Steps to becoming a DBT-LBC, Certified Clinician™
Here you will find all of the information needed to begin the Clinician Certification Process.
Application for Certification
The “application for certification” green link is the on-line, electronic method for providing all the information that will be evaluated to grant DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified Clinician™. You will create your profile and be able to work on the application over time.
You can save your progress as you go. Once you actually complete and then submit your application for review, your application will be “locked” from any further changes as we verify the information you have supplied.
Fees
The fees for each step can be found here. Once each step of the application process is completed, the next requirement to be completed will be unlocked.
Failure to Pass
At each step of the certification process, you are required to pass to the standard set through psychometric analysis and/or research that developed the adherence coding standards.
For the Knowledge Exam, if you fail the first time, you must wait a minimum of four months before being eligible to re-take the exam. For the Video coding, if you fail the first time you have 6 months to resubmit another three consecutive videos.
If the client first submitted is no longer available for video, a different client’s sessions may be used but specific documentation will need to be submitted for that case. For any of these steps, failure the second time requires a 12 month wait. We encourage clinicians to obtain expert supervision and consultation in the event of experiencing a difficulty in passing the certification process.
Maintenance of Certification (MOC)
Congratulations!! You successfully completed all of the work to get certified.
Given the ever-changing nature of the field, Annual Renewal of your certification is a vital part of Clinician Certification. Its purpose is to encourage life-long learning specific to Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and the on-going competency in DBT knowledge and delivery/teaching of the treatment.
Each year, at a minimum, come back and be sure we have all your current information in your profile. Completing the Annual Renewal will keep your listing active in the List of Certified Clinicians. We will keep track of your CE’s if you’d like; you can access your profile at any time to update any CE trainings you have completed.
Continuing Education Units (CE’s)
To maintain your certification , 15 CE’s are required to be completed every two years. DBT-LBC™ does not have its own procedures for approving CE’s. We do not provide the training that is required for our certification and we are separate from all organizations that provide DBT training. This separation is vital to a quality certification program.
Every 2 years, 15 CE hours are required with 8 of the 15 specific to DBT. The other 7 hours can be non-DBT specific, but related (i.e., Ethics, Diversity, Trauma, Mindfulness Related, Cognitive Therapy Behavior related (CBT).)
Passing the DBT-LBC™ initial Certification exam will substitute for 8 of the 15 required CEs in the first two years.