Excellence in Mental Health Training.

The RAID® Course. The positive approach to working with disturbed and challenging behaviour.

 3-day course

The RAID® course is the UK’s leading positive psychology approach to disturbed and challenging behaviour, attended by over 20,000 professionals. It helps staff manage challenging behaviour when it occurs while addressing it at source, with an emphasis on playing down disturbed behaviour and systematically encouraging positive behaviour.

DBT Essentials (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy)

 3-day course

DBT Essentials introduces the key concepts, skills and techniques of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. It covers validation, problem solving and contingency management alongside the core skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation, making it suitable both for professionals adding DBT to their practice and those considering further specialist training.

DBT for Adolescents (DBT-A)

 3-day course

DBT-A applies the key principles and techniques of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy specifically to adolescents. It covers identity, impulsivity, emotional regulation, interpersonal and family difficulties, and high-risk behaviours including suicidal behaviour and non-suicidal self-injury, for professionals using DBT-informed approaches or considering developing a full DBT service.

Motivational Interviewing, and how to use it effectively

 3-day course

Based on Miller and Rollnick's latest book, this course describes an organised way of helping people recognise their problems and do something about them. It particularly addresses behaviour about which a client has mixed feelings, including drinking and substance misuse, but applies to a wide range of mental and physical health issues.

Running DBT Skills-Development Groups

 3-day course

This course provides the coaching and practice needed to run effective DBT skills-development groups. It focuses on helping clients acquire practical abilities rather than simply insight or knowledge, and prepares delegates to teach the four key DBT skills areas: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance.

SFT Essentials (Solution-Focused Therapy

 3-day course

SFT Essentials introduces Solution-Focused Therapy and the practical skills needed to apply it safely and effectively. Fundamentally positive in its approach, SFT focuses attention on solutions, strengths and progress rather than becoming increasingly absorbed in the problem, helping professionals incorporate solution-focused thinking into their everyday practice.

ACT Essentials (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy)

 3-day course

ACT Essentials introduces Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and its focus on helping people live stable and rewarding lives. It covers values and values-based action, present-moment awareness, seeing thoughts and feelings for what they are, and accepting difficult internal experiences without excessive struggle, alongside practical skills for clinical practice.

Crisis Intervention: Risk Assessment, Risk Management and Effective Intervention.

 3-day course

This course brings together assessment, risk assessment, risk management and effective intervention for professionals working with people in crisis. It provides an integrated approach to understanding the situation, making sound decisions and intervening successfully, including when support must be provided through different communication channels.

The DBT Masterclass

 4-day course

The DBT Masterclass develops the knowledge and clinical skills of professionals already using DBT. Through case discussion, demonstrations, reflective exercises and analysis of delegates’ own practice, it provides an opportunity to refine and extend skills after several months of applying learning from earlier DBT training.

Realising Recovery and Social Inclusion™

 3-day course (2-day version also available)

Realising Recovery and Social Inclusion™ explores recovery as a process of personal discovery and learning how to live well, including when symptoms or vulnerabilities remain. It develops the understanding, skills and motivation professionals need to support clients in pursuing fuller, more rewarding and socially included lives.

ACT Essentials (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy)

 3-day course

ACT Essentials introduces Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and its focus on helping people live stable and rewarding lives. It covers values and values-based action, present-moment awareness, seeing thoughts and feelings for what they are, and accepting difficult internal experiences without excessive struggle, alongside practical skills for clinical practice.

CBT Essentials (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)

 3-day course

CBT Essentials is APT’s long-established introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, designed to make this powerful evidence-based approach immediately relevant to practice. It covers the history and principles of CBT, conceptualising cases in CBT terms, the structure of a standard CBT session and the most important CBT techniques. Throughout, the content is applied to practical examples so delegates can understand not simply what CBT is, but how to use it.

DBT Essentials (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy)

 3-day course

DBT Essentials introduces the key concepts, skills and techniques of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. It covers validation, problem solving and contingency management alongside the core skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation, making it suitable both for professionals adding DBT to their practice and those considering further specialist training.

Motivational Interviewing, and how to use it effectively

 3-day course

Based on Miller and Rollnick's latest book, this course describes an organised way of helping people recognise their problems and do something about them. It particularly addresses behaviour about which a client has mixed feelings, including drinking and substance misuse, but applies to a wide range of mental and physical health issues.

ADHD Across the Lifespan: Key Knowledge and Skills for Effective Intervention

 3-day course

This course takes a practical and balanced view of ADHD across childhood, adolescence, adulthood and later life. It considers difficulties including attention, organisation, impulsivity, motivation and emotional regulation, recognising that many adults were never identified when younger. The emphasis is on effective biopsychosocial and psychosocial interventions that help people with ADHD — and those around them — function better, experience less difficulty and build more rewarding lives.

