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.
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.
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.
This intensive training provides a strong foundation in the theory and practice of RO DBT including:
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.
Upon completion of part 1 of this training, participants will be able to
Upon completion of part 2 of this training, participants will be able to
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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