Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre

30/06/2025

🚨 Exciting news for professionals working with families!

Applications are now open for the Year One Postgraduate Certificate in Systemic Theory and Practice (Foundation level) – a fantastic training opportunity offered by our colleagues at the Oxford Systemic Therapy Training and in partnership with Oxford Brookes University.

💬 Want to find out more? Come along to their Open Day – it's a great chance to meet the team, learn about the course, and ask any questions you may have.

🗓️ Open Day: Monday 7 July 2025, 5 to 6pm on Teams

Please register your interest by 31 July 2025 by emailing 👉 Systemictherapyadmissions-oxicptr@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk

🧠 This foundation-level programme runs from 13 October 2025 to 10 June 2026 and is designed to give you practical, evidence-based skills alongside a strong understanding of systemic theory and practice.

🎓 The course is accredited by the Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice (AFT) and is ideal for professionals in all NHS settings, social care, education, and the voluntary sector.

Don’t miss your chance to take this important step in your professional development!

For more information, please visit the website https://oxicptr.web.ox.ac.uk/year-1-post-graduate-certificate-systemic-family-therapy-foundation-level

Provides an introduction to the theory and principles of different models of systemic therapy to develop skills in working with families, couples, individuals and other networks in an interactive and diverse learning environment.

25/06/2025

🌟 We’re reducing our CPD workshop prices to support our NHS colleagues

Starting today, all OCTC CPD workshops will cost just £95 (down from £140).

We know times are tough across the NHS, and we want to do our bit. That’s why we’re making our high-quality, skills-based training more affordable for the people who need it most.

✅ Practical, skills focused
✅ Evidence-based
✅ Run by expert clinicians
✅ Aligned with NHS values

Upcoming highlights 2025

7 July – Understanding personality disorder through developmental pathways and trauma, presenter Professor Kate Davidson

8 July - The Practice Lab: Skills for using Theory A/Theory B in OCD and other Anxiety Disorders, presenter Victoria Bream

15 September - Managing hostility and aggression in CBT: A skills-based workshop

👉 Check out the full programme here: https://www.octc.co.uk/workshops/

[Alt text: A graphic featuring the text “We know how hard our colleagues are working across the NHS and beyond. We see your dedication, your compassion, and your resilience. This price reduction is our way of saying we’re with you. We want to make it easier for you to access the training you need to keep doing the incredible work you do. Thank you for being part of this community.” Paul Salkovskis, Director of OCTC. Featured alongside a photo and the logos for OCTC and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.]

19/06/2025

📢 Great news!

We’ve extended our workshop registration period to make it easier for you to join us! You now have until 9:00am, two days before the event to sign up. This adjustment reflects our commitment to your convenience and staying true to values. 🙌

Visit our workshop programme page to secure your place for practice with experts. For details and registration 🔗https://bit.ly/OCTCworkshops

17/06/2025

📢 Final call to secure a place in Dr Helen Kennerley’s upcoming workshop: Ruptures, relapses, and other schema-driven issues in CBT

Did you know that in Beck’s groundbreaking CBT manual (Cognitive Therapy of Depression, 1979), he highlighted the importance of building a strong therapeutic relationship in CBT? But what happens when this relationship faces challenges like ruptures? How can we repair these ruptures in a way that strengthens the working alliance?

This workshop will:

✅review how we understand schema driven processes in CBT

✅ review the basics of establishing a safe and respectful working alliance

✅ explore how we can understand and manage interpersonal ruptures within therapy

✅explore how we can engage in collaborative relapse management

Don’t miss out on the chance to discuss this topic with an esteemed expert in the field – registration closes at 12 noon on 20.06.25. Sign up here! 👉 https://bit.ly/Workshop25-06-25

📅 Date: Wednesday 25 June 2025

🕒 Time: 9:30am to 4:30pm

📍 Online via Zoom

📜 Certificate of Attendance included

Sign up now 👉 https://bit.ly/Workshop25-06-25

In his first CBT treatment manual (Cognitive Therapy of Depression, 1979) Beck makes clear that CBT demands a sound therapeutic relationship, the CBT “working alliance”, that requires Rogerian acceptance and warmth alongside therapist humility. We must be able to conceptualize the experience of ...

23/05/2025

📢 New workshop alert!

💬 Are you a mental health professional working with adolescents with social anxiety disorder (SAD)? Gain valuable insights and practical strategies in our upcoming online workshop! 🧑‍💻

Did you know that standard CBT treatment results in a 50% lower recovery rate for adolescents with social anxiety disorder (SAD) compared to those with other anxiety issues? (Evans et al., 2021) 💹Exciting new research indicates that Cognitive Therapy, a highly effective treatment for adult SAD, may have a powerful impact on adolescent SAD.

