At Talking Therapies UK, we are passionate about equipping professionals with the knowledge, confidence, and compassion to support mental health across diverse settings. With decades of combined experience in clinical practice, public health leadership, and service transformation, our training programmes are rooted in evidence-based approaches and real-world application.
We specialise in delivering high-impact, trauma-informed mental health training tailored to the needs of health, education, social care, and voluntary sector teams. From safeguarding and suicide prevention to emotional resilience and therapeutic communication, our courses are designed to empower practitioners at every level—whether you’re frontline staff, a strategic commissioner, or part of a multi-agency partnership.
Our facilitators bring many years clinical expertise , and a deep understanding of the social determinants of mental health. We prioritise co-production, reflective practice, and inclusive learning environments that foster curiosity, empathy, and professional growth.
Whether you’re looking to upskill your workforce, embed mental health into your organisational culture, or meet statutory training requirements, we offer flexible delivery formats including in-person workshops, webinars, and bespoke consultancy.
Together, we can build psychologically safe, responsive systems that promote wellbeing, reduce inequalities, and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. Let’s shape the future of mental health—one conversation, one training, one transformation at a time..
This advanced continuing professional development extension is meticulously grounded in established cognitive-behavioural and dialectical behaviour therapy evidence bases, incorporating contemporary empirical insights into complex clinical presentations. Designed specifically for experienced practitioners, this thirty-hour advanced course equips clinicians to master the pedagogical delivery and sophisticated clinical application of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy skills within modern UK mental health settings. Learners will examine the deep philosophical underpinnings of the modality, mastering the dialectical stance and exploring how to balance acceptance and change strategies while maintaining a rigorous biosocial theory framework that accounts for individual lived experiences, including intersectional identities through the lens of Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS. Through the first comprehensive module, participants study the foundations of the dialectical stance and emotion regulation, investigating core emotion regulation skills derived from Linehan's model to help clients identify, understand, and modify intense emotional states safely and effectively. The curriculum then progresses into interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance, focusing closely on the mastery and teaching of complex relational techniques such as DEAR MAN, alongside crisis-survival strategies including TIPP and the foundational practice of radical acceptance for managing acute distress without making situations worse. A core clinical emphasis is placed upon behavioural chain analysis and target hierarchies, enabling clinicians to conduct systematic investigations of problematic target behaviours, meticulously untangling triggering events, vulnerability factors, and consequences while strictly prioritising treatment targets in highly complex and multi-diagnostic cases. Moving into advanced clinical territory, the final module covers advanced applications such as walking the middle path and resolving clinical impasses, equipping practitioners with advanced dialectical strategies for balancing opposing forces, validating seemingly invalidating behaviours, and successfully navigating severe therapeutic stalemates. Throughout the learning journey, the curriculum strongly emphasises experiential learning, clinical formulation, and nuanced case conceptualisation to support effective, ethical, and transformative real-world application across multidisciplinary UK practice settings.
▶ See inside the digital classroom1 minute 36 seconds · how a course is laid out, how each lesson is taught, and how the tutor helps
Before you start
This is an Advanced course, a stand-alone short course. It assumes that you already work with the approach at Practitioner level and want complexity, process and supervision-level thinking rather than the method itself. What it adds is complex presentations, comorbidity, ruptures and impasses, the research and process literature, and the judgement needed to supervise or lead the work; it revisits the foundations only as far as it needs to before building on them, so it does not repeat the course below.
A caution. Taking an Advanced course without the foundational understanding will make it harder to follow and to complete, and you will get less from it. If you are new to this approach, begin at Foundation. Choose the level that matches your existing experience and knowledge.
10 study hours10 CPD hours certified12 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 70%)
What you will be able to do
✓Demonstrate the practical application of the dialectical stance by balancing validation with strategies for behavioural change.
✓Implement core emotion regulation skills including Opposite Action and Check the Facts in clinical practice.
✓Apply structured interpersonal frameworks such as DEAR MAN to enhance assertive communication and reduce relational conflict.
✓Utilise physiological distress tolerance interventions including TIPP to manage acute emotional crises effectively.
✓Synthesise complex clinical formulations using behavioural chain analysis to address therapy-interfering behaviours.
What you will study
Module 1: Foundations of Dialectical Stance and Emotion Regulation
This module explores the philosophical underpinnings of DBT, specifically the dialectical stance, and introduces the core emotion regulation skills derived from Linehan's model.
The Dialectical Stance: Acceptance and Change- The dialectical stance balances acceptance of a client’s emotional reality with the provision of skill‑based change interventions.
Core Emotion Regulation SkillsEmotion regulation in DBT aims to manage intensity and function, not to eliminate emotions.
Advanced Validation Strategies in Clinical Practice1. Validation in DBT is a structured, skilful act that recognises the client’s experience as real and worthy of attention.
The PLEASE Skill: Integrating Physical Health into Emotion RegulationPhysical health behaviours directly influence emotional vulnerability and should be addressed systematically within DBT.
Module 2: Interpersonal Effectiveness and Distress Tolerance
This module focuses on the interpersonal effectiveness skills, including DEAR MAN, and the distress tolerance techniques, such as TIPP and radical acceptance, used to manage crises and maintain relationships.
Interpersonal Effectiveness: DEAR MANDEAR MAN provides a sequenced, observable framework that moves clients from factual description to negotiated compromise.
Distress Tolerance: TIPP and Radical AcceptanceTIPP targets physiological arousal through Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, and Paired muscle relaxation.
Navigating Complex Relationship Dynamics with FAST and GIVEFAST and GIVE are used together to hold both self-respect and relationship care, not as opposing strategies.
Module 3: Behavioural Chain Analysis and Target Hierarchies
Explores the systematic investigation of problematic behaviours and the prioritisation of treatment targets in complex cases.
Deconstructing Behaviour through Chain AnalysisA chain analysis maps prompting events, vulnerabilities, chain links, and consequences to reveal how a target behaviour is generated and maintained
Navigating Clinical Target Hierarchies1. Rank high‑risk behaviours first, then maintenance factors, then long‑term goals.
Resolving Missing Links and Therapy-Interfering BehavioursTreat missing links as clinically meaningful behaviours to be analysed, not as memory failures.
Module 4: Advanced Application: Walking the Middle Path and Clinical Impasses
Covers advanced dialectical strategies for balancing opposing forces and managing severe therapeutic stalemates.
Principles of Walking the Middle Path1. The middle path balances acceptance and change, avoiding extreme black‑and‑white thinking.
Addressing Therapist Burnout and Burnout-Driven ImpassesBurnout in DBT often manifests as a shift from acceptance to a rigid change agenda, eroding the dialectical stance.
Consultation Team Dynamics and Peer Supervision1. The consultation team provides structured, peer‑based support to maintain DBT fidelity.
What's included
4 modules and 13 lessons
A 12-question final assessment, with a 70% pass mark
A certificate for 10 CPD hours when you pass it
An extended clinical case study with discussion questions
A glossary of key terms
Private notes, a reflection for each module, and a CPD log you can print or save as a PDF
📖 Written lessons with key points and practice tasks◆ Visual teaching diagrams🎥 Video where it helps🎧 Listen-to-this-lesson narration👩⚕️ A full clinical case study🧠 AI tutor in every lesson📄 Full course workbook (PDF) on completion📕 The course book (PDF) while you study, with your name in it
