British Isles DBT Training is the sole licensed provider* of training in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) in Britain and Ireland.
teams in the UK since 1997 which has resulted in over 350 DBT programmes having been implemented thus far. We are fully equipped to advise on programme implementation in every type of clinical setting where severe and enduring behavioural issues arise.
*We are the only licensed affiliate in Britiain and Ireland of Behavioral Tech’s Training Materials which have been developed in collaboration with Marsha Linehan.
The British Isles DBT training Team (BIDBT) was founded in 1997 by Heidi Heard (PhD). She, along with Michaela Swales (PhD) a founder member of the team, built the National Training programme in collaboration with BTech LLC (www.behavioraltech.org), the US training company that enjoys a unique association with the treatment developer Marsha Linehan. Currently British Isles DBT Training is the only licensed provider in the United Kingdom and Ireland of trainings in DBT The Training Team also have a close association with the Behavioral Research & Therapy Clinics (http://depts.washington.edu/brtc/) where Marsha Linehan continues to work on the refinement of DBT. Since its inception the training team have seeded over 300 DBT programmes across the UK and Ireland and have trained over 1000 professionals. British Isles DBT Trainingprides itself on delivering a high standard of training that is both informative and clinically relevant. To ensure the highest standards all of our carefully selected trainers have received extensive supervision in DBT and have demonstrated adherence and competence in the delivery of the treatment. In addition each trainer has been monitored and closely supervised by a Senior DBT Consultant to ensure their competence in training others in the treatment. All trainers have received advanced training in the assessment of adherence in DBT by senior staff at BRTC.
After attending the University of Washington and completing an internship at McLean Hospital, Dr. Heard worked at the University of Wales in Great Britain where she conducted research on borderline personality disorder. She also became the director of British Isles DBT Training, through which she provided introductory and advanced training, consultation and supervision to a wide variety of treatment settings throughout Britain and in other European countries. Dr. Heard has now returned to America, where she divides her time between providing clinical supervision and serving as the Senior Consultant for British Isles DBT Training. Her current research focus is on the cost-effectiveness of DBT.
is a Consultant Psychological Therapist and a Senior Trainer with the British Isles DBT training team. She has 30 years’ experience of working in the NHS, including 19 years at Southern Health Foundation trust where she was a founder member of the Winchester DBT team. She currently provides consultation and supervision to DBT teams across the UK and Ireland in standard out-patient services and in specialist adolescent, forensic, PD, and eating disorder teams.
She qualified as a medical social worker in 1982 and undertook additional training in psychological therapy. She is now a Senior Accredited Practitioner with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). She was trained in DBT in 2002 and joined the national training team in 2006. She is an honorary lecturer for Bangor University on the Post Graduate Certificate in DBT. She is the co-founder and first chair of the Society for DBT. She sits on the IAPT expert reference group on Personality disorders where she has responsibility for drafting the DBT competencies. She is on the committee of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BABCP) special interest group for DBT. Christine is a regular attendee at the International DBT trainers meeting at the University of Washington with Marsha Linehan, and has been trained to administer the UoW Adherence Coding scale for DBT taped sessions. Along with Michaela Swales she has released a DVD series on core components of DBT, and co-authored the chapter on DBT for the latest addition of the Sage Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Her book on teaching clients to use mindfulness skills will be released in 2013. Her other published work includes journal articles and book chapters on emotional pain, supervision, suicide risk and mindfulness. She is currently one of the clinical leads in a large RCT of DBT for Treatment Resistant Depression and is also on the treatment development team with Professor Tom Lynch at Southampton University.
is an adjunct assistant professor with the doctorate in counselling psychology at Trinity College Dublin. He is also a trainer with British Isles DBT Training with whom he has deliveredLinehan Institute accredited training in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and mainland Europe. He has published research on DBT in community settings and has a special interest in DBT for young adults and sits on the Board of Accreditation for the British and Irish Society of DBT.
Jim has worked with Cluain Mhuire community mental health services, where he leads Ireland’s longest running DBT team, since 2004. He is also a senior counselling psychologist with Cluain Mhuire Community Mental Health Services in Dublin where he has worked for the past 10 years and maintains a private counselling and psychotherapy practice in Dublin City Centre.
Jim has been involved in all aspects of the delivery of DBT to adults with borderline personality disorder and severe emotional dysregulation for the past number of years. He completed his basic training in DBT under Heidi Heard and Prof. Sue Clarke in 2006, since which time Jim has undertaken several advanced DBT trainings in the US, UK, and Ireland, highlights including an advanced intensive led by Dr. Linehan in Seattle in 2010 and a further advanced training conducted by Dr. Linehan in Cork in 2014. Under the supervision of Dr. Michaela Swales, Jim is currently completing a PhD investigating outcomes for DBT in routine practice settings, a project which has led him to ongoing consultation to DBT teams based near Belfast, Dublin, Mayo, Longford and Monaghan. Over the past 5 years, Jim has been invited to deliver training events and seminars on DBT and emotional dysregulation to a number of professional bodies and care providers in Ireland and he has recently joined the British Isles DBT Training Team.
