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Doing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): An Advanced Intensive Training

Presented by Charles Swenson, M.D. & Kelly Koerner, Ph.D

Sponsored by Cutchins Programs for Children & Families

May 3-6, 2016, Northampton, MA

Description

In Doing DBT: An Advanced Intensive Training the instructors will tackle typical problems in the practice of DBT, demonstrating how to address them with a fine-tuned level of detail, similar to having supervision in a group. While the syllabus will be set in advance and will be followed in detail, instructors and participants will also tailor the clinical examples, demonstrations, and experiential practices to the needs, interests and clinical experiences of participants. The following topics will be covered.

  • Being dialectical: DBT as a principle-based treatment
  • Treating secondary targets
  • Behavioral chain analysis and case conceptualization
  • Understanding and treating lack of progress
  • Mindfulness for the therapist
  • Using behavioral change procedures in concert in sessions
  • Taping, observing, and coding your own DBT sessions
  • Enhancing team consultation

This training will be taught at an advanced level and is designed to take the DBT clinician’s current work in therapy to the next level. Basics will not be taught. Therefore, participants should have studied and practiced DBT sufficiently to enter into active participation in discussions, exercises, and practices.

Educational Objectives

As a result of this workshop, the participant will be able to:

Day One:

  1. Name, describe, and explain the functions of the three underlying paradigms of DBT;
  2. List, and explain how the principles within each of DBT’s three paradigms can be utilized to navigate challenging moments in psychotherapy;
  3. Apply DBT’s paradigms and principles in psychotherapy;
  4. Identify DBT’s dialectical dilemmas as they present in sessions;
  5. Using dialectical dilemmas, specify secondary targets for treatment
  6. Weave the treatment of secondary targets into DBT therapy sessions
  7. Ensure that the Consultation Team in DBT accurately understands and provides targeted support to each therapist on the team;

Day Two:

  1. Utilize the technique of behavioral chain analysis to both assess and to treat problematic behavioral sequences in therapy sessions;
  2. Relate the practice of behavioral chain analysis to the evolving case conceptualization in DBT
  3. Utilize the case conceptualization during therapy sessions in a lively and flexible manner to guide the interventions;
  4. Recognize the lack of progress in therapy;
  5. Formulate an understanding of the lack of progress in therapy;
  6. Intervene to generate progress when it is lacking in therapy;
  7. Identify the nature and sources of defensiveness that interfere with effective work in a DBT Consultation Team;

Day Three:

  1. Adapt the practices of mindfulness to ground oneself in the reality of the present moment during therapy sessions;
  2. Using mindful listening and speaking, create greater balance, awareness, and attachment between patient and therapist;
  3. Achieve a heightened sense of focus and freedom during therapy sessions;
  4. Based on the evolving case conceptualization, select the most effective behavioral solutions to use with the patient to bring about change;
  5. Utilize the relationships between the four change procedures to strengthen and simplify the practice of getting behavioral change in sessions;
  6. Keep the focus on acquiring, strengthening, and generalizing skills throughout
  7. Specify and practice measures for reducing defensiveness in the DBT Consultation Team, thereby strengthening team functioning;

Day Four:

  1. Formulate the problem of therapist burnout in terms that are compatible with the principles and practice of DBT;
  2. Specify practices through which the consultation team helps each therapist to recognize and prevent burnout;
  3. Engage in DBT principles and strategies to treat burnout in each therapist;
  4. Explain what it means to be adherent to DBT in sessions
  5. Utilize a coding system for observing and rating DBT therapy sessions
  6. Utilize a coding system for observing your own DBT therapy sessions
  7. Discuss means for resolving relationship barriers to an effective DBT Consultation Team.

Faculty

Charles (Charlie) Swenson, M.D., is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.  As Senior Psychiatrist and Area Medical Director from 1997 to 2001 and 2010 to 2014, he oversaw the clinical care in Western and Central Massachusetts for the Department of Mental Health.  Originally trained in psychoanalysis, he undertook training in DBT and CBT beginning in 1987.  He has directed more than 40 ten-day DBT workshops over the past twenty years, teaching several hundred teams, has conducted about a dozen advanced workshops, and has implemented DBT in outpatient, inpatient, day treatment, residential, case management, and crisis settings, with adults and adolescents.  He is considered to be an inspiring teacher who brings DBT to life with clinical examples and demonstrations. Having published numerous articles and book chapters on the uses of DBT in treating borderline personality disorder, he is currently under contract with Guilford Press, writing a book for advanced DBT therapists.  He treats his own patients—adults, adolescents, and families—in a private practice in Northampton, Massachusetts, and writes and performs songs about DBT even when they are not requested.

Kelly Koerner, Ph.D., is Creative Director of the Evidence-Based Practice Institute, LLC, where she combines technology, design, and social enterprise to help clinicians improve clients’ outcomes. She is an expert clinician, clinical supervisor, and trainer in Dialectical Behavior Therapy with specialized training in other evidence-based practices. As a trainer, she is known for her warmth and highly engaging, practical teaching style.   She hosts learning communities and communities of practice at www.practiceground.org. She is adjunct clinical faculty at the University of Washington. Her recent book is, Using Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Practical Guide (NY: Guilford Press. 2011).

Target Audience

The target audience will consist of licensed mental health practitioners in several disciplines: psychology, psychiatry, social work, psychiatric nursing, licensed mental health counselors, and licensed marital and family therapists. Instructors will assume knowledge of DBT, some experience in the practice of the treatment, and will teach at an advanced level.  There will be a heavy focus on individual DBT therapy, daily work to strengthen the participants’ consultation teams, and a segment on enhancing the participants’ skills training groups.  Recommended reading to prepare for the workshop: Doing DBT: A Practical Guide, by Kelly Koerner (NY: Guilford Press).

Download the complete training brochure here

Date/Time/Location

May 3-6, 2015 (Tuesday-Thursday), 8:30 am – 5:00 pm daily (8:30 am – 4:00 pm Friday)

Smith College Conference Center
49 College Lane, Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 (View in Google Maps)
413 585-6977

Accessibility: Conference site is an accessible, barrier-free location. Reasonable accommodations can be made for individuals with visual and/or hearing impairments if needed.

Area Lodging

Tuition and Registration

  • Full Price: $1,700 per person
  • Discounted Price for Teams of 3 or more (20%): $1,350 per person
  • Student Price (Graduate Students in MH Professions): $1,200 per person

Important: If you are part of a team, make sure to select the Team Ticket option when registering to receive the discount. If you would like to register a group in one transaction please contact Pamela Wicinas: pwicinas@cutchins.org

  • Registration Deadline: April 25, 2016, or until all training spaces are filled, whichever comes first.
  • Notification of Acceptance: Upon completion of registration and payment, applicants will receive email notification of acceptance.
  • Refund/Cancellation Policy: Registration fee is non-refundable. Any questions about this policy should be directed to Dr. Swenson at c.robert.swenson@gmail.com