Becoming a DBT Centre of Excellence.
A service accredited as a DBT centre of excellence covers at least these four bases:
- At least 50% of the staff are DBT trained, by attending the 3-day DBT Essentials course.
- DBT language’ is built into written forms, records etc.
- ‘DBT language’ is endemic in meetings such as ward rounds, case discussions and handovers.
- A DBT-qualified visitor/assessor would notice that most staff think, talk, and act, in DBT terms.
When you are confident that you meet these criteria, we will come and conduct an assessment. This involves an assessor from APT, coming to visit your service. The cost for this assessment is $1,575 (plus tax and travel expenses for the inspector), regardless of the outcome of the assessment.
The assessment visit is your chance to demonstrate to the assessor that you cover the four bases listed above. So you might consider the following:
- Maybe have available written forms and records that illustrate DBT language being used.
- To demonstrate that DBT language is endemic in meetings such as ward rounds and case discussions is difficult except by having the assessor in such ward rounds and case discussions which then poses problems of confidentiality. You can circumvent this problem in any way you choose, for example by convening a meeting where your colleagues can tell the assessor about their work and he or she can ask them questions about it, or by facilitating the assessor meeting up with individual members of staff to talk about their work in DBT terms, or any other means.
- To demonstrate that most staff think talk and act in DBT terms probably necessitates a visit to the facilities concerned with the ability for the assessor to talk to whoever he or she chooses.
- You may wish to facilitate the assessor meeting up with patients; this is a very convincing way for the assessor to find out how the care is perceived from the recipient's point of view; this is especially so if the assessor is able to talk to patients "at random".
This may sound quite daunting and, in a way, it is. However, you should bear in mind that the assessor will be a positive, constructive, DBT-oriented professional (normally a consultant psychologist or similar) who will be genuinely interested in your practice and keen for you to succeed. If you don't succeed in the first instance the assessor will probably make helpful suggestions so that you may do on a subsequent visit.
On successful completion of the assessment you will:
- Receive the assessment report.
- Be listed on our website as an accredited centre of excellence.
- Be able to say you are a DBT Centre of Excellence, including it in your literature if you wish.
- Receive a plaque to display in your service.
Each service needs to be reassessed every two years.
Click here for the application form to become a DBT Centre of Excellence ❯
