Governance and Regulation of DBT Training in the United Kingdom: What Procurement Teams Need to Know.

DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy), developed by Marsha Linehan, is an evidence-based psychological therapy widely used within NHS and independent services.

From time-to-time, questions arise regarding whether DBT training in the UK requires licensing or accreditation by a particular organisation. The position is as follows.

1. Regulatory Status

DBT is not a protected professional title in the UK. There is:

No statutory DBT licensing authority.
No legal body that licenses DBT training.
No organisation holding exclusive rights to provide DBT training in the UK.

DBT training is classified as post-qualification professional development.

2. Use of the Term “Licensed”

Some training providers describe themselves as “licensed”.

In this context, “licensed” refers to a private commercial agreement with another training organisation. It does not represent UK regulatory recognition, nor does it create exclusive teaching rights.

Such arrangements do not confer exclusive rights, nor are they an indicator of clinical quality or legitimacy in the UK context.

3. Accreditation Claims

There is currently no national statutory body in the UK that mandates accreditation of DBT training by a specific professional society as a condition of clinical practice.

Clinical governance within NHS services rests upon:

Professional registration (e.g. HCPC, NMC, GMC, BABCP, UKCP).
Employer governance structures.
Competence, supervision, and CPD.
Evidence-based practice.

There is no additional external licensing body for DBT training.

4. Choosing a DBT Training Provider

Increasingly, services are looking for evidence of real-world impact, including independently collected delegate feedback and demonstrable improvements in clinical confidence and practice. Therefore Commissioners and NHS services may wish to consider:

Alignment with established DBT theory and evidence.
Clinical experience of trainers.
Independent delegate evaluation data.
Organisational track record within NHS services.
Transparency regarding accreditation processes.

5. APT’s Position

Founded in 1981, APT has delivered DBT training across the UK for over two decades.

Used by over 120 NHS Trusts training over 25,000 mental health professionals in DBT.
Courses must achieve >90% average ratings on Presentation and Clinical Relevance to retain APT accreditation.

APT’s evidence-based accreditation is based on independently submitted delegate-evaluations from practising professionals.

This enables clinicians trained by APT to practise DBT within the scope of their professional registration and competence.

6. In Summary

In summary, DBT training in the UK is not governed by licensing requirements – there are none: the key consideration is whether a course is evidence-based, clinically relevant, and demonstrably effective in practice.

APT courses automatically carry accreditation from The Association for Psychological Therapies. This means (i) that it contains the right amount of relevant information for its duration, and (ii) the information is presented in an engaging way, and in a way that will make it likely to be used after the course. APT verifies the accreditation by publishing the delegates' average ratings of relevance and presentation-quality for all its accredited courses. The accreditation is given value by over 150,000 professionals having attended APT courses.