Nick Salsman

Spotlight on an ABCT Fellow: Nick Salsman, Ph.D.

To spotlight the extraordinary work of our ABCT membership, we are highlighting the work of recently admitted ABCT Fellows. Fellow status is the highest level of membership in ABCT, and we hope that many members aspire to demonstrate their outstanding and sustained accomplishments in at least one of the areas of eligibility: Clinical practice; Education and training; Advocacy/policy/public education; Dissemination and implementation; Research; and Diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Below is an interview conducted with Nick Salsman, Ph.D., a board certified licensed clinical psychologist and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)-Linehan Board of Certification clinician. He is a professor and director of the Psychological Services Center (PSC) at Xavier University, a trainer and consultant by Behavioral Tech, a psychologist at the Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VA), and a private practitioner and consultant focusing largely on DBT.

Can you tell us about what made you apply for Fellow status at ABCT?

After completing my doctoral degree at the University of Louisville and my internship at Vanderbilt University, I had the good fortune to complete a two-year post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Marsha Linehan, the developer of DBT, at the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics at the University of Washington. I learned from Dr. Linehan her mission to reduce the suffering of chronically suicidal individuals with severe and pervasive emotion dysregulation and have tried through my career to advance this mission. While it is a great personal honor to be bestowed ABCT fellow status, I am also hopeful that it will help with furthering this mission of reducing suffering.

Becoming a Fellow means that you have distinguished yourself in a variety of areas that can include dissemination, clinical service, research, training, program development, policy/advocacy and advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.  If you had to identify three professional accomplishments of which you are most proud, what would they be?

I am most proud of the work that I have had the privilege to do with students. As a professor at Xavier, I have worked with so many bright and dedicated undergraduate and graduate students who are driven to serve the underserved. When I first came to Xavier in 2007, I was able to develop a doctoral level clinical psychology course in DBT, which is now taught annually. I also established the XU DBT training program which involves two semesters of training and supervision in DBT. Graduates have established their own DBT programs in many settings where they do amazing work to reduce suffering.

Since 2014, I have served as the director of the Xavier PSC where faculty supervisors and I help students learn empirically supported practices, including CBT. I have also been able to work with students on a number of exciting research projects including chairing 26 dissertations, several publications, and many conference presentations at ABCT and at the International Society for the Improvement and Teaching of DBT (ISITDBT) that is held in conjunction with ABCT. My students and I focused on innovative applications of DBT strategies and principles including to treat persistent complex bereavement disorder, chronic pain, test anxiety, and shame subsequent to a traumatic experience.

I am also proud of the volunteer work that I have done that is aligned with the mission of reducing suffering. My volunteer work with ISITDBT and DBT-LBC has focused on advancing DBT, particularly to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion and to address systemic barriers to equity. Since 2018, I have had roles in ISITDBT including co-chairing the annual conference in 2020 and 2021, serving as the vice president, and serving as a member of the anti-racism committee.

I am proud to have served with an ISITDBT board that worked to enhance DBT’s accessibility and anti-racism in DBT. Through COVID-19, we held the first on-line ISITDBT conferences, which doubled the previous attendance record. We created an annual series of presentations focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion work in DBT and we established an anti-racism committee, which, among other efforts, established scholarships for BIPOC clinicians. Similarly, through DBT-LBC, I served as fundraising chair and we created scholarship funds to increase accessibility to board certification in DBT.

Can you tell us a bit about your pathway to becoming a professional – who were your greatest influences during your training and in the early stages of your career?

I feel so fortunate to have received such tremendous training from a number of wonderful mentors through my educational experiences. As an undergraduate at Transylvania University, my mentor was Dr. Todd Van Denburg. He was a wonderful teacher, research mentor, and model of a clinical practitioner. I was able to build my understanding of what the work of clinical psychology entails through his clear teaching and mentoring. I was saddened by Dr. Van Denburg’s passing in May of 2024 and I hope to honor him by using the gifts that he gave me well.

While working on doctoral degree in clinical psychology, I had the privilege to work under the mentorship of Dr. Stan Murrell. He taught me so very much about psychotherapy. He served as my first clinical supervisor and my research mentor and dissertation chair working on psychotherapy research. Through his guidance, I grew my love of conducting therapy, teaching about therapy, and researching therapy. I could not do the work that I do today without the years of guidance he gave to me.

Last, but not least, I am eternally grateful to Dr. Marsha Linehan. She helped me to not only grow as a psychologist, but also a person in so many ways. During my two years as a post-doctoral fellow, I lived, breathed, ate, and slept DBT. This experience changed my life in wonderful ways and equipped me with the tools that I needed to march forward with the mission of reducing suffering.

What advice would you have for someone considering applying for Fellowship status at ABCT?

Go for it! The field needs to recognize and put at the forefront diverse individuals whose work is important. The biggest limiting factor with regards to fellow status is not applying.