What we do
The function of the Board of Certification and Accreditation is to provide the following services:
Certification of Providers:
- Certify Mental Health practitioners who deliver DBT in individual therapy and/or skills training groups.
- Certification of an Individual Therapist will include assessing the knowledge base required to provide individual DBT as well as teach all DBT skills.
- Certification as a Skills Trainer will be focused on assessing the knowledge base for teaching the skills and the principles for managing a skills group.
- Generate a checklist of all requirements for Certification to aid potential applicants in assessing their readiness for application.
- Maintain responsibility for the content of all exams consistent with the evidence-based research and development of DBT and to assure its adherence to the treatment model of DBT as developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan.
- Provide descriptions of both the written and oral exam processes.
- Provide guidelines and study materials for oral and written examination preparation.
- Identify, train and qualify all examiners who will administer the required exams.
- Set the standards for the administration and scoring of all exams
- Provide multiple exam questions across the domains of knowledge and for each key point within a domain so that exams are updated and varied.
- Maintain all records of the status of examinees during the Certification process.
- Maintain a registry of all Certified Individual Therapists and Skills Trainers on the Website.
Accreditation of Programs:
- Accredit DBT Programs that demonstrate fidelity to the evidence-based model of comprehensive DBT as developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan.
- Generate a checklist of all requirements for Accreditation to aid potential agencies in assessing readiness for application.
- Maintain responsibility for the criteria that will be assessed in order to determine if a program is delivering the treatment with integrity to the model based on evidence demonstrated in ongoing research on the delivery of DBT.
- Provide materials for preparing for the site visit assessment.
- Identify, train and qualify all site visit examiners who will visit the agency and conduct the evaluation.
- Create a uniform process for documentation of site visits with feedback to assist agencies in clearly identifying any remediation, if needed, to be implemented before Accreditation is granted.
- Maintain all records of the status of agencies during the Accreditation process.
- Maintain a registry of all Accredited Programs on the Website.