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Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) Informed Practice · Foundation
DBT Skills Foundations
The dialectic of acceptance and change, and the four skills modules that regulate a dysregulated life.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy was built for the clients other treatments could not hold: lives organised around emotional storms, self-harm and relationships that repeatedly break. Its answer, a precise synthesis of acceptance and change, has become essential knowledge across mental health work. This course teaches its foundations, for trainees and professionals who need to understand DBT properly.
You will begin with why DBT exists: Linehan's biosocial theory, in which biological emotional vulnerability meets an invalidating environment and each amplifies the other, and the dialectical stance itself, holding radical acceptance of the person and insistence on change in the same hand. The second module surveys the four skills modules that operationalise the treatment: mindfulness and distress tolerance, the acceptance pair that gets people through crises without making them worse, and emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness, the change pair that builds a life less governed by storm.
Full written lessons, each with key points and a practice task, because DBT skills are learned by rehearsal, with a built-in study tutor available throughout. Six hours of CPD, around six months of access, a final assessment, and a personalised certificate on passing.
▶ 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 a Foundation course in the DBT-informed practice pathway. It assumes nothing: it is written for someone meeting the approach for the first time. What it adds is the working model, its vocabulary and its evidence base, so that the Practitioner course can assume them; it revisits the foundations only as far as it needs to before building on them, so it does not repeat the course below.
The DBT-informed practice pathway. For clinicians bringing DBT into individual work: why DBT exists and what its four skills modules are, DBT-informed formulation and the dialectical stance with real clients, then advanced work with dysregulation. It is about practising in a DBT-informed way, not about running skills groups.
6 study hours6 CPD hours certified6 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 70%)
What you will be able to do
✓Explain the biosocial model of emotion dysregulation and its treatment implications
✓Describe the four DBT skills modules and what each teaches
✓Coach basic distress tolerance skills for crisis moments, including TIP and self-soothing
✓Describe the dialectical stance: acceptance of this moment and work for change held together
✓Recognise when a client's difficulties call for full-programme DBT and refer accordingly
What you will study
Module 1: Why DBT exists
The biosocial theory and the dialectical stance.
The biosocial theoryDBT was built where pure change approaches failed
The dialectic: acceptance and change togetherHold both: doing your best, and must do better
Validation: The Cornerstone of Acceptance in DBTValidation is the practical embodiment of the acceptance side of the DBT dialectic, not mere agreement with maladaptive behaviour.
The DBT Treatment Hierarchy: Prioritising Target BehavioursThe hierarchy organises treatment focus into three levels: life‑threatening behaviours, therapy‑interfering behaviours, and quality‑of‑life behaviours.
Mindfulness: Operationalising the Dialectical Stance in DBTMindfulness is the core skill that translates the dialectical stance of acceptance and change into observable behaviour.
Module 2: The four skills modules
Mindfulness and distress tolerance; emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
Mindfulness and distress toleranceWise mind: emotion mind and reasonable mind meeting
Emotion regulation and interpersonal effectivenessEmotions carry information; regulate by fit-to-facts, not suppression
Dialectics and the Middle PathDialectics involves finding the synthesis between opposing ideas rather than choosing one side.
The Hierarchy of Priorities: What Skills and How SkillsThe 'What' skills define the order of intervention based on the Hierarchy of Priorities.
What's included
2 modules and 9 lessons
An 8-question final assessment, with a 70% pass mark
A certificate for 6 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
Speak the language: by the end you will use Dialectics · Biosocial model · Emotional vulnerability · Invalidating environment · Wise mind · Mindfulness "what" skills · Mindfulness "how" skills · Distress tolerance · Radical acceptance · Opposite action and more, precisely.
The evidence base this course draws on
Linehan, M. M. (1993) Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford Press. view source ↗
Linehan, M. M. (2015) DBT Skills Training Manual. 2nd edn. New York: Guilford Press. view source ↗
Linehan, M. M. (2015) DBT Skills Training Handouts and Worksheets. 2nd edn. New York: Guilford Press. view source ↗
Swales, M. A. and Heard, H. L. (2016) Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: Distinctive Features. 2nd edn. London: Routledge. view source ↗
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2009) Borderline Personality Disorder: Recognition and Management. Clinical guideline CG78. London: NICE. view source ↗
