Mentalization-Based Treatment for Adolescents (MBT-A) Training

Certified by the Anna Freud Centre, this three-day in-person training will take place at Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Conn. The trainers will provide a practical introduction to the key elements of Mentalization-Based Treatment for Adolescents (MBT-A).

MBT-A is a treatment approach for working with adolescents presenting with a wide range of mental health needs including interpersonal difficulties, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and self-harm. Participants will learn how to apply this model effectively in clinical settings. They will also:

• Gain insights into the complexities of working with adolescents
• Understand the pivotal role of mentalizing in relationships
• Learn strategies for self-esteem, affect regulation, and impulse control.

This training is designed for professionals in child and family mental health and those with qualifications in fields such as child psychotherapy, psychology, arts therapies, family therapy, counseling, psychiatry, mental health nursing, and social work.

Participants must hold a university degree in a mental health–related profession and have experience in therapeutic work with adolescents and families. The training assumes prior experience in therapeutic work with adolescents.

The fee for all three days is $1,200. Please visit the registration page to secure a seat. The deadline to register is May 20, 2026.

Trainers

Norka Malberg, PsyD, is a psychoanalyst who works with children, adolescents, and adults. She holds a voluntary appointment at Yale Child Study Center as an assistant clinical professor and serves as a clinical tutor at the Anna Freud Centre. She is accredited by the Anna Freud Centre as a trainer and supervisor in MBT across three models, each designed for children, adolescents, and families.

Malberg is the director of the IMAGINA Center for the Application of Mentalization in Barcelona, Spain. She co-authored the MBT model for children, with Nick Midgley, Karin Ensink, Karin Lindqvist, and Nicole Müller. They combined their expertise to develop this psychotherapy model. She is also the author of Working with Parents in Therapy: A Mentalization-Based Approach, recently published by the American Psychological Association.

Mark Dangerfield, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst. He is the director of the Vidal i Barraquer University Institute of Mental Health at Ramon Llull University (Barcelona). He is a psychotherapist, supervisor, and certified trainer in MBT-A, as well as a supervisor in the family model (MBT-F), and a certified supervisor and trainer in the AMBIT model for work with highly complex adolescents and young adults.

Dangerfield has devoted a large part of his professional career to working with high-risk adolescents and was the driving force behind the ECID project in Barcelona, an adaptation of the AMBIT model for working with adolescents who present high psychopathological risk and a high risk of social exclusion. The Equipo Clínico de Intervención a Domicilio (ECID, Home Intervention Clinical Team) is an intensive, in-home, mentalization-based treatment program targeting extremely high-risk and non-help-seeking adolescents in Barcelona.

Additional Information

This training constitutes the first step toward recognition as an MBT-A Certified Practitioner by the Anna Freud Centre. Participants in this training will have completed the first of the three required steps toward eligibility for the MBT-A Certified Practitioner qualification. Final recognition as an MBT-A Accredited Therapist by the Anna Freud Centre requires, in addition to this training, the supervision of clinical cases by MBT-A accredited supervisors and a final evaluation of the competencies acquired. Please visit the Anna Freud Centre website to learn more and view a list of MBT-A accredited supervisors.