skills in either group or individual settings.

The training is particularly relevant for clinicians and teams supporting clients who experience intense emotions, self-harm, suicidal ideation, impulsive behaviours, relationship difficulties, eating difficulties, trauma-related presentations, substance misuse, or traits associated with borderline personality disorder / emotionally unstable personality disorder.

 

Our experience

DBT UK has delivered DBT training across a wide range of clinical, educational and community settings, including NHS trusts, The Priory, Body & Soul Charity, county councils, schools and universities.

Our trainers bring extensive experience across public, private and charitable sector services. We have trained professionals including consultant psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, psychotherapists, counsellors, support workers, teachers and community practitioners.

Our approach is clinically rigorous, highly practical and rooted in the realities of delivering DBT with complex presentations.

 

Three-day DBT Skills Training Course

Working with emotional dysregulation using DBT skills

Our three-day DBT Skills Training Course is an experiential introduction to using DBT skills with people who struggle with overwhelming emotions, self-harm, suicidal ideation, impulsivity and relational difficulties.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is an evidence-based treatment that combines behavioural methods with mindfulness principles and practices. Originally developed for people who experience intense emotional and behavioural dysregulation, DBT has since been applied across a range of clinical presentations, including borderline personality disorder / emotionally unstable personality disorder, eating disorders, trauma-related difficulties and substance misuse.

This course introduces participants to the core DBT skills modules and explores how these can be taught, adapted and applied in clinical and professional settings.

 

Aims of the course

This engaging and practical three-day training aims to help clinicians and professionals develop a stronger understanding of DBT and its application to complex emotional and behavioural presentations.

By the end of the course, participants will have developed their understanding of how to:

• Teach and apply DBT skills in group and individual settings
• Support clients to regulate emotions more effectively
• Help clients tolerate distress and manage crisis situations
• Support more effective interpersonal communication
• Use psychoeducation to help clients understand emotional dysregulation
• Establish appropriate professional limits and boundaries
• Signpost clients to other pathways when appropriate
• Use mindfulness, behavioural and compassion-based approaches within DBT-informed work

The course is experiential and includes teaching, discussion, clinical examples, role-play, group exercises, homework and skills practice. The aim is to mirror the style of DBT itself, giving participants a real sense of how the model feels in practice.

Participants are expected to attend all three days and will be given practice exercises between training days.

 

Course outline

The course content is adapted according to the needs of each group or organisation. The example outline below gives a sense of how a three-day training may be structured.

Example training structure

 

Day One: Foundations of DBT, pre-treatment and mindfulness

Day One introduces the foundations of DBT, including the biosocial model, emotional dysregulation, invalidation and the development of complex behavioural patterns.

Participants will also explore the role of pre-treatment in DBT, including how clinicians can orient clients to the model, establish commitment, clarify goals and prepare clients for skills-based work.

The day also introduces mindfulness within DBT, including its rationale, clinical application and use with clients who experience intense emotions or impulsive behaviours.

 

Day Two: Distress tolerance and emotion regulation

Day Two focuses on two core DBT skills modules: distress tolerance and emotion regulation.

Participants will explore practical strategies for helping clients survive crisis situations without making things worse, alongside skills for understanding, naming and regulating emotional experiences more effectively.

The day also considers how problematic behaviours can become reinforced and how DBT skills can support clients to build more effective responses over time.

 

Day Three: Interpersonal effectiveness and Walking the Middle Path

Day Three focuses on interpersonal effectiveness, including relationships, boundaries, communication and problem-solving.

Participants will also be introduced to Walking the Middle Path, with a focus on dialectical thinking, validation and balancing acceptance with change.

The course concludes with reflection, skills practice, participant discussion and time for questions.

 

Facilitators

Darryl Christie

Darryl Christie is an accredited Dialectical Behaviour Therapist and one of the first accredited DBT therapists in the UK. He is a subject matter expert in personality disorders and has extensive experience as a trainer, supervisor, consultant and psychotherapist.

Darryl was intensively trained by the Linehan Institute in the USA and received expert supervision from Dr Heidi Heard and Dr Melanie Harned, both internationally recognised leaders in the field of DBT. He was also a research psychotherapist in one of the largest European studies into DBT.

He has delivered DBT training across the NHS, private healthcare, social care and voluntary sectors, training a wide range of professionals including consultant psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists and support workers.

Darryl currently supervises professionals working in adult and adolescent DBT teams and provides consultancy to NHS services, private hospitals and charitable organisations. He has worked extensively in specialist personality disorder services and has over 17 years’ experience across the NHS and social services.

His special interests include suicidal and self-harming behaviours in adults and young people, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, depression, eating difficulties, addictions, complex PTSD and relationship difficulties.

 

Claire Butler

Claire Butler is a DBT therapist, accredited BACP therapist, accredited member of the Society for DBT, and DBT supervisor. She completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy at Bangor University and currently leads the DBT programme at DBT UK.

Claire has extensive experience delivering DBT across skills groups, individual therapy and phone coaching, working with both adults and adolescents who experience emotional dysregulation, self-harm, suicidal ideation and complex relational difficulties.

She has delivered training online and in person to clinicians and organisations including the NHS, the Priory, the University of East London and Body & Soul Charity. She has also spoken for BPD Carers London and contributed to interviews raising awareness of emotional dysregulation and DBT with the charity Beyond.

Alongside her clinical and training work, Claire has experience running DBT parent and partner groups, supporting families and caregivers to better understand emotional dysregulation and respond more effectively within the family system.

Claire brings warmth, clarity and lived understanding to her work, combining clinical knowledge with a practical, compassionate and engaging approach to DBT training.

 

Enquiries

To discuss bespoke DBT training, upcoming courses, or training for your organisation, please contact us.

Email: info@dbt-uk.co.uk
Phone: 07541 458851