DBT Clinical Training Options

Supervised clinical training for individual therapy and skills training groups are ONLY available to a LIMITED number of trainees in select UW-affiliated clinical training programs (i.e., general psychiatry residents, psychology residents/interns, child psychiatry fellows, psychology practicum students, psychology postdocs) for both adult and child tracks. Rare exceptions are also made for select UW/SCH faculty/Staff to receive clinical training. These opportunities must be negotiated with training track coordinator and primary outpatient rotation supervisor as well as DBT clinical training coordinators listed below. This training is designed to complement the workshop and seminar to provide full exposure to and mastery of basic competencies in DBT. Clinical training will be in the full DBT model rather than how to incorporate DBT into your current therapeutic approach.

Trainees new to DBT are highly encouraged to co-lead a skills training group as it is one of the best ways to not only learn the skills but also master key DBT strategies including contingency management, validation, dialectical strategies, and commitment.  Mastering individual therapy without skills training experience is considerably more difficult.

Adult Track

Child/Adolescent Track

Clinical training with adult patients is now part of the Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic for the psychology residents and an 1/2 day rotation for the R3 and R4 psychiatry residents.  Interested fellows, faculty, and clinical staff at UW Medicine clinics are also welcome, as space allows. If you are interested in adult clinical training, please read the following critical points and contact Dr. Kate Comtois with your interest ASAP as enrollment will be on a first come, best follow-through method.

• Minimum commitment: 7-8 months, which is long enough to conduct one round of all skills training modules in group or find 1 or 2 patient(s) for individual therapy and see them for 6 months. If you are not certain that you want this level of DBT training, you may do the workshop and the seminar first, and approach your training director and Dr. Comtois about clinical training later when you are ready to make this commitment. You can join clinical training mid-year on a space available basis (assuming you are enrolled in or have completed the workshop & seminar).
• ​Trainees with individual therapy patient(s) will need to have a DBT psychotherapy supervisor assigned and approved by Dr. Comtois. (This is in addition to caseload supervisors who continue to be the supervisor of record.)
• DBT Skills Training group. The skills training group usually runs on Tues afternoons at Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic.
• DBT Consultation Team and Supervision.  We have Zoom DBT consultation team from 5-6pm on Tues.  Individual therapy and supervision sessions are scheduled at the best times for trainees and supervisors.
• To participate in clinical training you need to do comprehensive DBT with all treatment modes. If you are interested in getting a taste of DBT or to incorporate DBT in what you are already doing, there are opportunities on different UW Medicine rotations for that.  This is not the right training option.
  
• If you are seeing a patient for individual therapy, you are expected to audio or video record your sessions. Recordings will be reviewed for supervision. The consult group will rotate among training therapists to listen/watch part of a session or do role-plays to practice each week.
• There is a limit in the number of individual therapy and skills training therapy slots available each year.  Assignments are made to balance individual and skills training slots and psychology and psychiatry participation.  Final assignments will be made and clients assigned in late June to start treatment the 3rd or 4th week of July.  

Clinical training with adolescents and their parents is available to trainees, faculty, and staff affiliated with Seattle Children's (SCH). Specific training opportunities vary depending on role (see below). If you are interested in clinical training, please discuss with your training director and contact Dr. Hilary Mead (SCH DBT program co-director) to express your interest ASAP. Training slots are limited and vary from year to year; prioritization given to those who express interest early with best follow-through. 

• To participate in clinical training, trainees need to consistently attend and fully participate in the SCH DBT Consult Team, which meets Wednesdays 10 am to 12 pm.
• DBT supervision is 9 - 10 am Wednesdays with Dr. Hilary Mead or Dr. Kyrill Gurtovenko in a small group format. This is in addition to supervision for other (non-DBT) cases. 
• Multifamily skills training groups: All trainees co-lead a skills training group unless already fully trained and experienced in this component (with prior approval to opt out).  There are three Multifamily Skills Groups that all meet 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm (Mondays and Wednesdays at Main Campus and Thursdays in Bellevue or via telehealth). 
• Child Psychiatry Fellows: with a minimum 1-year commitment, F1s and F2s carry 2 individual DBT therapy patients and additional medication management patients in DBT. Fellows will not serve as individual DBT therapist and prescriber for the same patient.  Fellows may also provide out of session coaching for one or more families in their skills training group.
• Psychology Residents (Interns): Psychology Residents co-lead a Multifamily Skills Group during their 6-months outpatient rotation, provide out-of-session phone coaching and/or brief consultation sessions to parents. For the exceptional trainee who has had extensive prior DBT training (e.g., through Marsha Linehan's lab/practicums or at BRTC), individual therapy experiences may be negotiated and are limited to the 6-month outpatient rotation.
• Psychology Practicum Students: with a minimum 6-months commitment, select psychology practicum students may co-lead a multifamily skills group, provide out-of-session phone coaching and/or brief consultation sessions to parents.
• Psychology Postdoctoral Fellows: with a minimum 1-year commitment, postdocs will carry 2 individual therapy patients, and can also co-lead a skills training group and provide out-of-session phone coaching and/or brief consultation sessions to parents.
• Faculty and Staff Clinicians: must negotiate training time and DBT team participation with their clinic director, clinical supervisor, and the co-directors of the DBT team (Drs. Hilary Mead & Kyrill Gurtovenko).