This is the page of the Jordanian chapter of the EDBTA.
Jordan
About Us
In 2016, the Maria Den Braven Center founded the first Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Programme in Amman, Jordan. Situated in the heart of a war-ridden region, Jordan’s population has faced a multitude of problems stemming from emotion dysregulation, such as substance use, self-harm and suicidality. The journey began with Dr. Basma Al-Kilani, whose interest in DBT grew after attending the APS conference in Australia in 2012. Inspired by what she learned, Dr. Basma and her team pursued comprehensive DBT training and completed the DBT Intensive Training with British Isles DBT, initially starting with 4 practitioners, the team has since grown to 9 practitioners. As DBT was placing its roots in Jordan, Dr. Basma witnessed first-hand the successful and effective impact it had on individuals, leading her to realize that the region is in dire need of this important treatment approach. She sought to bring DBT to the larger regional community across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through pursuing the DBT affiliation. Today, Dr. Basma is the director of DBT MENA, a Behavioral Tech Tier 2 affiliation with a strong vision of disseminating DBT in the region.
Local therapy programmes
DBT is currently offered in the Maria Den Braven Center, a private multidisciplinary mental health center in Amman, Jordan. The team is home to 9 members that are comprehensively trained in DBT. The Maria Den Braven DBT Programme currently runs 2 DBT Adult Standard Skills Classes, with plans on starting 2 additional DBT Skills Classes (Standard Adults and Standard Adolescents) within the next 4 months. Given the limited availability of DBT programmes and consultation teams across the MENA region, the Maria Den Braven Center conducts the consultations teams online in order to include DBT practitioners from across the region. The offered programmes are standard DBT for Adults and Standard DBT for adolescents, with durations ranging from 6 months to 2 years. The programme is a comprehensive DBT programme offering Individual Therapy, Skills Classes, Consultation Team Meetings, Phone Coaching and Consultation to the Client. Currently, the Maria Den Braven Programme is the only comprehensive DBT programme in Jordan, though additional programmes are in development. While there are other DBT services available across a variety of centers, these are not yet comprehensive DBT programmes. The region also faces a significant shortage of trained DBT practitioners, which limits the availability of comprehensive DBT services in Jordan and throughout the broader MENA region.