Trauma-Focused CBT, for all ages

 3-day course

PTSD can profoundly affect a person’s life through intrusive memories, avoidance or emotional numbing, hyperarousal and impaired everyday functioning. This course examines effective Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-based interventions for addressing those effects across different ages. The focus is both on reducing symptoms wherever possible and on helping clients substantially improve their quality of life where some consequences of trauma cannot be completely removed.

CFT Essentials (Compassion-Focused Therapy training)

 3-day course

CFT Essentials introduces Compassion-Focused Therapy in a way that enables delegates to understand it and incorporate it into their clinical repertoire. The approach particularly helps clients develop compassion towards themselves, using specific therapeutic techniques alongside an understanding of how the brain and emotional systems operate. The course covers both the theory and practical skills of CFT, making the approach accessible without requiring delegates to practise exclusively as compassion-focused therapists.

SFT Essentials (Solution-Focused Therapy)

 3-day course

SFT Essentials introduces Solution-Focused Therapy and the practical skills needed to apply it safely and effectively. Fundamentally positive in its approach, SFT focuses attention on solutions, strengths and progress rather than becoming increasingly absorbed in the problem, helping professionals incorporate solution-focused thinking into their everyday practice.

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

 3-day course

This course provides a thorough, consistent and values-led approach to Positive Behaviour Support. Delegates learn to understand individual needs, analyse behaviour and the function it serves, and develop personalised PBS plans designed to improve wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of disturbed behaviour. It also addresses crisis management and continual review, providing a positive and proactive approach that can improve the experience of both clients and staff.

Running DBT Skills-Development Groups

 3-day course

This course provides the coaching and practice needed to run effective DBT skills-development groups. It focuses on helping clients acquire practical abilities rather than simply insight or knowledge, and prepares delegates to teach the four key DBT skills areas: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation and distress tolerance.

ACT Essentials (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy)

 3-day course

ACT Essentials introduces Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and its focus on helping people live stable and rewarding lives. It covers values and values-based action, present-moment awareness, seeing thoughts and feelings for what they are, and accepting difficult internal experiences without excessive struggle, alongside practical skills for clinical practice.

DBT Essentials (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy)

 3-day course

DBT Essentials introduces the key concepts, skills and techniques of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. It covers validation, problem solving and contingency management alongside the core skills of mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation, making it suitable both for professionals adding DBT to their practice and those considering further specialist training.

CBT Essentials (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)

 3-day course

CBT Essentials is APT’s long-established introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, designed to make this powerful evidence-based approach immediately relevant to practice. It covers the history and principles of CBT, conceptualising cases in CBT terms, the structure of a standard CBT session and the most important CBT techniques. Throughout, the content is applied to practical examples so learners understand both what CBT is and how to use it.

Trauma-Focused CBT, for all ages

 3-day course

PTSD can profoundly affect a person’s life through intrusive memories, avoidance or emotional numbing, hyperarousal and impaired everyday functioning. This course examines effective Cognitive Behavioural Therapy-based interventions for addressing those effects across different ages. The focus is both on reducing symptoms wherever possible and on helping clients substantially improve their quality of life where some consequences of trauma cannot be completely removed.

Motivational Interviewing, and how to use it effectively

 3-day course

Based on Miller and Rollnick's latest book, this course describes an organised way of helping people recognise their problems and do something about them. It particularly addresses behaviour about which a client has mixed feelings, including drinking and substance misuse, but applies to a wide range of mental and physical health issues.

CFT Essentials (Compassion-Focused Therapy training)

 3-day course

CFT Essentials introduces Compassion-Focused Therapy in a way that enables learners to understand it and incorporate it into their clinical repertoire. The approach particularly helps clients develop compassion towards themselves, using specific therapeutic techniques alongside an understanding of how the brain and emotional systems operate. The course covers both the theory and practical skills of CFT, making the approach accessible without requiring learners to practise exclusively as compassion-focused therapists.

Single-Session Therapy: Effective, Accessible, and Rewarding

 2-day course

Single-Session Therapy need not be a second-best alternative to longer-term therapy: a well-structured single meeting can make a meaningful and lasting difference. This course shows clinicians how to use one session to maximum effect by establishing a clear focus, applying evidence-based techniques and helping patients move forward immediately. The skills-based approach can increase clinicians’ sense of effectiveness while helping services reach more people more quickly.

Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP)

 3-day course

Trauma-Informed Practice aims to ensure services are delivered in ways that avoid further harm or retraumatisation for people who have experienced trauma or adversity. Applicable across mental health, healthcare, residential care, justice, addiction and education, the course explores key principles including safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment. Case examples demonstrate how individuals and organisations can systematically apply these principles and overcome barriers to implementation.

Positive Behaviour Support (PBS)

 3-day course

This course provides a thorough, consistent and values-led approach to Positive Behaviour Support. Learners explore individual needs, analyse behaviour and the function it serves, and develop personalised PBS plans designed to improve wellbeing and reduce disturbed behaviour. It also addresses crisis management and continual review, providing a positive and proactive framework that supports client-centred planning while improving the environment and experience of both clients and staff.

DBT for Adolescents (DBT-A)

 3-day course

DBT-A applies the key principles and techniques of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy specifically to adolescents. It covers identity, impulsivity, emotional regulation, interpersonal and family difficulties, and high-risk behaviours including suicidal behaviour and non-suicidal self-injury, for professionals using DBT-informed approaches or considering developing a full DBT service.

Trauma and PTSD

Explore evidence-based training covering trauma, PTSD and trauma-informed approaches, from understanding the impact of psychological trauma through to effective clinical interventions. Courses support professionals working directly with trauma as well as organisations seeking to ensure their wider services are delivered in ways that recognise trauma and minimise the risk of further harm.

Children and Adolescents

Explore training designed specifically for professionals supporting children, adolescents and their families. Courses cover a range of clinical needs and approaches, helping practitioners develop the knowledge, confidence and practical skills required to understand younger clients, assess their needs and deliver effective interventions across childhood and adolescence.

Risk

Develop confidence in assessing, understanding and managing risk in mental health and related settings. Training covers practical approaches to identifying and evaluating risk, making sound professional decisions and translating assessment into effective risk-management plans, with courses relevant to both everyday clinical practice and more complex or high-risk situations.

Aggression and Violence

Explore training for professionals working with aggression, violence and challenging behaviour. Courses cover prevention, assessment, de-escalation, management and effective intervention, helping individuals and teams respond confidently when incidents occur while also addressing the factors that contribute to difficult behaviour and reducing the likelihood of future incidents.

Crises, Intervening in

Develop the knowledge and practical skills needed to respond effectively when people are experiencing a mental health crisis. Training brings together assessment, risk management and intervention, helping professionals make appropriate decisions, communicate effectively and provide useful support in situations where timely, confident and well-judged action is particularly important.

Diplomas

APT Diplomas provide structured programmes for professionals wishing to develop broader expertise within a specialist area. By completing a defined combination of relevant APT courses, delegates can build their knowledge and skills progressively while working towards recognition across areas including psychological therapies, child and adolescent mental health, crisis and risk, and forensic practice.

Personality Disorder

Explore training designed to increase confidence and effectiveness when working with people diagnosed with, or presenting with features associated with, personality disorder. Courses cover relevant therapeutic approaches, communication and intervention skills, helping professionals better understand complex presentations and develop constructive ways of supporting clients in everyday clinical practice.

Psychosis

Explore a range of training for professionals working with people experiencing psychosis. Courses cover psychological approaches, practical interventions and recovery-focused work, helping delegates better understand psychotic experiences and develop effective ways of supporting clients, their families and wider care systems across different stages of treatment and recovery.

Suicide Awareness, Prevention, and Treatment

Develop the knowledge and confidence to recognise suicide risk, respond appropriately and support effective prevention and treatment. Courses range from increasing general awareness through to more detailed risk assessment, management and clinical intervention, supporting professionals who may encounter suicidal thoughts or behaviour across a wide variety of mental health settings.

The Essentials Series of Courses

The Essentials series provides accessible introductions to many of today’s leading evidence-based therapeutic approaches. Courses including CBT, DBT, ACT, Compassion-Focused Therapy and Solution-Focused Therapy are designed to give professionals a clear understanding of each approach together with practical skills and techniques they can begin incorporating into their existing work.

AI for Mental Health Professionals

 2-hour CPD

AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude are already part of daily life for millions of people — and mental health professionals are no exception. This course shows you how to use AI well: safely, sensibly, and in ways that genuinely support your clinical work, without pretending it can replace your judgement. Led by Dr William Davies, Head of Applied Clinical Psychology at the APT, this course draws on real clinical examples to show what AI is actually good for — and where it falls short.

Working with Psychosis - Key Knowledge and Skills for Everyday Interactions

 3-day course

This course examines and teaches the skills that are fundamental to working with anybody who is prone to episodes of psychosis. Skills such as how to engage, how to talk within the person's belief system, how to use Socratic dialogue and the 'floating of ideas', what is and what is not 'collusion', and more. It looks at using these skills in formal one-to-one sessions and also in informal situations.

