CBT Practitioner Skills
Learn to use cognitive behavioural techniques competently within a clearly defined scope of practice, taught and assessed by a chartered psychologist and BABCP-accredited therapist.
Taught and assessed by
Dr Priya RamanProfile pending contract
- Live teaching
- 22h
- Self-study
- 40h
- Duration
- 10 weeks
- Weekly load
- ~6h
What you will be able to do
- Explain the cognitive model accurately and use it to structure a conversation
- Identify and work with unhelpful thinking patterns using established techniques
- Design and review a behavioural experiment with a client
- Recognise presentations that require clinical assessment and refer them
- State and hold your scope of practice explicitly with clients
- Use structured measures appropriately without over-claiming what they show
Who this is for
- Coaches wanting a firmer evidence base for how they work with thinking patterns
- HR, wellbeing and pastoral staff supporting people at work
- Nurses, teachers and support workers in non-therapeutic roles
- Trainee therapists wanting additional supervised technique practice
Who this is not for
- Anyone expecting to qualify as a CBT therapist — that requires accredited clinical training
- Anyone unwilling to have their practice observed and critiqued
What you need before you start
- Experience in a role involving structured conversations with people
- Willingness to be observed in role-play practice
What you will actually learn
10 modules · 10 weeks · 22h live
The cognitive modelHow thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physiology interact, and how to use that model in a conversation.
Covered in this module
- The cognitive model in plain language
- Maintenance cycles
- Socratic dialogue
- Collaborative empiricism
Scope of practiceThe boundary between CBT-informed practice and therapy, established before any technique is taught.
Covered in this module
- What non-clinical practice can and cannot address
- Risk indicators and escalation
- Stating your limits to a client
- Documenting the boundary
Assessment and formulationGathering the right information and organising it into a shared understanding.
Covered in this module
- Structured information gathering
- Building a formulation with the client
- Using measures responsibly
- When assessment reveals clinical need
Working with thoughtsIdentifying and testing unhelpful thinking patterns without dismissing a client's experience.
Covered in this module
- Thought records
- Common cognitive distortions
- Evidence-testing done well and badly
- Avoiding forced positivity
Behavioural experimentsDesigning real-world tests that change belief more effectively than discussion does.
Covered in this module
- Designing a genuine test
- Predicting and recording
- Reviewing disconfirmation
- When experiments go wrong
Avoidance and activationBehavioural activation and graded exposure principles, and their limits outside a clinical setting.
Covered in this module
- Activity scheduling
- Graded hierarchies
- Safety behaviours
- The clinical boundary in exposure work
Working with worry and ruminationProcess-focused techniques for the patterns that dominate everyday presentations.
Covered in this module
- Worry postponement
- Metacognitive approaches
- Intolerance of uncertainty
- Distinguishing worry from anxiety disorder
Practice observation: round oneRole-play under observation with structured feedback from tutor and peers.
Covered in this module
- Role-play protocol
- Self-assessment
- Receiving critique
- Targeted improvement
Ethics, records and supervisionWorking safely: consent, records, data protection and why supervision is not optional.
Covered in this module
- Informed consent
- UK GDPR and sensitive data
- Finding supervision
- Insurance
Final assessment clinicRecorded sessions and formulations reviewed live against the rubric.
Covered in this module
- Final recording review
- Formulation critique
- Referral decisions examined
- Continuing development
Dates and timetable
CBT Practitioner Skills runs as a live cohort over 10 weeks. Pick the start date that fits — every cohort gets the same tutor, curriculum and assessment.
| Starts | Live sessions | Cap | Status and action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ends | Thursdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 10 weeks | 20 | Choose this date → |
| Ends | Thursdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 10 weeks | 20 | Choose this date → |
How you are assessed
A recorded role-play session demonstrating a structured CBT-informed conversation, plus a written case formulation with an explicit scope-of-practice and referral analysis. Marked by Dr Priya Raman against a published rubric in which referral judgement is weighted most heavily. Written feedback with one free resubmission.
Our accreditation applications are in progress. We do not display an accreditation mark before it is granted — see the current status.
After you pass
- Formulation and measure templates
- Referral pathway guidance for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Can you practise CBT after a short course?
No. Practising as a CBT therapist requires accredited clinical training, supervised clinical hours and professional accreditation, typically through the BABCP. A short programme can make you genuinely more skilful at using cognitive behavioural techniques within a non-clinical role, and that is what this one does.
We state this plainly because the distinction is routinely obscured in this market, and the consequence of obscuring it falls on vulnerable clients.
What this programme produces is a practitioner who uses CBT-informed technique competently within a stated scope, recognises what falls outside it, and refers. That is a genuinely valuable and honestly describable capability. It is not a therapist.
Sources
- BABCP accreditation — minimum training standards — British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies
What is CBT-informed practice?
CBT-informed practice means using techniques drawn from cognitive behavioural therapy — thought records, behavioural experiments, activity scheduling — within a non-therapeutic role such as coaching, wellbeing support or management. The techniques are the same; the scope, contract and client group are not.
Who genuinely benefits from CBT practitioner training?
People who already have structured conversations with others and want a firmer evidence base for them: coaches, wellbeing leads, pastoral staff, managers and support workers. The training also helps trainee therapists get additional observed technique practice, which is often scarce.
How is referral judgement assessed on this programme?
It carries the heaviest weighting in the marking rubric. Your written case formulation must include an explicit scope-of-practice analysis identifying what you would not work with and where you would refer. Missing a clear clinical indicator is the one failure that cannot be offset by good technique.
Common questions
Will I get a diploma in CBT?
You receive a credential recording that you passed an assessed programme in CBT practitioner skills, naming the assessor and the rubric. It does not describe you as a CBT therapist, because you would not be one.
Is this accredited by the BABCP?
No, and it does not claim to be. BABCP accreditation applies to clinical training courses that meet its minimum standards, which this programme does not attempt to meet. Our CPD accreditation application is separate and in progress.
Do I need to be in a helping role already?
It helps considerably, because the practice work and the assessment both rely on you having conversations to apply this to. If you are changing career into one, tell us at enrolment and we will make sure the practice element works for you.
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SubjectCoaching & Psychology
Assessed coaching and therapeutic skills programmes taught by chartered psychologists and ICF-credentialled coaches, with recorded practice and real feedback.
AnswerCan a short CBT course make you a therapist?
No. A CBT therapist needs accredited clinical training and supervised hours. A short skills course must not claim that title.