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..
Disorder-specific models, formulation-driven treatment and the craft of making CBT work with real clients.
Knowing the cognitive model is not the same as making CBT work with a real caseload. This course is written for practising clinicians and advanced trainees who can draw the five-part model but want their CBT to bite: to move beyond generic technique into the disorder-specific models that carry the evidence base, and into the craft decisions that distinguish practitioner-level work.
You will study the specific engines of the anxiety disorders: Clark's catastrophic misinterpretation cycle in panic, and the treatment that follows directly from it; Clark and Wells's account of social anxiety, with its self-focused attention and distorted observer image; and generalised worry through the Dugas model's intolerance of uncertainty and Wells's metacognitive beliefs. You will then turn to the craft itself: building the idiosyncratic case-level formulation, sequencing treatment so early sessions earn the client's confidence, designing behavioural experiments precise enough to move belief, and reading homework, including its absence, as clinical information rather than failure.
Substantial written lessons, each with key points, a practice task tied to real clinical decision-making, and a study tutor on hand throughout. Ten hours of CPD with around nine months of access, a final assessment, and a personalised certificate on passing.
▶ 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 in the CBT pathway. It assumes that you already hold the Foundation knowledge of this approach, whether from the Foundation course or from your training and practice, which is what CBT Essentials teaches. 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, CBT Essentials is the place to start; if you already hold its foundations from your training or practice, this is the right level to begin at.
The CBT pathway. The standard route through cognitive behavioural therapy: the cognitive model and its methods at Foundation, the disorder-specific models and the craft of formulation-driven treatment at Practitioner, and complexity, comorbidity and process at Advanced.
10 study hours10 CPD hours certified9 months of accessAI tutor in every lessonCertificate on completion (pass mark 70%)
What you will be able to do
✓Structure a complete CBT session, from agenda-setting through homework review to feedback
✓Build a collaborative case conceptualisation linking presenting problems, maintenance cycles and underlying beliefs
✓Select and deliver core change methods, including cognitive restructuring, behavioural experiments and graded exposure, to fit the formulation
✓Design between-session work the client can actually do, and use guided discovery rather than persuasion
✓Apply disorder-specific models for depression and the major anxiety presentations
✓Monitor progress with measures and adjust the treatment plan when the data say so
What you will study
Module 1: Core Cognitive-Behavioural Formulations of Common Mental Health Disorders
This module covers evidence-based CBT models and mechanisms for panic, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression.
Panic and the catastrophic misinterpretation cyclePanic runs on catastrophic misinterpretation of body sensations
Social anxiety and worry: self-focus and intolerance of uncertaintySocial anxiety is maintained by self-focused attention and the observer self-image
The Worry Process and Time Discounting in Generalised Anxiety DisorderWorry acts as a "Worry Buffer" that temporarily shields the individual from experiencing anxiety in the present moment, paradoxically reinforcing the behaviour.
Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder: The Cognitive Engines of Inflated Responsibility and Thought‑Action FusionInflated responsibility and thought‑action fusion are the core cognitive mechanisms that maintain OCD.
Depression: The Cognitive Triad, Rumination, and Behavioural ActivationBeck’s cognitive triad (self, world, future) organises depressive schemas and biases information processing.
Module 2: Advanced Assessment, Case Formulation, and Behavioural Experiments
This module covers treating PTSD, developing case-level formulations, designing impactful behavioral experiments, and using measurement-based care to guide clinical sequencing.
Post‑Traumatic Stress Disorder: Memory Intrusion, Negative Appraisals and Perceived ThreatMemory intrusions in PTSD arise from situationally accessible memories that trigger vivid flashbacks and blur past‑present boundaries.
Sequencing and the case-level formulationCase-level formulation decides treatment order
Experiments that bite and homework as dataSharp experiments: specific prediction, named and dropped safety behaviours, recorded result
Integrating Session‑by‑Session Outcome Monitoring into CBT Sequencing and Experiment DesignSystematic session‑by‑session outcome monitoring provides real‑time data that can be used to adjust the sequencing of CBT interventions.
Using Measurement‑Based Care to Refine Sequencing and Homework StrategiesMeasurement‑based care uses regular outcome and process measures to inform treatment decisions.
Module 3: Adaptive Sequencing, Relapse Prevention, and Collaborative Care
This module covers using progress data for adaptive intervention sequencing, embedding relapse prevention, and implementing collaborative agenda setting in CBT.
Embedding Relapse Prevention and Maintenance Planning within CBT Sequencing and Experiment DesignRelapse prevention is an integral component of CBT sequencing, not an optional add‑on.
Adaptive Sequencing: Using Progress Data to Tailor CBT InterventionsAdaptive sequencing uses regular outcome data to inform real‑time treatment adjustments.
Collaborative Agenda Setting and Shared Decision‑Making in CBT Sequencing and Experiment DesignCollaborative agenda setting is an iterative dialogue that aligns session goals with client priorities and uncovers potential barriers to change.
What's included
3 modules and 13 lessons
A 10-question final assessment, with a 70% pass mark
A certificate for 10 CPD hours when you pass it
An extended clinical case study with discussion questions
A glossary of key terms
Private notes, a reflection for each module, and a CPD log you can print or save as a PDF
📖 Written lessons with key points and practice tasks◆ Visual teaching diagrams🎥 Video where it helps🎧 Listen-to-this-lesson narration👩⚕️ A full clinical case study🧠 AI tutor in every lesson📄 Full course workbook (PDF) on completion📕 The course book (PDF) while you study, with your name in it