Realising Recovery and Social Inclusion

 3-day course (2-day version also available)

“The redefinition of recovery as a process of personal discovery, of how to live well with enduring symptoms and vulnerabilities opens the possibility of recovery to all ….” (Roberts, G & Wolfson, P.). This course aims to present you with a similarly inspiring presentation that educates, develops skills, and motivates you to use them.

The Assessment and Risk Assessment of Children & Adolescents in Crisis™

 3-day course (2-day version also available)

Assessing adolescents and children in crisis settings often causes professionals a lot of concern. They wonder whether they have the necessary skills, they are concerned about the potential volatility of the situation, they are unfamiliar with having another adult (the parent) present and concerned, they are not sure about consent and confidentiality issues, and they are not completely sure what their role is: assessment, risk-assessment, management, or what?

Key Knowledge & Skills for working with Alcohol and Substance Misuse

 3-day course

When use of mood altering substances gets out of control it ruins the person's life - until we help them regain control. The maladaptive use of mood altering substances (importantly, including alcohol) may easily devastate the life of the user and of those around them. Although onset may be insidious the effect can be far reaching and difficult to reverse without skilled and determined intervention. This course covers the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy solutions.

CBT for Working with Offenders

 3-day course

This course gives a clear framework in which to analyse and work with most offenders. It is an approach that is increasingly being recognised as giving very good results when well delivered. An underlying principle is that the offenders' behaviour (like that of everyone) depends largely on the five Be-BEST factors involved in modern CBT. If we can change those factors then we can usually also change the offending. This course aims to provide those working with offenders with sufficient knowledge of a cognitive approach to enable them to apply it safely to their caseload.

Teaching Mindfulness in Clinical Practice

 2-day course

Mindfulness is a psychological intervention that we dream of: it works both for clients/patients and us, and its effectiveness is demonstrated not just by clinical studies but by the unusual number of people testifying to its benefit. Moreover it is a quick, simple concept with obvious validity and relevance. It fits with the thinking of those who maintain that "To live effectively and well cannot be a complicated thing, so any intervention to help people do so should not itself be complicated”.

CBT for OCD

 2-day course

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder usually takes over the sufferer's life, and it is the behavioural element of CBT that come to the fore in treating it. An obsession is where the person has a fixed idea that is distressing (e.g. that their hands are contaminated and will lead to a serious illness or death) and a compulsion to perform a particular behaviour (in this case, probably to wash their hands). This often has a ritualistic nature to it (e.g. to wash 3 times) and the whole syndrome can devastate a person's life both in terms of time, relationships, and finances. This course covers the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy solutions to OCD.

The ADDRESS® Course for working with Personality Disorder

 3-day course

This course combines relevant aspects of CBT, DBT and Motivational Interviewing to form a powerful and systematic intervention for personality disorder. It highlights the problem behaviours associated with personality disorder, how to conceptualise those behaviours in specific cases, how to facilitate insight and motivation in the patient, and how to generate change strategies. Importantly it also gives participants a chance to practise applying them to prepared scenarios.

The BITS™ Course

 2-day course

Professionals working in mental health and related services spend considerable time talking with patients during everyday interactions, yet opportunities for therapeutic progress can be missed. The BITS™ approach shows how informal conversations can become powerful therapeutic interventions, providing practical psychological frameworks that help staff turn routine interactions into therapeutic exchanges and embed psychological therapy into everyday care, while keeping conversations natural and informal.

The APT Diploma in Psychological Therapies

 90 hours CPD

'The APT Diploma in Psychological Therapies' provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. Attend as an individual or we can bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

The APT Diploma in Child & Adolescent Mental Health.

 90 hours CPD

'The APT Diploma in Working with Children and Adolescents' provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. Attend as an individual or we can bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

The APT Diploma for Working with Psychosis.

 90 hours CPD

The APT Diploma for Working with Psychosis provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. We bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

The APT Diploma for Working in Secure Psychiatric and Forensic Settings

 90 hours CPD

This Diploma provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. Attend as an individual or we can bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

The APT Diploma in Working with Crisis or Risk

 90 hours CPD

'The APT Diploma in Working with Crisis or Risk' provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. Attend as an individual or we can bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

The APT Diploma in Working with common mental health diagnoses

 90 hours CPD

'The APT Diploma in Working with common mental health diagnoses' provides 90 hours of training, leading to Level 4 APT Registration. Attend as an individual or we can bring the training to you for a fixed fee, to eliminate travel and expenses costs, and to ensure you get a supportive group addressing the same material.

