Postgraduate Certificate in Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Co-Morbid, Chronic & Systemic Difficulties / Psychological Trauma & Personality Development / Psychosis & Bipolar / Supervision & Training / Children & Adolescents


All OCTC Postgraduate Courses in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) are run in collaboration with the University of Oxford's Department for Continuing Education. Our DPhil is an opportunity to conduct high quality CBT research under expert supervision, consistent with the values OCTC has honed since its inception over two decades ago.


Applications closing dates:

29 January 2025, 12 noon

16 May 2025, 12 noon

NB. Application window for NHSE funded applicants from 1 February until 12 noon on 16 May 2025

 

Further information is now available on the University of Oxford Graduate Admissions website. This course is open to mental health professionals with at least 2 years of supervised clinical practice and the equivalent of the University of Oxford Postgraduate Certificate in CBT. There are five separate Postgraduate Certificate pathways for the Postgraduate Certificate in Enhanced CBT: Co-Morbid, Chronic & Systemic Difficulties, Psychological Trauma & Personality Development, Psychosis & Bipolar, Children & Adolescents, Supervision & Training. Applicants should apply for only one option at a time.

Co-Morbid, Chronic & Systemic Difficulties

Course lead: Dr Anne Garland This course trains therapists to apply evidence-based treatment to presentations falling outside standard CBT protocols – given that comorbidity and complexity are often the rule, and not the exception, in clinical populations. The course comprises 16 days of teaching over five months including supervision on a fortnightly basis. ECBT CCS additional info

Psychological Trauma & Personality Development

Course lead: Dr Helen Kennerley  Deputy Course lead: Dr Sarah Lack  The course covers the impact of psychological trauma and neglect on brain function, memory, sense of self, personality and psycho-social development.  The course explores personality development and the sequelae of a broad range of adverse experiences in childhood and adulthood, going beyond PTSD. It also reviews techniques and adaptations for working effectively with the consequences of psychological trauma and with personality issues.  The course comprises 21 days teaching over an academic year, with small group supervision throughout the course.   ECBT PT&PD additional info

Psychosis and Bipolar

Course lead: Dr Louise Isham  Deputy Course lead: Dr Helena Laughton  This specialism seeks to enable students to develop a sound understanding of cognitive behavioural models of psychosis and bipolar affective disorder and the related evidence base; competence in engaging, assessing and developing collaborative formulations with individuals with psychotic and bipolar presentations; and competence to deliver high quality, individualised, evidence-based interventions in accordance with NICE guidance, the competence framework for work with  people with psychosis and bipolar disorder (Roth & Pilling 2013), and the national curriculum for cognitive behaviour therapy for severe mental health problems (Health Education England, 2019).  The course comprises of teaching and small group supervision conducted over three terms starting in September 2024. Teaching and supervision typically run on a Thursday and students are required to keep all Thursdays during term time free for the course. There will also be five Fridays during terms one and two that will be course dates.  ECBT P&B additional info

Children and Adolescents

Course lead: Dr Joanna Adams
There will be no intake for this course in 2025-26

This pathway seeks to enable students to adapt their knowledge and skills in CBT for working with children, young people and families, with a focus on understanding how developmental and systemic issues can contribute to the development and maintenance of psychological difficulties during childhood and adolescence. The course offers high quality workshops across a range of clinical presentations, including anxiety, OCD, depression, PTSD, behavioural difficulties and self-harm, and considers how to adapt practice for working with neurodiversity and deliver parent-led CBT. Some teaching on relevant topics is shared with students on the CBT for comorbid, chronic and systemic difficulties pathways, or offered as open workshops, which enables students to interact and share knowledge and learning with a broader range of practitioners.
During the course, students are expected to carry out CBT with at least three suitable patients, and will receive two hours of small group clinical supervision on a bi-weekly basis with an experienced CBT therapist.
The course begins with a two-day induction block and then attendance is required for two days bi-weekly, for training workshops and supervision. The duration of this course is five months and it runs from March to July.

Due to the overlap in some areas of study, it is not possible to combine study on the Co-Morbid, Chronic & Systemic Difficulties pathway and the Children and Adolescents pathway within a single award. 

Supervision and Training

Course lead: Dr Helen Kennerley Deputy Course lead: Dr Dan White

This course runs biennially, the next intake will be for the 2025-26 academic year.

This course develops both supervisory and training skills by combining didactic presentation with live teaching and live supervision practice.  It reflects the expectation that clinicians will be able to offer sound supervision and training in CBT, thus achieving and maintaining adequate standards of CBT. The course comprises 18 workshops (presented in five teaching blocks from October to March).

Class of 2016-2017 Postgraduate Certificate in Enhanced CBT Supervision & Training

Sjofn Evertsdottir, Evelyn Mullers, Nick Hawkes, Melanie Fennell (Tutor), Joe Nuttorn

Nick Hawkes, Sjofn Evertsdottir, Joe Nuttorn, Helen Kennerley (Course Lead), Evelyn Mullers