Society for DBT UK and Ireland Board of Accreditation (BOA) Terms of Reference:
1. The BOA will be comprised of the chairperson, deputy chair, secretary, and up to four additional members.
2. Members of the BOA will serve for a period of three years.
3. A call for applications for membership will be publicised through the SfDBT every three years or as vacancies arise.
4. Selection of the chair, deputy chair, and secretary will be made by the elected BOA.
5. The BOA will report, via the chairperson, to the board of the SfDBT on a quarterly basis.
6. The chair of the BOA will liaise with the Linehan Institute in the USA to ensure that processes and standards are externally calibrated.
7. The BOA will produce an annual report to be presented to the board of the Society for DBT and to be presented at the annual conference.
Duties of members of the BOA:
1. To develop accreditation processes and policies in line with National and International standards for accreditation of psychological therapies.
2. To develop the standards for accreditation (individuals and teams) and review and revised bi-annually to ensure fit for purpose.
3. To set the cost for accreditation, and review bi-annually.
4. To review and revise on a regular basis the processes and policies of accreditation.
5. To meet bimonthly (by phone or in person) for the purpose of agreeing applications for accreditation and reviewing processes/policies.
6. To review applications for accreditation (individual and teams).
7. To rate tapes for adherence for accreditation.
8. To make site visits as required for the accreditation process of teams.
9. To provide feedback to applicants for accreditation.
10. To respond to queries regarding accreditation (phone, email, letters).
11. To review and respond to appeals regarding accreditation decisions.
12. To publicise the existence of accreditation of DBT practitioners and teams to relevant government bodies (e.g. NHS England), commissioners of services (e.g. CCGs), and statutory bodies (e.g. HPC, BABCP, BPS, UKCP).
13. To participate in the gathering of data for the annual report and the writing of the report.
Qualifications for membership of the BOA:
In order to be considered for membership of the BOA, an applicant must:
1) Have a core NHS professional qualification with membership of a professional body.
2) Be intensively trained by an accredited DBT training programme.
3) must have been judged to be consistently adherent and to have demonstrated competence in DBT – as identified through own supervision
4) To have worked in an accreditable DBT service as a DBT therapist for at least five years.
5) To have attended additional training in at least one adaptation of DBT.
6) To have attended training in the DBT adherence rating scale (Seattle version).
7) To have supervised (with audio recordings) at least two individuals in DBT for a period of one year.
8) To have provided DBT consultation to at least one service other than one’s own.