In cooperation with the Icelandic Association of CBT

Cognitive therapy, as conceived by Aaron Beck, is an approach rooted firmly in the experimental method. The therapy incorporates experimental principles: therapists and patients are encouraged to think about cognitions as hypotheses to be tested. Interventions include using evidence to test these hypotheses and re-evaluate them. Since its inception, the therapy has also sought to test its effectiveness via clinical research, leading to it occupying a strong position worldwide as a therapuetic approach that can evidence that it does work to alleviate a wide range of mental health conditions.

The therapy has always incorporated behavioral interventions and tests of cognitions. However, since Beck‘s early writings, cognitive therapy has become more commonly known as cognitive behavioral therapy, with behavioral experiments being more integrated into the approach. The added value of behavioral experiments is grounded in what we know about how people learn, and clinical experience of how behavioral tests of cognitions often result in more convincing change than discussion alone.

The skills involved in planning, carrying out and extracting learning from behavioural experiments are fundamental to being an effective CBT therapist. This workshop will use a combination of learning methods to help you develop these skills so that you will be able to integrate experiments within your CBT practice with greater confidence.

What you will learn:
- The role of behavioral experiments in cognitive therapy
- How behavioral experiments maximize opportunities for experiential learning
- Current status of the research evidence regarding the contribution of behavioral experiments to outcomes in CBT
- How to design behavioral experiments to target the content and process of cognition, at the level of thoughts, assumptions and beliefs
- Different types of experiments: when and how to use them
- The role of therapist beliefs in using experiments effectively
- How to design behavioral experiments to test therapist beliefs
- What to do when experiments appear to ‘go wrong’
- How to design, conduct and evaluate a personal behavioral experiment

Who should enroll:
Cognitive Behavior Therapists; Clinical Psychologists, Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Professionals at all levels will benefit from this workshop.
 
Instructor:
Alison Croft trained as a clinical psychologist in Oxford. She has over 30 years’ experience of working in various adult mental health teams from primary to tertiary care and has extensive experience of applying CBT with a wide range of clinical presentations. She is accredited as a CBT practitioner, supervisor and trainer with BABCP.

Alison’s specialist clinical interests include promoting good mental health in doctors, working with anxiety disorders and with complex presentations related to trauma. She currently works in Oxford as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with the Medic Support Service and has been a CBT clinician, trainer and supervisor with the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre (OCTC) since 2007.  Alison is a Senior Associate Tutor at the University of Oxford, a course director for the PG Cert in CBT and a course tutor on the PG Cert in CBT for Psychological Trauma. She has experience of delivering training and supervision to a wide range of clinicians, from beginner to expert level, both in the UK and overseas. She has published several book chapters related to CBT practice and research papers in the areas of CBT training and service innovations, and physician mental health.