Certificate in Cognitive Therapy Theory and Methods (CCTTM)

Course Background

Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre (BCTC) holds the first professionally accredited course in Northern Ireland, including those counselling courses held at both universities. The Centre was a finalist in the Regional Training Awards and was the sole counselling and training organisation in N. Ireland to be cited in a 2002 Government Report in to standards of counselling.

A growing number of our applicants are concerned that they do not meet our Postgraduate Diploma entry requirements.

They have therefore requested alternative training which will eventually lead to similar professional accreditation with one of the major accrediting bodies. (The Centre's P/G Diploma has been accredited by both IACP and BACP for a period of five years).

When is the Course held?

The Certificate is a 140 - hour qualification, delivered over 20 days, held on Saturdays, between February and June 2010 and is composed of six core units of 23 hours each.

Is the course accredited?

Since one cohort of students needs to be graduated prior to accreditation and the certificate has just begun, it is not yet accredited. Nonetheless, all of the training is designed by the same chartered psychologist who devised the original accredited P/G Diploma in Cognitive Therapy and also taught by all of the tutors who already train on the accredited P/G Diploma Course.

What will participants gain from the certificate course?

The certificate course is part of a series of training programmes run by Belfast Cognitive Therapy Centre (BCTC) Applicants who are considering undertaking cognitive therapy training at Diploma or P/G Diploma level with BCTC or elsewhere, will find that the certificate course will provide them with the training for such progression.

An outline of how students may undertake such a progression will be carried out as an initial aspect of the training.

The overall aim of the certificate course is offer practical training with the aim of developing and enhancing student's patient and client work practice.

The purposes of the Certificate are to

1. Enable practitioners to develop a beginning level of understanding of C.T. theory and skills.
2. Help develop the practice of those currently working in counselling and related fields, who have little or no knowledge of C.T. and who wish to learn to use it appropriately in their work.
3. Assist practitioners in identifying and addressing common patient and client difficulties.
4. Assist practitioners to acquire beginning cognitive interventions in work with suitable anxious and depressed clients and patients.
5. Assist practitioners to acquire beginning behavioural interventions in work with suitable anxious and depressed clients and patients.
6. Enable practitioners to assess those clinical difficulties with which s/he can work safely and effectively, and those which should be onward referred.

Who is eligible to apply to undertake the Certificate?

The Certificate is suitable for a range of mental health and social care professionals from both the statutory and voluntary sectors, who wish to develop their patient and client work practice in the areas outlined above.

Core units

1. The Basics of Cognitive Therapy, including the Alliance and Interpersonal Processes.
2. Assessment and Case Formulation.
3. Understanding anxiety and depression.
4. Cognitive Interventions and underpinning theory.
5. Behavioural Interventions and underpinning theory.
6. C.T. structure, homework and note taking.
NB: In order to complete the Certificate students should successfully complete all six units.

How is the certificate course assessed?

Assessments will take the form of assignments, practical work and personal and professional development activities.

PPD

NB: Trainees are encouraged to discuss and work only on personal areas with which they feel comfortable.

Duration

5 months (part-time)

How much does it cost?

Fees for the Certificate Course are £995 excl. 15% VAT.

Personal and Professional Development Group Work Fee: £300 excl. 15% VAT.

Research demonstrates that trainees who are given the opportunity to practice CT theory and skills on themselves prior to beginning CT client work, benefit both personally and professionally i.e. it has been demonstrated that they are subsequently more likely to become mature, well balanced, effective and confident therapists. In the Certificate Course, therefore, you will begin to practice CT theory and skills on your own personal and professional development before you begin to use them with clients. PPD is a Course requirement of the Certificate. As this component involves small groups of three to five trainees (depending on Certificate course numbers) over five sessions of four hours per Certificate, each group facilitated by an experienced therapist, it involves higher staffing levels. In view of this, there is an additional fee of £300 for participation in PPD groups.