Australian MBT Institute

For over 10 years the Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT) team has been delivering high-quality clinical treatment, as well as training and supervising clinicians and services from across the country.

In 2024, Spectrum launched the Australian MBT Institute. For more information about the Institute, click here.

We are delighted Professor Anthony Bateman has agreed to be a patron of the Institute.

The Institute has a range of purposes including:

1. Create a national network of MBT centres across Australia to support a community of practice by drawing together services and providers who are applying MBT in various settings e.g., forensics, parent-infant work, child and youth, adults, etc.
2. Lead training and dissemination of MBT in Australia.
3. Support people to:
   1. Access non-clinical information about MBT.
   2. Find how to access MBT publicly, and privately.
   3. Maintain a national register of accredited practitioners.
4. Lead local research projects/treatment developments and disseminate the latest findings from international research.
5. Develop a community of practice and skills maintenance opportunities.
6. Host regular professional development seminars/events.

This will formalise and broaden the extensive range of activities already taking place within Spectrum’s MBT Clinic. 

The Australian MBT Institute is proud to be able to deliver the MBT Basic Training in Melbourne, Australia. The MBT Basic Training serves as the essential foundation for professionals seeking to enhance their skills in the treatment of personality disorders. 

The workshop is accredited and recognised by the prestigious Anna Freud Centre in the UK, which has played a crucial role in advancing the understanding and application of MBT.

1. MBT Basic training workshop delivered by Spectrum MBT practitioners.
2. Supervision with an MBT Practitioner
3. MBT Certificate workshop for practitioner level

1. Applicants for the MBT Basic Training must meet the following entry requirements:
2. They should be qualified health professionals such as Mental Health Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Clinical/Counselling Psychologists, Psychiatrists and Social Workers, Psychotherapists etc.
3. They will have a minimum of one years’ experience working therapeutically with people with personality disorder in teams or in individual or group work.
4. They will have undertaken supervised practice and be committed to professional standards and practice within an ethical framework.
5. It is desirable that they have personal experience of psychotherapy or counselling.