Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (1 year)

Course details

The Postgraduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a one-year course providing a comprehensive training in the core competencies required to become a competent CBT therapist*. Oxford is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in CBT research, practice and training. This programme has evolved from a course established more than 30 years ago and draws on an impressive body of local specialist knowledge and skill.

Students will first learn the core skills of CBT relevant to working with clients presenting with single and more common mental health problems. As the course progresses, they will go on to build on these foundations to develop skills for working with presentations which are characterised by issues associated with greater complexity, such as comorbidity, chronicity, or where systematic factors play a role in maintaining current problems.

*The course is designed to enable students to meet the minimum training standards for British Association of Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy​ (BABCP) accreditation as a CBT psychotherapist. It is currently BABCP-accredited at Level 1 and is seeking Level 2 accreditation.

Quick links

• Course aims
• Programme details
• Course fees and costs
• How to apply
• Visa information

Course aims

On successful completion of the course, graduates can expect to have achieved:

• a sound knowledge of cognitive behavioural models, concepts and methods
• an understanding of issues of importance relating to the theory and practice of CBT, including: 
  • the relationship between CBT theory and therapy
  • the use of CBT with a variety of client groups and disorders
  • related research on outcome and process.
• competence to establish and maintain warm, respectful, collaborative therapeutic relationships, including:
  • having a conceptual framework for understanding and managing difficulties in the alliance
  • using clinical supervision to identify and resolve difficulties in practice
• competence in assessing and treating patients using CBT:
  • assessing patient suitability for CBT
  • developing CBT case-formulations
  • devising and implementing individualised treatment programmes
  • evaluating their effects.
• the ability to convey clearly to clients and others the central concepts of CBT and how CBT interventions work.**

**The course does not aim to prepare students to teach and supervise CBT. The emphasis is on acquiring, practising and communicating specialised clinical skills, within an explicit theoretical framework in relation to associated empirical research.

Programme details

• The course begins with five days of teaching over the first two weeks and one day per week (Fridays) thereafter.
• The majority of the teaching takes place online. There will be a 3-day in-person teaching block in Week One and approximately 2 further in-person teaching days per term. These will take place in Oxford and attendance is compulsory. Overseas applicants should check their eligibility for visas to travel to the UK to attend these teaching days.
• Students receive two hours of small-group supervision weekly with a course supervisor, focusing on CBT skills development. In teaching sessions, emphasis is placed on observation of CBT in action and on experiential learning with participation in role-play and other practical exercises.
• Some of the teaching days on this course may be made available to a wider audience as publicly bookable workshops via the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre. All participants will be expected to have an appropriate level of competence to participate fully.

Clinical practice

Students are responsible for sourcing suitable adult training cases to enable them to complete the clinical practice elements and assessments for the course.

In the first term, it is essential that students have access to adult treatment settings where they can access training cases suitable for novice CBT therapists (ie mild-moderate presentations of common mental health problems, such as those likely to present within primary care mental health settings) and where cognitive behavioural therapy skills can be practised and refined on a regular basis. This may require liaison with a service other than that where the student routinely works.

From the second term, students will need to continue to access training cases suitable for CBT interventions, but these can be more complex (e.g. with co-morbidity, longer duration or involving systemic issues, such as those likely to present in secondary care mental health settings).

Students are also responsible for arranging regular CBT supervision for their training cases from a qualified CBT practitioner, as not all supervision needs can be met within the small group skills supervision provided by the course. Supervisors should hold Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist accreditation with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy.

Reading and completion of written assignments will be undertaken in addition to the teaching days outlined above. Students should expect to require around 7 hours per week for private study.

Applicants’ capacity to meet these requirements will be assessed at interview.

Assessment

• Two case presentations of up to 20 minutes in duration
• Three clinical recordings
• Two case report of not more than 4000 words
• One Training Portfolio