Join our visiting expert Dr Eleanor Leigh for an engaging workshop, CBT for Adolescent Social Anxiety on Friday 20 June 2025. This is a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding and enhance your therapeutic skills.

Workshop details and registration:
📅 Date: Friday 20 June 2025
🕒 Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm
📍 Delivery: Online via Zoom
📜 Certificate of Attendance provided

📚 What you will learn:
📝 Understand the cognitive model of adolescent SAD and its treatment implications
📝 Detailed steps involved in the treatment process
📝 Explore case materials and watch video sessions for comprehensive understanding

🔗 Register by midday on 17.06.25 and don't miss this chance to enhance your skills and knowledge! 🔗 https://bit.ly/Workshop20-06-25

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is common, impairing, and persistent, and it nearly always first occurs in adolescence. The standard treatment for adolescent SAD is a type of CBT designed to treat all common anxiety problems. Although this treatment is helpful for most anxiety problems, it works less....

16/05/2025

🌟OCTC Away Day 2025: Upholding values in a changing landscape
Celebrating collaboration, learning, and the legacy of CBT

Located at Harris Manchester College, the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre's annual Away Day provided an opportunity for collaboration, innovation, and learning in a different setting.

As we rarely gather in full, this event offered an opportunity for those who could attend, both clinical and administrative team members, to come together and plan for the year ahead.

The day started with an engaging ice breaker session led by Dan White, Consultant Clinical Psychotherapist, showcasing psychological and learning theory principles that underpin PG Cert in ECBT (Supervision and Training). This not only demonstrated the importance of ice breakers but also how active methods can enhance learning in our workshops. Through one 15-minute exercise, we were reminded of the wealth of learning theories and models that support our training programmes.

A special highlight was hearing from Dr Anne Garland, Consultant Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, who shared insights from her PhD about the role of self-compassion in persistent treatment-resistant depression. Anne will also be presenting these findings at the upcoming EABCT Glasgow 2025 conference, and we are incredibly proud of her contributions to this under-researched area of difficulty.

Sarah Rakovshik, Consultant Cognitive Behaviour Psychotherapist, Co-Deputy Director of OCTC, shared her reflections on the day’s significance: “It was such a pleasure to talk about where we’ve come from as an organisation and look forward to what we still want to achieve. OCTC had one of the first two CBT training courses in the UK when CBT dissemination was just beginning more than 30 years ago. It is extraordinary to see CBT is now available across the UK as the dominant modality of psychological treatment.

“Although the landscape has changed, our values have not. We still believe in patient-centered, empirically-supported, formulation-driven therapy. There are different challenges to keeping this approach to CBT available to patients now: not so much a lack of CBT-provision, but the pressures that come with trying to provide this within overly stretched health care settings. In some ways, this makes the kind of training supervision and research we do even more crucial as we all strive to maintain quality and fidelity for every patient who is offered CBT.”

To learn more about the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, please visit our website www.octc.co.uk You can also stay updated with the latest news and developments by joining our marketing email list http://eepurl.com/iRg5mA



Alt text: Top logos for Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Below picture OCTC team members.

12/05/2025

🧠Mental Health Awareness Week (12 to 18 May 2025) begins today.

It takes place each May to increase people’s understanding of mental health; this year’s theme is ‘community.’ Life presents many challenges and difficulties, and at Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, we understand the importance of social connections and supportive communities for everyone’s mental well-being.

Rachel Manser, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, stated: "I feel fortunate to work with my colleagues in the Post Graduate Certificate in CBT for Psychosis and Bipolar. Our efficient administrator and dedicated team are committed to providing the best training experience for our students, ensuring they can deliver high-quality CBT for psychosis. Our course lead encourages idea-sharing, which creates a sense of community, and we see these ideas implemented. With a clear shared aim, I feel supported and energized by our meetings, fostering a strong sense of community and purpose."

(Image description: The Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre and Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust logos displayed at the top. Mental Health Awareness Week, 12 to 18 May 2025 displayed in blue text is below. To the right are three outlines of heads.)

09/05/2025

📢 Workshop alert!

Join us on Monday 19 May 2025 for an online workshop with Dr Tom Graham, Counselling Psychologist and CBT Therapist. Learn how to tackle low self-esteem using cognitive and behavioural strategies.

🗓️ Date: Monday 19 May 2025
🕒 Time: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
📍 Delivery: Online via Zoom
📜 Certificate of Attendance provided

Spaces are limited! Registration closes at midday on 15.05.25.

🔗Register now https://bit.ly/Workshop19-05-25

Although low self-esteem is not a diagnostic category, it is a recognised feature of many psychological disorders. A vulnerability factor for some problems, and a feature or consequence of others, low self-esteem can affect and perpetuate a person’s distress, independently or as an aspect of compl...

