The DBT-Linehan Board of Certification (DBT-LBC™) is Asking for Your Support During National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification (DBT-LBC™) is kindly asking for your financial support. We know that therapist adherence to DBT protocols predicts fewer suicide attempts, results in less hospitalizations, and reduces the rate of treatment drop out (Harned, et.al, 2022.) Did you also know that DBT may also be a more cost-effective solution in the long-term treatment of suicidality (Wunsch, Kliem, & Kröger, 2014)? In 2020, the CDC reported that suicide cost the United States more than 500 billion dollars and took the lives of nearly 50,000 people in 2022. Our mission is to ensure that individuals in crisis receive DBT treatment delivered with the highest fidelity to the evidence-based model, reducing costs while most importantly saving lives. As a volunteer-run organization, DBT-LBC™ depends on committed donors like you. Your generosity supports everything we do.
Donor Impact in Action
Thanks to the support of our donors, in the past year alone we have:
- Certified 48 new DBT clinicians across 5 countries, dramatically expanding access to life-saving treatment worldwide.
- Launched our Mentorship Program, giving clinicians one-on-one guidance from certified professionals to support them through the certification process.
- Began working to enhance the Knowledge Exam, through a comprehensive Job Task Analysis and item-writing process that ensures our exam reflects the realities of clinical DBT practice. This is an ongoing area in need of financial support.
- Increased international access, breaking down barriers so more clinicians can seek certification, and more individuals can get the care they need.
Help Us Keep the Momentum Going
Each of these efforts strengthens our ability to ensure that DBT is delivered with fidelity, which we believe will ultimately translate to less overall deaths by suicide. We’ve made meaningful progress, but the need is growing. As we look ahead, your financial support is vital to the mission of DBT-LBC™.
Your one-time $10 gift can create a new ending to someone’s story. Better still, a recurring donation will sustain and support our ongoing mission to ensure that every DBT clinician meets the highest standards of excellence because fidelity matters, and lives depend on it.
If you’re interested in reading about the effectiveness of DBT, see below for some important past research articles and DBT-LBC™ blog plots discussing these issues:
In Honor of Suicide Prevention Month: DBT Therapist Adherence – Why it Really Matters
Harned, M. S., Gallop, R. J., Schmidt, S. C., & Korslund, K. E. (2022). The temporal relationships between therapist adherence and patient outcomes in dialectical behavior therapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(3), 272–281. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000714
Linehan, M. M., Comtois, K. A., Murray, A. M., Brown, M. Z., Gallop, R. J., Heard, H. L., Korslund, K. E., Tutek, D. A., Reynolds, S. K., & Lindenboim, N. (2006). Two-year randomized controlled trial and follow-up of dialectical behavior therapy vs therapy by experts for suicidal behaviors and borderline personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(7), 757-766. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.63.7.757
Wunsch, E. M., Kliem, S., & Kröger, C. (2014). Population-based cost–offset estimation for the treatment of borderline personality disorder: Projected costs in a currently running, ideal health system. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 60, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2014.06.002
Every donation, no matter the size, directly supports the mission of DBT-LBC™ and helps ensure that individuals facing some of their darkest moments have access to the treatment they deserve. Together, we can make a difference in the prevention of suicide.
