The Organizers
“Introduction to DBT: Skilful Living” workshop is held on September 2020 in Amman – Jordan. This workshop is organized by the Maria Den Braven (MDB) center, in collaboration with Behavioural Tech LLC in the United States and British Isles DBT in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
Both organizations aim to train international mental health care providers and ensure that they implement an evidence-based approach in therapy. Through this collaboration, MDB is bringing DBT to the Middle East and shall be offering a wide range of training programs in Dialectical Behavioural Therapy.
Basma Kilani, MA
Founder and Head Specialist of the MDB Centre
- A certified clinical psychologist, with 20 years of experience working in the field.
- Basma is intensively trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and is the ambassador of the Linehan Institute/ Behavioral Tech, LLC in Jordan.
- She has consulted at a number of institutions including the Jordan River Foundation (created The Little House Project), Médecins Sans Frontiers and Madrasati Initiative. And for two consecutive years, Basma was part of the consultation committee at the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- Basma also was a speaker at the International Jordanian Psychiatric Conference in Amman, at the Jordanian Clinical Psychologists Association (JCPA) and at the Murad Centre to bring awareness to DBT and its importance.
- She has been involved in publications in both the Arab Journal of Psychiatry and Tinsley House Publications.
The Trainers
Dr. André Ivanoff Ph.D.
President of the Behavioral Tech LLC
- The President of the Behavioral Tech LLC, the training company founded by Marsha Linehan, and the former Chair of the Columbia University Social & Behavioral Institutional Review Board (Human Subjects’ Protections).
- She is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Linehan Institute and is considered to be the second in line as a DBT therapist.
- Her research and clinical interests include the training of DBT in academic and post-graduate settings across mental health disciplines, the development of DBT skills-based suicide & crisis prevention methods, and the general application of DBT to those involved in the criminal justice system.
- André authored over 70 publications on suicidal behaviors, DBT, and behavior change methods, and trains internationally and nationally with outpatient, inpatient, and correctional/forensic systems implementing DBT.
Dr. Maggie Stanton
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
- A Consultant Clinical Psychologist and a Senior Trainer with British Isles DBT Training.
- She is an accredited DBT Therapist, a Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a member of the Division of Clinical Psychology.
- Maggie has 35 years’ experience as a mental health clinical worker, an honorary lecturer at the University of Bangor, and a mentor for the University of Southampton Doctorate in Clinical Psychology program.
- Maggie is the Director of the UK and Ireland Society for DBT and was a member of the Expert Reference Group, which developed the Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Competency Framework.
- She has been involved in a range of research publications in a number of international journals, books, and conferences.
Dr. Ahmed Abdelkarim, MD
Consultant Psychiatrist
- Consultant Psychiatrist that received his master’s degree and his Ph.D. in psychiatry from Alexandria University, Egypt and a short-term fellowship at BRTC, from the University of Washington, USA, under supervision of Prof. Marsha Linehan.
- Dr. Abdelkarim is the founder and leader of DBT in Egypt and is considered to be the founder of the first DBT center in the Arab region.
- Dr. Abdelkarim has been announced as the ambassador of the Linehan Institute in Egypt and the Middle East in 2018.
- He was awarded Prof. Yahia El Rakhawy for best psychotherapy case presentation in Egypt in 2015 and Okasha Award for The Best Young Psychiatry Researcher in Egypt offered by the Middle East Journal of Psychiatry in 2018.
