Intensive Training

Intensive Training

Our Intensive Training is a 10-day course, delivered in two five-day sessions of instruction with six months of home study in between.  During the training we use role-plays, live demonstrations and videos to deepen your learning.

The focus of part 1 is on the theoretical foundations and basic principles of RO DBT including radical openness, as well as treatment structure, targeting, alliance ruptures and repairs and chain and solution analyses. 

The focus of Part 2 is on how to become a better RO DBT therapist. This involves practicing and deepening your own self-enquiry practice, recognizing your own perceptual biases, chain analysis, targeting, and skills.

The specific learning objectives for each part are listed further down this page, as well as a generic training schedule.  

After attending an RO DBT Intensive training, you are qualified to:

Teach RO Skills to your Patients

After 5 days of training (part 1), you can start teaching your clients RO skills! You are allowed to make copies of the handouts and worksheets from the skills manual so you can give these to your clients during skills classes.

Share your Experiences of RO with Other Professionals and Clients

We’d love to hear how you and your clients are experiencing the treatment. You are free to give short informal presentations to others using materials that are in the public domain, such as our research papers. Please do not share the Training Slides, Textbook or Skills Manual with others without our permission (but feel free to ask, we’re happy to help as long as we know what it’s about!).

Do Research With RO

RO-DBT is an evidence-based treatment. We highly value independent research about RO, and we encourage you to evaluate the effectiveness of your service or any other research question you may have. We can also help or advise you, just get in touch!

Request Supervision to get even Better at RO

We have several trained Supervisors who are able to provide micro-supervision and/or team consultations. Typically, the supervisor watches a treatment tape together with you and gives you hands-on feedback and advice. Our list of endorsed RO Supervisors is on the Who We Are page.

You are not qualified to:

Provide Professional RO Training and/or Supervision

Attending the RO Intensive Training does not qualify you to train other clinicians in RO. Becoming an RO Trainer or Supervisor takes time and dedication. We do not believe that attending only one Intensive enables or qualifies you to train others without receiving supervision on this from our team. Our trainers and supervisors attend regular Senior Clinician Meetings and receive on-going micro-supervision to ensure the highest quality of teaching.

We have a ‘Train the Trainer’ program at Radically Open Ltd and would be happy to talk to you about this if this is something you are interested in.

Share RO Training Materials

The slides and training materials you receive from us are intended for your own learning and to help you treat your patients. They are not to be shared or copied for other clinicians. The exception is for your clients: you are free to make copies of the handouts and worksheets to facilitate skills training with clients.

Intensive Training Course Overview

This intensive training provides a strong foundation in the theory and practice of RO DBT including:

• A transdiagnostic approach to treatment
• The neuroregulatory model
• The bio-social theory for overcontrol
• Treatment strategies for activation of the PNS social safety system
• The importance of pro-social co-operative signaling – strategies and skills
• Assessing overcontrol
• Treatment structure
• Radical Openness and self enquiry
• Strategies for maintaining the OC client in therapy
• Individualising treatment targets
• RO states of mind
• RO skills
• Treating envy and bitterness
• Role play and case studies
• Micro-analytic supervision

Delegates will get access to our Radically Open E-learning website with pre-training materials 3 months before the start of part 1. Homework assignments are handed out after part 1, to optimize learning and RO-DBT practice.

Delegates are encouraged to attend in teams; individual practitioners who attend without a team will be encouraged to form study groups for the duration for the course.

Previous training in DBT is not a requirement for the RO-DBT intensive: Apart from a professional qualification in a mental health or related field there are no further prerequisites for the course, and it is not necessary for participants to have had any previous DBT training.

