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About Us

The Australian DBT Institute is a specialist service founded to provide leadership in the delivery of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and DBT Informed approaches throughout the Asia Pacific Region.

We care about the type of training and development that the mental health sector has access to and this is why we offer a wide range of online and in person programs, including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Radically Open DBT, Trauma Informed Approaches, and more through local and international clinical and academic leaders. We seek to support individuals live the healthiest lives possible by connecting their mental health practitioners with evidence informed therapeutic approaches!

Established in 2004, the Australian DBT Institute is led by our Executive Director Dr. Peter King. Dr. King and his team have received extensive mentoring and professional development from Marsha Linehan’s group Behavioral Tech LLC (2003-2008), Babette Rothschild (2014-2017) and Radically Open Ltd (2022-current). In addition to mentoring, Dr. King has co-facilitated training with Babette Rothschild in Australia, UK, Singapore and New Zealand in Somatic Trauma Therapy. Annually the Australian DBT Institute provides continuing professional development with programs delivered in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa with a specialisation in DBT, RO DBT, SBT and Safe Trauma Therapy approaches since 2004.

Development of Mental Health Professionals

Why Choose the ADBTI for your CPD & Program Development?

Our programs are delivered in-person as well as self-paced courses, pre-recorded webinars and LIVE webinars. Our RO DBT programs are delivered in collaboration with Radically Open Ltd which is the training and development company of Professor Thomas Lynch (developer of Radically Open DBT).

We Value Experiences

Australian DBT Institute facilitators draw on both lived experience and clinical experiences when delivering quality continuing professional development experiences for qualified mental health professionals. The input from carers, consumers, peers and our own experiences provide a broad informed basis for our education and development programs.

Online Approaches

Our CPD opportunities, which are acclaimed as innovative and industry-leading, are now available as Self-Paced Learning, Pre-Recorded Webinars and LIVE Webinars. CPD now can be accessed by clicking "Workshops" in the menu above. Participants attending an online webinar or completing an online course receive ongoing access to our materials online!

We are informed

The Australian DBT Institute’s facilitators have all engaged in formalised research including PhD/Doctorates, Workplace Based Research Projects, and Australian Research Council Funded research programs. While the importance of research is never denied, our team also considers each individual to be unique requiring an adapted approach to mental health care where indicated.

Engaging & Adaptable

Our facilitators are all qualified mental health practitioners who bring many years of clinical experience to each training program. Our facilitators pride themselves on being engaging and adapting content where needed within our CPD offerings. We provide tailored CPD in approaches including: DBT, RO DBT, Stabilisation and Trauma-Informed Approaches.

Innovative Programs

Our CPD opportunities have been acclaimed as innovative and industry-leading! Our feedback is that the post-workshop materials we provide consolidate an individual’s learning and the way our facilitators teach our programs promotes learning. Workshops have been identified as both practical and thought-provoking. All participants receive access to our materials online and have access to them on an ongoing basis.

Commitment to Quality

We are committed to delivering CPD opportunities that are current, specialised and informed by the evidence base. We regularly review our workshops and online courses to ensure that they exceed industry standards! All facilitators are intensively trained in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Radically Open DBT and trauma informed approaches. Our facilitators actively continue their development through supervision and CPD.

ADBTI Core Values!

Commitment & Dedication

We are dedicated to our shared vision and mission to empower mental health practitioners, support organisations, and work together to make a collective impact. We are committed to supporting individuals live the healthiest lives possible through effective therapeutic approaches!

Clinical Excellence

We strive for the highest standards of clinical training, clinical services through our DBT Clinics, and support to clinicians.

We value the evidence base and are committed to reviewing our practices through continuous improvement activities.

Accessibility

We are dedicated to supporting mental health practitioners receive quality training and support to deliver evidence informed approaches.

Our mentoring, supervision and CPD approaches are accessible through multiple platforms.

Respect for others

We believe respect is valuing and honouring diversity.

Respect also goes hand in hand with being transparent.

Respect is about being inclusive and collaborative as well as expressing the value and dignity we have for the people we interact with.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy & Radically Open DBT

Australian DBT Institute's achievements to date!

Our approach has been developed over the last 20+ years through strategic partnerships and mentoring with the world's leading treatment developers which has helped us achieve many wins along the way including the following:

Over 17,000 mental health professionals have attended our CPD programs
We currently run a minimum of 6 DBT or RO DBT Skills Classes each week through our DBT Clinics program
We have published our unique online DBT approach and had many of our workshop participants publish their successful implementation of a DBT Informed approach
Provided training to RCT practitioners which have identified DBT to be more effective than treatment as usual. "80.6% attendance rate in a RCT", "DBT participants reported significantly greater quality of life than participants allocated to treatment as usual", "reported significantly reduced suicidality risk from baseline compared to participants allocated to treatment as usual"
Successfully hosted international teaching tours with Behavioral Tech LLC (2003-2008), Babette Rothschild (2014-2018) and Dr. Sophie Rushbrook from Radically Open Ltd (2023 to current)
Contracted to deliver training and development to services in Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa.
Developed DBT Assist a portal for mental health practitioners to teach DBT and RO DBT skills
Development of DBT Informed approaches DBT-TI, C-DBT and ACDC Skills programs
Led the development of the initial Life Skills programs of the St. Kilda Football Club (AFL) and Melbourne Storm (NRL) as well as the Life Skills component for anti-bullying and anti-racism program "Point and be Proud"
Development of the first allied health professionals in GPs practices model for "Better Outcomes" which has been replicated nationally
Our credentialed DBT practitioners have developed and facilitated will over 200 DBT programs in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand.

DBT & DBT Informed Approaches Since 2004