I've never heard of DBSA requiring that you be in treatment. The one here, you don't even need to be diagnosed with Bipolar. Many people where there for other mental health issues, like Depression, OCD, and Borderline Personality Disorder.

Maybe you could look on their website and see if there's any guidelines on there.

http://www.dbsalliance.org

We've also started our BP/Depression chat back up on Fridays @ 7:00 EST, if you need support.