Intensive Training Course Learning Objectives

Upon completion of part 1 of this training, participants will be able to

1. Describe the empirical research supporting the efficacy of RO-DBT
2. Describe the different temperaments underlying undercontrolled and overcontrolled coping.
3. Understand that bio-temperamental factors may be the driving force behind excessive self-control because these factors can influence and interfere with perception, learning, and overt behavior at the preconscious level.
4. Explain that overcontrol is a problem of emotional loneliness
5. Explain how OC patients bring hunting dogs, shields and swords into their social interactions
6. List the three core features of psychological health that are used by RO DBT
7. Explain a new biosocial theory for OC
8. Explain neuro-regulatory theory to guide clinical interventions
9. Describe the five relevant emotional stimuli that influence receptivity and openness and explain the neuroregulatory response tendencies associated with each of these stimuli.
10. List examples of strategies designed to improve pro-social cooperative signaling via activation of the parasympathetic nervous system’s social-safety system
11. Describe how the OC coping style is reinforced
12. Assess the theory and science supporting the importance of accounting for the motivating, communicative and facilitative components of emotional responding and how these functions can be linked to treatment
13. Describe a novel treatment mechanism positing open expression = trust = social connectedness
14. Describe new approaches for engaging and maintaining OC client’s in therapy, including signaling cooperation during confrontation and “Deer in the Headlights”
15. Explain what radical openness is
16. Practice self-enquiry
17. Describe the two OC subtypes
18. Understand and apply the therapeutic stance in RO DBT
19. Describe the RO-DBT treatment structure
20. Describe the RO individual treatment target hierarchy
21. Describe the five OC social signaling themes
22. Set up an RO Skills Class
23. Describe RO-DBT Consultation Team Principles
24. Describe the importance of RO therapeutic sequencing strategies
25. Use skills to orient the OC patient to treatment and to gain commitment
26. Describe therapeutic alliance-ruptures from an RO DBT perspective
27. Use contingency management principles for OC – including “Push Backs”, “Don’t Hurt Me’s”
28. List individualized treatment targets oriented around five OC themes—emotion inhibition, behavioral avoidance, rigidity, aloof and distance, and envy/bitterness.
29. Explain how to use the Diary Card for OC
30. Describe “Heat On and Heat Off” principles for individual and group skills class
31. Describe five social signals that cannot be ignored in class
32. Use a script to help clients self-identify as OC

Upon completion of part 2 of this training, participants will be able to

1. List the four core deficits of overcontrol
2. Teach OC patients the biosocial theory for OC
3. Teach OC patients the five relevant emotional stimuli that influence receptivity and openness and explain the neuroregulatory response tendencies associated with each of these stimuli
4. Use neuro-regulatory theory to guide clinical interventions
5. Teach OC patients strategies designed to improve pro-social cooperative signaling via activation of the parasympathetic nervous system’s social-safety system.
6. Use therapeutic teasing as a form of playful irreverence
7. Practice and teach self-enquiry
8. Teach clients RO DBT treatment strategies designed to enhance willingness for self-inquiry and flexible responding
9. Explain why sequencing matters in RO DBT
10. Apply RO therapeutic sequencing strategies
11. Get commitment from clients to complete Diary Cards
12. Assess the two OC subtypes
13. List homework tasks specifically designed for each of the two OC subtypes
14. Identify push-backs and don’t hurt-me’s and apply contingency management principles
15. Apply skills to manage and repair therapeutic alliance-ruptures
16. Develop individualized treatment targets oriented around five OC themes—emotion inhibition, behavioral avoidance, rigidity, aloof and distance, and envy/bitterness.
17. Target in-session maladaptive social signalling behaviour
18. Utilize Diary Cards for OC
19. Conduct chain and solution analyses
20. Manage maladaptive social signals that cannot be ignored in skills class
21. Assess whether you are doing adherent RO DBT
22. Explain new skills to help break down overlearned inhibitory barriers associated with OC
23. Describe new positive mood enhancing skills involving loving-kindness meditation
24. Describe new RO-DBT treatment strategies designed to enhance willingness for self-inquiry and flexible responding
25. Diagnose overcontrol step by step
26. Conduct in-session targeting using a protocol
27. Conduct chain & solution analyses
28. Describe the RO skills training treatment hierarchy

RO-DBT Intensive Schedule

The following is an indicative schedule for intensive training events. The exact running order may be subject to amendment and change, but this timetable gives a good feel for the scope and depth of the material covered in the 10 days — this really is an intensive course!

