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Professional Coaches, Counselors & Therapists

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Methodology standards

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Skills.

The IAPCCT DBT-skills standard covers competent teaching of the four DBT skills modules within a dialectical, validating stance, consistent with Linehan’s model.

Mindfulness
Distress tolerance
Emotion regulation
Interpersonal effectiveness
Dialectics

Recognition & alignment

Aligned with Linehan’s DBT skills. Comprehensive DBT for high-risk clients requires a clinical qualification and a treatment team; this standard covers skills teaching and coaching.

AP

Associate Practitioner

Indicative training: 30–60 hrs · Assessment: Attendance & understanding.
  • The biosocial model and dialectics
  • A validating stance
  • Overview of the four skills modules
  • Ethical, scope-aware practice

P

Practitioner

Indicative training: 120+ hrs · Assessment: Skills demonstration
  • Teaching mindfulness and distress-tolerance skills
  • Validation, behaviour chain analysis and diary cards
  • Teaching emotion-regulation and interpersonal-effectiveness skills
  • Skills coaching between sessions

MP

Master Practitioner

Indicative training: 120+ hrs + 15 hrs supervision · Assessment: Assessed practice & supervision
  • Running skills groups
  • Coordinating with treatment teams
  • Working with severe emotion dysregulation safely
  • Supervision of practice

T

Trainer

Indicative training: 120+ hrs + 15 hrs supervision · Assessment: Supervised delivery & evaluation
  • Train DBT-skills practitioners
  • Mentor developing practitioners
  • Assess teaching and coaching competence
  • Programme quality

MT

Master Trainer

Indicative training: 3+ yrs post-Trainer · Assessment: Board & peer review
  • Certify DBT-skills trainers
  • Quality assurance
  • Curriculum and standards
  • Contribution to the field
Indicative requirements for guidance. Exact hours and assessment are confirmed by the certifying institute and the IAPCCT Standards Framework.

Train or accredit in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy.

Membership, credentials and accreditation all map to this standard.

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