The first DBT skills group in Lithuania was financed by the local Rotary Club in Vilnius (2017). Over many years, Lithuania has been one of the unfortunate leaders of international suicide statistics. Tragic for the countr,y this has helped generate public and political support for DBT, The method has been included in the national guidelines as a specialized treatment for individuals at high chronic suicide risk. Nevertheless, the development of DBT here is still in its toddler stage. We were able to take our first steps thanks to the generous support of Professor Ulrich Schweiger from Lübeck University, who conducted several trainings. in the capital Vilnius DBT gained true momentum when we had several teams trained intensively by Michaela Swales, Christine Dunkley, and Amy Gaglia (2018). Amy has been a reliable supporter and supervisor for several of our young teams in Vilnius ever since. We are happy to have three programmes funded by state health insurance, however our community of therapists is not well organized yet, and DBT is not available in other regions of the country. DBT is, however, kicking off in the prison system at the moment. All complex DBT programmes can be seen at www.dbt.lt (only in the Lithuanian language).
1. DBT individual and skills group at a psychosocial rehabilitation centre in the central district of Vilnius (3 months, day hospital)
2. Crisis centre in the central district of Vilnius offering DBT as a follow-up treatment after an intense crisis intervention (individual and group, 3 months, day hospital)
3. Psychiatric day hospital at the edge of Vilnius (individual and group, 3 months, day hospital)
We do not have a national DBT association yet; we are however in the process of founding it.