Typically, the training will open for registration on the Monday morning at 8.30am with training starting at 9.30am and ending at 5.00pm. Training for the rest of the week will be from 9am – 5pm, with the exception of Friday, when we anticipate training will end at approximately 4.30pm. We will break for lunch for an hour each day.

Part 1

Day One

8:30 – 9:30   Registration and CE/CME Sign-In

9:30 – 10:30  Welcome and introductions / RO DBT research

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Radical Openness

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 Radical Openness

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 5.00 Tribe Matters

Day Two

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Bio-social Theory

10:30– 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Neuro-regulatory Theory

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 Social Signaling 1

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 5.00 Social Signaling 2

Day Three

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Assessing Overcontrol

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 RO DBT Structure

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 Alliance Rupture and Repairs

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 5.00 Alliance Rupture and Repairs

Day Four

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Social Signaling 3

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Behavioral Principles

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:00 Targeting 1

3:00 – 3:15 Break

3:15 – 5.00 Targeting 2

Day Five

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Chain Analysis

10:30– 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 RO DBT solutions

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3.00 Skills Class Demonstration

3.00 – 3.15 Break

3.15 – 4.30 General Questions and Answers / Closing Exercise and Farewells

Part 2

Day One

8:30 – 9:30 Registration and CE/CME Sign-In

9:30 – 10:30 Welcome Back! Overview of week and task sign up

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 RO DBT update – research & other news

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:15 Returning to Basics: Self identification of OC

3:15 – 3:30 Break

3:00 – 4:45 Returning to Basics: Biosocial theory, neuroregulatory theory, core mechanism of change

4:45 – 5:00 Q & A, Completion of Evaluation, and CE/CME Sign Out

Day Two

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Returning to Basics: OC social signaling, Therapeutic stance

10:30– 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Radical openness and self enquiry, Participating without planning

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:15 1st Micro-analytic Videotape Supervision

3:15 – 3:30 Break

3:30 – 4:45 Sequencing of RO-DBT, OC behavioral themes

4:45 – 5.00 Q & A, Completion of Evaluation, and CE/CME Sign Out

Day Three

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 The Awareness Continuum – teaching and demonstration, Managing common OC maladaptive behaviors (including alliance ruptures), Individualizing Targets – using behavioral themes to individualize treatment targets

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Individualizing Targets (cont.), OC subtypes and treatment targets

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:15 Chain and Solution analysis

3:15 – 3:30 Break

3:30 – 4:45 Skills Class Demonstration with Tom

4:45 – 5:00 Q & A, Completion of Evaluation, and CE/CME Sign Out

Day Four

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Role Play Skills Class 1 – Flexible Mind ADOPTS

10:30 – 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Role Play Skills Class 2 – Flexible Mind ADOPTS Homework (including use of the 12 questions for Accepting/Declining Feedback)

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 3:15 Case Presentation: Pulling It All Together

3:15 – 3:30 Break

3:30 – 4:45 2nd Micro-analytic Videotape Supervision

4:45 – 5:00 Q & A, Completion of Evaluation, and CE/CME Sign Out

Day Five

8:30 – 9:00 CE/CME Sign-In

9:00 – 10:30 Role Play Skills Class 3 – Flexible Mind ALLOWS and Match Plus 1 OR 3rd Micro-analytic Videotape Supervision

10:30– 10:45 Break

10:45 – 12:30 Program Implementation: Questions and Issues

12:30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 2:30 RO-DBT Consultation Team Meetings

2:30 – 2:40 Break

2:40 – 3:45 General Questions and Answers, Closing Exercise and Farewells

3:45 – 400 Q & A, Completion of Evaluation, and CE/CME Sign Out