ABSTRACT
Uniquely, DBT applies the treatment strategies utilized with patients to structure the treatment environment in which the DBT programme operates. In implementing a new psychotherapy or treatment programme, healthcare managers and therapists alike frequently assume that the organization planning to host the new development provides a relatively benign context for implementation. This assumption frequently proves to be false. Consistent with the research on implementation (Fixsen et al., 2005), by identifying a specific function of “structuring the environment”, DBT recognizes that successful implementation of treatment interventions requires organizational effort. Research on the implementation of DBT highlights that an absence of organizational commitment is a major factor both in the initial implementation and the longer-term sustainability of DBT programmes (Carmel et al., 2014; Swales et al., 2012).
