At Talking Therapies UK, we are passionate about equipping professionals with the knowledge, confidence, and compassion to support mental health across diverse settings. With decades of combined experience in clinical practice, public health leadership, and service transformation, our training programmes are rooted in evidence-based approaches and real-world application.
We specialise in delivering high-impact, trauma-informed mental health training tailored to the needs of health, education, social care, and voluntary sector teams. From safeguarding and suicide prevention to emotional resilience and therapeutic communication, our courses are designed to empower practitioners at every level—whether you’re frontline staff, a strategic commissioner, or part of a multi-agency partnership.
Our facilitators bring many years clinical expertise , and a deep understanding of the social determinants of mental health. We prioritise co-production, reflective practice, and inclusive learning environments that foster curiosity, empathy, and professional growth.
Whether you’re looking to upskill your workforce, embed mental health into your organisational culture, or meet statutory training requirements, we offer flexible delivery formats including in-person workshops, webinars, and bespoke consultancy.
Together, we can build psychologically safe, responsive systems that promote wellbeing, reduce inequalities, and improve outcomes for individuals, families, and communities. Let’s shape the future of mental health—one conversation, one training, one transformation at a time..
Building Resilience: A Practical Approach to Low Self-Esteem
Integrating CBT, Schema Therapy, and Relational Perspectives
Building Resilience: A Practical Approach to Low Self‑Esteem is an intermediate‑level course that delivers six CPD hours of rigorous, evidence‑based training. Anchored in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Schema Therapy, it also incorporates relational and experiential perspectives, offering a holistic framework that aligns with contemporary research on self‑esteem development and therapeutic change.
The first module, Understanding the Landscape of Low Self‑Esteem, lays a solid theoretical foundation. It distinguishes between state and trait self‑esteem, explores developmental origins, and maps the interaction of early maladaptive schemas, core beliefs and attachment patterns that give rise to persistent feelings of worthlessness.
In the second module, Cognitive and Schematic Interventions, participants acquire practical techniques from CBT and Schema Therapy. They learn to identify, challenge and modify negative self‑referential thoughts, core beliefs and early maladaptive schemas, using structured worksheets, thought records and schema‑oriented cognitive restructuring to foster a more balanced self‑view.
The third module, Relational and Experiential Approaches, turns attention to the interpersonal dynamics that sustain low self‑esteem. Through case vignettes and role‑play, learners explore how the therapeutic relationship can serve as a corrective emotional experience, applying attachment‑informed techniques and experiential exercises to build trust, empathy and self‑compassion.
By the end of the course, participants will have a robust toolkit for assessing self‑esteem, mapping schemas, and applying CBT‑based restructuring alongside relational interventions. They will be able to design personalised treatment plans that integrate cognitive, schematic and experiential techniques, and will demonstrate confidence in using evidence‑based tools such as the Rosenberg Self‑Esteem Scale, the Young Schema Questionnaire and relational case formulations.
Suitable for psychologists, counsellors, social workers and other mental‑health professionals who already possess foundational CBT skills, this course is delivered through a blend of interactive lectures, guided practice and reflective discussion. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underlie low self‑esteem, and with practical, research‑supported strategies to build resilience in their clients.
Assessment is a cornerstone of the curriculum. Learners will practise administering and interpreting validated instruments such as the PHQ‑9, GAD‑7, and the Self‑Esteem Scale, learning to triangulate self‑report data with clinical observation. The course emphasises how to translate assessment findings into targeted interventions, ensuring that each session is data‑driven and aligned with the client’s therapeutic goals.
▶ See inside the digital classroom1 minute 36 seconds · how a course is laid out, how each lesson is taught, and how the tutor helps
Before you start
This is a Practitioner course, a stand-alone short course. It assumes that you already hold the Foundation knowledge of this approach, whether from the Foundation course or from your training and practice. What it adds is formulation and treatment decisions with real caseloads: the disorder-specific or situation-specific methods, sequencing, and what to do when the standard approach does not work; it revisits the foundations only as far as it needs to before building on them, so it does not repeat the course below.
If you have not met this approach before, start with a Foundation course; if you already hold its foundations from your training or practice, this is the right level to begin at.
10 study hours10 CPD hours certified12 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 70%)
What you will be able to do
✓Identify the cognitive and emotional markers of low self-esteem in clinical practice.
✓Apply CBT techniques to challenge and restructure negative core beliefs.
✓Understand the role of early maladaptive schemas in maintaining low self-worth.
✓Develop strategies to enhance self-compassion and emotional regulation.
✓Integrate relational approaches to address attachment-related vulnerabilities.
✓Formulate a tailored treatment plan for clients with chronic self-esteem issues.
What you will study
Module 1: Understanding the Landscape of Low Self-Esteem
This module provides a theoretical foundation, distinguishing between state and trait self-esteem and exploring the developmental origins of self-worth issues.
Defining and Assessing Self-Esteem- Self‑esteem is a global evaluation of worth, self‑efficacy is confidence in specific tasks, and self‑compassion is kindness towards oneself.
Developmental Roots and AttachmentInternal working models of self and others are formed through early attachment experiences and act as filters for self-worth.
The Role of Core BeliefsCore beliefs filter experiences and generate automatic thoughts that sustain low self‑esteem.
The Maintenance Cycle: Behavioural and Cognitive Guardrails of Low Self-EsteemThe maintenance cycle explains how low self-esteem survives through a self-reinforcing network of cognitive biases, safety behaviours, and interpersonal patterns.
Module 2: Cognitive and Schematic Interventions
Focuses on practical techniques from CBT and Schema Therapy to identify, challenge, and modify negative self-referential thoughts and schemas.
Identifying Automatic Thoughts and Cognitive DistortionsAutomatic thoughts are rapid, often negative statements that arise in response to a situation and can be recorded in a thought diary.
Challenging Core BeliefsCore beliefs are global and absolute, requiring a different approach than automatic thoughts; the goal is to reduce conviction, not eliminate the belief entirely.
Schema Mode Work- Schema mode work distinguishes Vulnerable Child, Punitive Parent and Healthy Adult states to target low self‑esteem.
The Behavioural Experiment: Testing Core Beliefs and Schemas in ActionBehavioural experiments bridge the gap between intellectual disputation and emotional acceptance by testing core beliefs through experiential data.
Positive Data Logs and the Prejudice Model: Consolidating New Self-Beliefs Through EvidenceThe Prejudice Model, developed by Melanie Fennell, explains how negative core beliefs maintain themselves by selectively attending to confirming evidence and dismissing or discounting disconfirming evidence, making the belief self-sealing over time.
Module 3: Relational and Experiential Approaches
Addresses the interpersonal dynamics of low self-esteem, focusing on the therapeutic relationship as a corrective emotional experience.
The Therapeutic Alliance as a Corrective ExperienceThe therapeutic alliance functions as a corrective emotional experience by providing a relational template that contradicts the client's negative expectations of rejection.
Introducing Self-Compassion Practices1. Self‑compassion comprises self‑kindness, common humanity and mindfulness, and can reduce self‑critical thoughts.
Addressing Interpersonal AvoidanceBehavioural experiments are hypothesis-testing processes, not simple homework, requiring specific predictions and defined evidence.
Working with Shame and Relational Exposure in Low Self-EsteemChronic low self-esteem is fundamentally maintained by interpersonal shame and relational avoidance patterns.
Navigating Transference and Countertransference in Low Self-Esteem WorkTransference occurs when clients unconsciously project past relational schemas and expectations onto the therapist.
