Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Annual Comprehensive DBT Training

 The University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences offers DBT training to the UW Medicine, Seattle Children's, VA Puget Sound, and other UW affiliated clinical programs. Training is open to 3rd and 4th year psychiatry residents, psychiatry fellows, pre-doctoral psychology interns, post-doctoral fellows, and advanced graduate and practicum students free of charge. Affiliate faculty and clinical staff are also welcome to participate for a modest fee. Non-UW/SCH/VA Puget Sound affiliated community clinicians are welcome to register (if slots remain available after the UW affiliate registration period) for the full price.  ​This training is designed at the post-graduate level and is not appropriate for graduate students who have not completed at least a 1 year treatment practicum experience (approximately 300 hours). 

​Lead Instructors: Kate Comtois, PhD, MPH and Freda Liu, PhD
​Email: cspartrainings@uw.edu

​To accommodate different levels of interest, attendees may participate in this didactic program at different levels in additional to a clinical rotation (if applicable)

• Workshop (2 days) that is an introduction to DBT (may participate in Day 1 only or both days)
• Seminar series (21 sessions), which provides the didactic material for conducting the treatment.
  • Click here to view the seminar schedule
• Clinical Training, which provides supervised clinical experience with DBT (only available to UW trainees in select clinical programs)

You can choose to do any level but

• You must attend Day 1 of the workshop to attend Day 2
• you must attend both days of the workshop to attend the seminar 
• ​you must have completed or be enrolled in the seminar to participate in the clinical training

2022 Training Fee Structure

Workshop

This 2-day DBT WORKSHOP is held on 2 sequential Mondays in July from 9am-5pm. 

• Day 1 (taught by Dr. Kate Comtois) focuses on the theory and structure of DBT and provides an overview of treatment strategies.
• Day 2 (taught by Dr. Adam Carmel) focuses on behavioral analysis, commitment, and crisis strategies with an emphasis on effective initial sessions with a DBT client.

The workshop meets the criteria for the WA State Suicide Assessment, Management, and Treatment training for all disciplines in the UW system (required once every 6 years).​ 

Seminar

The DBT SEMINAR meets weekly on Mondays  from 11:30 - 1:00 p.m. via Zoom from July through December. The first seminar starts the week after the workshop.

• Covers all the theoretical underpinning and major strategies of DBT as well as DBT applications with adolescents.
• Involves weekly reading,  homework, and self-graded final exam
• Is taught by a Seattle area supervising DBT clinicians.
• You must have webcam (or smartphone/tablet front-facing camera) access to participate in seminar sessions.

Clinical Training

CLINICAL TRAINING: Supervised individual and group therapy opportunities are available to a LIMITED number of psychology interns, psychiatry residents and fellows, and psychology post-doctoral fellows in specific UW/SCH training programs. Clinical training requires training program and rotation supervisor approval, which is an entirely separate process. You cannot register for clinical training opportunities here. ​

Register for the 2022 Training Sessions