Rainbow,
Yes, the program that I'm in requires you to have a DBT therapist from their clinic. They say it is for continuity. They have weekly team meetings and it is important that skills trainers and individual t's to consult about the patients progress and struggles. For example, if you aren't participating in skills they will talk to your own t and then your t will work with you in your sessions to get you to change your behavior. My problem was that my t eventually became the skills trainer in my group due to some unforseen events and I did not like having him in there with all his other clients and myself. I got really jealous. I tried to switch t's so I could stay in DBT but I was not able to do that. The other reason is that they want your individual to know the protocol and be applying in your individual sessions. They want issues addressed on a higherarchy because that is how it is the most successful.

On the other piece. I personally think that you would have more success in a program that is once weekly for a longer period of time rather than a condensed intensive program. The reason is that these are not easy skills to apply and it takes a lot of practice and examing homework. A lot of my learning was "Wow, this happened and I didn't like how it went. Then fill out the homework of how I can handle it the next time." Also you would have additional support for a longer period of time. You will most likely develop relationships with the other members of your group and your skills trainers. They will first offer you more support in addition to your current t and also it will give you some other relationships to put some energy into thus hopefully reducing your obsession (your words) with current t.

My therapist told me repeatedly that the most loving, caring thing he could do for me was dbt and he was right. DBT therapists aren't snarky boot camp t's, they really are in tuned to what you need and are most conscientous of being non judgemental and finding the grain of truth. They also have an art to validating your pain or point of view. Yes they have some standards that they stand by and rules that I personally didn't enjoy but it was the most caring way for me to receive treatment.

Hopefully that other program you are going to contact would allow you to do the skills training, meet weekly with a dbt t, and also see your t once a week. That would be awesome. You could also use your skills trainers and co dbt groupies to sort out some problems you have with your current t. Keep pursuing this Rainbow!