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..
Working with Clients Presenting with Depression Using CBT
A Practical CPD Course for Counsellors and Psychotherapists
Welcome to Working with Clients Presenting with Depression Using CBT, an intermediate clinical training programme designed specifically for qualified counsellors and psychotherapists seeking to sharpen their evidence-based competencies. Depression remains one of the most prevalent and debilitating presentations encountered in modern mental healthcare, yet it is also one of the most treatable when approached through a structured, empirically validated cognitive-behavioural framework. This six-hour continuing professional development course bridges the gap between contemporary clinical research and daily practice, equipping you with the precise tools needed to conceptualise and treat depressive disorders effectively across diverse client groups. Throughout this training, you will explore the foundational cognitive mechanisms that maintain low mood, learning to map the intricate feedback loops between automatic thoughts, emotional states, physiological sensations, and maladaptive behaviours. By grounding your clinical work in the proven efficacy of cognitive-behavioural therapy, you will move beyond generic supportive counselling into focused, goal-directed interventions that foster genuine cognitive and behavioural shifts. You will begin by examining the diagnostic criteria for depression alongside the core tenets of the CBT model, gaining a clear understanding of how to engage demoralised clients who present with pervasive feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness. The curriculum then guides you through structured assessment methodologies, teaching you how to integrate validated psychometric measures such as the PHQ-9 to quantify symptom severity, monitor therapeutic progress, and evaluate the efficacy of your ongoing interventions. You will learn to construct robust, individualised CBT case formulations that draw upon longitudinal developmental factors and current maintaining cycles, ensuring your treatment plans are uniquely tailored to each client rather than applied as a rigid template. Central to the programme is an in-depth exploration of core evidence-based techniques, providing hands-on training in behavioural activation to combat anhedonia and withdrawal, alongside cognitive restructuring strategies to identify, challenge, and modify depressogenic assumptions and core beliefs. You will practice pacing interventions to accommodate the often limited energy reserves of depressed clients, ensuring that behavioural tasks remain achievable and reinforcing rather than overwhelming. The training also addresses the critical phases of monitoring recovery and managing relapse, teaching you how to help clients identify personal early warning signs, consolidate their therapeutic gains, and construct comprehensive relapse prevention plans that safeguard against future depressive episodes. In addition to technical proficiency, the course addresses important aspects of professional practice, including cultural sensitivity, intersectionality, and the complex ways in which Social GGRRAAACCEEESSS influence the therapeutic alliance and the expression of distress. By the conclusion of this intermediate CPD course, you will possess a deepened clinical confidence, a structured toolkit of empirically supported interventions, and the analytical framework required to help your clients achieve sustained recovery and emotional resilience.
▶ 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 core cognitive and behavioural components that maintain depression.
✓Apply evidence‑based CBT techniques such as cognitive restructuring, behavioural activation and problem solving.
✓Develop a structured treatment plan that incorporates assessment, goal setting and outcome monitoring.
✓Evaluate treatment progress and make data‑driven adjustments to the intervention.
✓Demonstrate ethical and cultural sensitivity when working with diverse clients.
What you will study
Module 1: Foundations of Depression and CBT
An overview of depression, its diagnostic criteria, and the CBT model that links thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Understanding Major Depressive DisorderThe DSM-5 requires five or more symptoms for two weeks, including depressed mood or anhedonia, to diagnose MDD.
CBT Theory for DepressionDepression is maintained by a transactional cycle involving cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes.
The Maintenance Cycle of Depression: Behavioural Activation and Cognitive InterlockDepression is sustained by a self-reinforcing maintenance cycle involving the dynamic interlock of negative thoughts, low mood, and behavioural avoidance.
Module 2: Assessment and Case Formulation
Learn structured assessment tools and how to build a CBT case formulation that guides treatment.
Using Standardised MeasuresThe PHQ-9 and BDI-II are validated self-report tools for assessing depression severity, with the PHQ-9 aligned to DSM-5 criteria and the BDI-II capturing broader cognitive and somatic symptoms.
Behavioural Experiments and Thought RecordsThought records and behavioural experiments provide objective data to test negative automatic thoughts and maintain the CBT formulation
Formulating a CBT Case ConceptA CBT formulation integrates assessment data into a testable hypothesis linking thoughts, emotions, behaviours, core beliefs and context.
Module 3: Evidence‑Based Techniques for Depression
Hands‑on training in the core CBT techniques that have proven efficacy for depression.
Cognitive RestructuringCognitive restructuring is a collaborative, empirical process, not simply 'positive thinking'.
Behavioural Activation1. Behavioural activation targets the cycle of withdrawal and low mood by increasing positive reinforcement.
Problem Solving and Goal SettingProblem solving in CBT for depression involves a six-step model: defining the problem, generating solutions, evaluating solutions, deciding on a solution, implementing the plan, and evaluating the outcome.
Behavioural Experiments and Empirical TestingBehavioural experiments actively test the validity of depressogenic thoughts and core beliefs through experiential testing rather than verbal persuasion alone.
Module 4: Monitoring, Relapse Prevention and Professional Practice
Strategies for tracking progress, preventing relapse and maintaining ethical practice.
Outcome Monitoring and Treatment Adjustment1. Use a consistent, validated depression measure (e.g., PHQ‑9, BDI‑II) at intake and r