06/05/2025

📢 Exciting news! Join us for an in-person workshop led by the esteemed Dr Helen Kennerley on “An Introduction to Developmental Trauma: Understanding the Effects of Childhood Abuse and Neglect.”

📅 Date: Monday 12 May 2025
🕒 Time: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
📍 Venue: Ewert House, Summertown, Oxford OX2 7DD
🎓 Presenter: Helen Kennerley, Consultant Clinical Psychologist

Dr. Helen Kennerley is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and a founding member of the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (OCTC). She is renowned for her expertise in trauma and anxiety and has authored several influential books in cognitive therapy, including “Overcoming Childhood Trauma 2nd Edition: A self-help guide using cognitive behavioural techniques”, published by Little, Brown Book Group in 2000.

Why should you attend?
✅ Enhance your expertise
✅ Contribute to improved mental health outcomes
✅ Make new connections
✅ Earn a Certificate of Attendance

🔗Register by midday on Thursday 8 May 2025 https://bit.ly/workshop12-05-25

An increasing body of research shows that developmental trauma can take a neuropsychological toll on children. This in turn colours their sense of self and their relationships with others. Sadly, for some this means an adulthood of enduring problems of self-esteem, mood management and difficulties i...

01/05/2025

🌟 Exciting workshop alert: Cognitive Therapy for PTSD in Children and Young People

Are you a mental health professional eager to boost your skills in addressing childhood PTSD?

Join us on Friday 23 May 2025 for a transformative CPD workshop led by Dr Carmen Chan, a renowned Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in early adversity and trauma in children and young people.

🔍 Why attend?
✅ Enhance your confidence in formulating trauma using the cognitive model.
✅ Gain skills in supporting young people to process trauma memories.
✅ Consider the role of the wider context in treatment.

🗓️ Date: Friday 23 May 2025
🕒 Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm
📍 Delivery: Online via Zoom
📜 Certificate of Attendance provided

Spaces are limited, so don't miss out! Registration closes at 12 midday on 20.05.25.

🔗 Register now https://bit.ly/4cOj7ak

Feel free to share this post with colleagues who might be interested! 😊

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is one of the many responses to childhood adversity; however, working with PTSD can raise anxiety in many clinicians. Cognitive Therapy for PTSD is recommended by NICE as the first line treatment for children and young people with PTSD. Through a combination of....

29/04/2025

📢 Exciting workshop alert: Behavioural Interventions for Tics and Tourette's 📢

Are you a mental health professional looking to enhance your skills in providing evidence-based treatment for tic disorders? Join us on Thursday 22 May 2025 for a workshop led by Dr Fiona McFarlane, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Oxford Health Specialist Psychological Intervention Centre (OHSPIC).

This workshop will:

✅ provide you with effective strategies to help young people with tic disorders

✅ insights into the challenges faced by children and adolescents

✅ boost your ability to provide accessible and impactful treatment

🗓️ Date: Thursday 22 May 2025

🕒 Time: 11:15am to 5:00pm

📍 Online via Zoom

📜 Certificate of Attendance provided

Don't miss out! Registration closes at 12 midday on 19.05.25. Spaces are limited!

🔗 Register now https://bit.ly/Workshop22-05-25

Tic disorders are common and can cause significant impairment to children, young people and adults. There are evidence-based treatments, but these are not widely available and many families struggle to access them. This workshop will skill you up to be able to provide effective support to children a...

23/04/2025

📢 Workshop alert: Enhance Your Skills in Adapting CBT for Neurodivergent Children and Young People (Autism focus) 📢

We're pleased to announce that Dr Sarah Carman, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and expert in neurodevelopmental conditions in children, will be returning as our guest presenter.

Join us live online on Friday 9 May 2025 for a practical, skills-based workshop with an autism focus.

🔍 Why attend?

✅ Identify the needs of autistic children and young people in relation to their mental health and wellbeing.

✅ Incorporate neurodiversity-informed adaptations into your practice with consideration of environmental adjustments, supporting communication and therapeutic relationships, adapting therapy content, and involving parents in therapeutic work.

This workshop is invaluable for mental health professionals aiming to create significant, positive changes in the lives of neurodivergent children and their families.

Spaces are limited! Registration closes at 12 midday on 06.05.25.

🗓️ Date: Friday, 9 May 2025

🕒 Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm

📍 Delivery: Online via Zoom

📜 Certificate of Attendance provided

🌟 Don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance your skills and make a difference!

🔗 Register now! https://bit.ly/Workshop09-05-25

This one-day workshop will provide a practical and evidence-based overview of adaptations for supporting young people with Autism as part of routine CBT clinical practice. It is designed to support clinicians to identify Autism related needs and incorporate adaptations into their CBT therapy with ch...