Case Formulation: making sense of the information you obtain.

 1-hour CPD

In this Case Formulation Module from the APT, you'll learn how to appraise the 6 P's of case formulation: the patient's problem, pre-disposing factors, precipitating factors, perpetuating factors, positive and protective factors and of course, the plan! It enables us to form a powerful strategy to organise the information we obtain in the assessment so we can help the patient as quickly and effectively as possible. And without it, we can be very much 'stumbling in the dark.'

Assessment: how to ask the right questions

 1-hour CPD

In this Assessment Module, you'll learn or re-learn how to achieve one of the fundamental starting points of effective therapy: how to conduct consistent, subjective assessment of the key factors affecting each patient. This is an essential skill in any therapeutic endeavour and is too often 'glossed over' in the often unrealistic hope that even the most distressed patients will easily tell us just what is the matter. In reality, a skilled assessment provides hope for both the patient and for us.

Functional Analysis: most ‘problems’ serve a purpose, and revealing that purpose can be the key to success.

 1-hour CPD

In this module from the APT, we talk about the functions our patients' problems and behavior serve for them, what fallacies exist around for example 'attention-seeking behavior', and what to do once we have uncovered the functions of the behavior. We'll look at hunches and ABC Analysis, depression, behavior that has 'built-in' functionality, and the importance of verifying that there aren't underlying physical causes. Functional Analysis is a concept that has long been recognised by those working with 'challenging behavior' but in fact it relevance is much wider than that.

How to Structure a Therapy Session: one of the strongest pillars of quality control in therapy.

 1-hour CPD

In this distance learning module from the APT, we'll be looking at the different elements you should include in every therapy session. This allows you to provide the same quality of service to all of your patients, every time they see you and creates a structure they can use and rely on. Providing the same quality late on a Thursday afternoon as you do early on a Tuesday morning can be demanding, and having a solid structure for the therapy session is one of the strongest pillars we have in achieving this.

Engaging Your Patients: if you don’t do this then everything else is wasted time.

 1-hour CPD

This course will take you through the most critical elements of engaging your patients. Even with the best tools and training in the world, if we can't properly connect with and engage our patients, we won't be able to help them. All therapists mean to engage with their patients but many have never really been taught how to do it, as though it is achieved simply through an act of will on the part of the therapist. In fact there are clear principled strategies for achieving it, and this is what you learn here.

Problem Solving: the workhorse of therapy, reliable and effective - if you do it right

 1-hour CPD

Of all the clinical skills we try and master, problem-solving is one of the most important. In this module, you'll learn the steps involved in both intuitive and formal problem-solving. Fundamentally, most patients arrive to see us with a problem which they hope we will help them solve. So while it is wonderful to learn the latest and most advanced therapeutic approaches, nothing may be as effective as having a powerful problem-solving focus, with the skill to match.

Generating Insight and Motivation: energising the person to make changes

 1-hour CPD

In this distance learning module from the APT, you learn effective strategies to help your patients gain insight into their motivations and behaviors, by asking questions about and tracking feelings about their behavior. It is a wonderfully powerful and helpful action, because once we are all clear about those motivations and goals the person is well set up to start planning how best to achieve what they want - how to head in a life direction they value.

Validation: a key component in therapy and relationships in general.

 1-hour CPD

‘Validation’ is a key skill for both your professional and personal life. In this module, we address the importance of validating the experiences and emotions of your patients, why it is such a good thing to do, and effective strategies for doing it well. Patients may find that some of the things they do appear to them to be 'stupid' or bizarre, and yet they rarely are; even the most unusual behaviors and emotions almost always 'make sense' when we look closely enough. It is wonderful for patients to be able to see this, and then work towards doing things - and ultimately feeling things - that work better for them.

Consultation Meetings: why you should set them up, and how to do it

 1-hour CPD

In this distance learning module from the APT, we talk about what consultation meetings are, why they're valuable, and how to structure them for maximum benefit. If you work with extremely distressing and demanding conditions - as many mental health professionals do - or work with very specific therapeutic approaches which need close adherence to their principles, then it is virtually certain that your work will be tremendously facilitated by well organised consultation meetings. This module shows you how to achieve just that.

Differentially Reinforcing Adaptive Behaviour: a simple piece of jargon that can make or break therapy

 1-hour CPD

In this distance learning module from the APT, we talk about the practice of differentially reinforcing adaptive behaviour, so your patients are encouraged to do more of what is helping them, and less of what isn't. Highlighted in DBT but relevant and effective in virtually every form of therapy, we look at why it works so well and what pot-holes there are to avoid; effectively we focus on how to 'water the flowers and not the weeds'.