Postgraduate Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

You will attend 21 days of teaching over two terms, including weekly supervision groups. This includes five in-person teaching days in Oxford. During the course, you will be expected to practise and develop your CBT skills within a treatment setting, and to complete written case reports and clinical recordings for assessment.

The course begins with an induction teaching block followed by one full day per week over two terms. 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. Students receive two hours of small-group supervision weekly.

Reading and completion of written assignments will be undertaken in addition to the teaching days. Many students find it effective to set aside six to seven hours a week for private study.

Students will be expected to have access to treatment settings with regular clinical and CBT supervision where cognitive behavioural therapy skills can be practised and refined on a regular basis throughout the course.

Part I: Basic concepts and skills

These sessions provide a theoretical and empirical basis for the practice of CBT. There is a strong emphasis on observation of CBT in action and on experiential learning with participation in role-play and other practical exercises.

Topics include:

• Beck’s cognitive model of emotional disorder
• CBT assessment and formulation
• The structure of CBT (agenda setting, goal setting, pacing, homework etc.)
• The style of CBT (collaboration, explicitness, feedback)
• Socratic methods
• Identifying and re-evaluating automatic thoughts
• Identifying and re-evaluating rules and assumptions
• The role of behavioural experiments
• Process and ending therapy issues in CBT

Part II: Special applications – developing the basics

This part of the course covers the use of CBT with common mental health problems (anxiety disorders and depression). Sessions focus on consolidating and developing basic knowledge and skills and on emphasising concepts and methods especially relevant to each problem area. Teaching practical CBT skills is grounded in the current and emerging evidence base derived from related empirical research.

Workshops focus on problem areas such as:

• Depression and suicidality
• Simple phobias
• Panic disorder and agoraphobia
• Social anxiety disorder
• Health anxiety
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• An introduction to trauma assessment

This course is ideal for healthcare professionals who want to develop their skills in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), a widely recognised and evidence-based psychological treatment endorsed by the NHS.

It attracts participants from a broad range of backgrounds, including clinical and counselling psychology, psychiatry, general practice, nursing, social work, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, counselling, and the voluntary sector. If your work involves supporting mental health and wellbeing, and you are looking to build a strong, evidence-based therapeutic skillset, this course offers a valuable next step.

The course begins in October, with five days of teaching over the first two weeks of the course. This will be followed by one full day per week over two terms, and one additional teaching day.

All dates will be announced in advance of the start of the course. At least 20% of the teaching days are held in Oxford, which you will be expected to attend in person, including the first three days of the course. The remaining teaching will take place online.

You will receive two hours of small-group supervision on a weekly basis, focusing on CBT skills development.

It is essential that you have access to adult treatment settings where you can access training cases suitable for novice CBT therapists (i.e. mild-to-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 throughout the course.

As not all supervision needs can be met within the small-group skills supervision provided by the course, you will also be responsible for arranging regular CBT supervision within the treatment setting from a BABCP-accredited practitioner. Reading and completion of written assignments will be undertaken in addition to the teaching outlined above. You should expect to set aside six to seven hours a week for private study.

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.

Alison Croft (Course Director)

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.

Anne Garland (Deputy Course Director)

Dr Anne Garland, Consultant Psychotherapist, is a mental health nurse by profession, trained in both behavioural and cognitive psychotherapies. Anne has 26 years’ experience of using CBT to treat depression, specialising in working with patients experiencing persistent, treatment-resistant depression, including complex comorbidity and personality difficulties.

To complete the PGCert in CBT you will need to:

• take an active part in teaching and supervision sessions by attending all teaching sessions and actively participating in live practice, and complete a course of CBT with a minimum of three patients;
• complete an oral case presentation in term one;
• complete a written case report of one treated case in term two; and
• submit audio/video recordings of CBT sessions for formative and summative assessment in both terms.

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in a relevant subject.

For applicants with a bachelor’s degree from the USA, the minimum overall GPA that is normally required to meet the undergraduate-level requirement is 3.5 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University’s higher level. If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. Further information on English language requirements can be found here.

Please visit the Postgraduate Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy page on the University of Oxford Graduate Admissions website for details of course fees and costs.

Please see our funding page for help and information with regard to funding postgraduate studies. We further recommend that applicants search for funding opportunities via the online Fees, Funding and Scholarship search tool.

In order to be considered for many scholarships, applicants are required to apply by the January deadline. However, applicants should note that some scholarships require additional application materials and may have different deadlines, so applicants should make sure they check the application process for each scholarship carefully.

Applications for this course should be made via the University of Oxford Graduate Admissions website. This website provides information on fees and entry requirements, along with help on preparing and submitting your application.

Application deadlines

12:00 midday UK time on:

• Stage 1: Friday 14 November 2025 (Applications more likely to receive earlier decisions)
• Stage 2: Wednesday 28 January 2026 (Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships)
• Stage 3: Tuesday 3 March 2026

When to apply

Early application for the programme is strongly advised. After the March deadline, the course will only stay open for that year’s entry if places are still available.

Remember that it can take a number of weeks to obtain all of the documents you need and to prepare a competitive application. You should also allow your referees plenty of time to submit your references. We therefore recommend you apply as soon as possible.

Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process within six weeks of the application deadline.