Single-Session Therapy: Effective, Accessible, and Rewarding.
A 12-hour self-paced online course from the Association for Psychological Therapies (APT)
Single-Session Therapy (SST) is one of the most effective and clinically rewarding approaches available to mental health practitioners today. This course — the only Single-Session Therapy training that carries APT accreditation — gives you the evidence base, the practical skills, and the post-course resources to begin using SST with confidence.
Available to individuals and teams, this course can also be completed as part of The APT Diploma in Working with Crisis or Risk.or The APT Diploma for working in Child & Adolescent Mental Health
Why Single-Session Therapy?
Single Session Therapy is not a shortened version of longer-term work. It is a distinct, evidence-based approach in its own right — one that has been shown to produce meaningful and lasting psychological change, often to the considerable surprise of both clinician and client.
For clients, SST removes many of the barriers that prevent people from engaging with therapy at all. The absence of a lengthy commitment, the clarity of purpose, and the focus on leaving each session with something genuinely useful make it accessible to people who might never otherwise seek or receive help.
For clinicians, SST is frequently described as one of the most professionally energising ways of working they have encountered. Seeing a client leave a single session with real clarity, renewed confidence, or a practical plan for moving forward is both clinically satisfying and, for many practitioners, something of a revelation.
Who should attend?
This course is designed for qualified mental health professionals working in 1:1 clinical settings who want to add a powerful and flexible approach to their practice. It is equally suitable for whole teams — whether inpatient or community-based — who want to develop a shared and consistent proficiency in SST.
Professionals attending this course include mental health and psychiatric nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and probation officers, working across a range of settings including Adult Mental Health, Children and Adolescents, Substance Misuse, and Forensic services.
What the Course Covers:
The course provides a thorough grounding in the principles and practice of SST, including five distinct styles of delivery — allowing you to match your approach to both your own clinical preferences and the needs of each individual client:
- The rationale and evidence base for SST — why it works, and why the evidence is stronger than many clinicians expect.
- Style C — facilitating the client to talk and reach their own conclusions about the best way forward.
- Style G — as Style C, with the addition of targeted questions designed to deepen and structure the client's thinking.
- Style S — as Style G, with the clinician also offering suggestions, typically presented as a menu of options.
- Style P — collaboratively producing a written plan for the client to take away and act on.
- Style F — collaboratively developing a case formulation, which is left with the client as a framework for their own ongoing work.
- Choosing the right style — how to match approach to you and the client, and how to develop your own confident SST practice.
What You Will Be Able to Do:
By the end of this course you will:
- Understand the rationale and evidence base for SST, and be able to explain it clearly to clients and colleagues.
- Deliver SST competently across a range of styles, choosing the approach that best suits the client in front of you.
- Help clients identify and build on their own strengths and capacity for change.
- Offer advice skilfully and in a way that enhances rather than undermines client autonomy.
What you receive:
On successful completion of this Online Anytime course, including the inbuilt exam, you will receive APT Level 2 Accreditation in SST and a certificate of completion. Your accreditation includes:
- Access to APT’s renowned post-course resources, ready to use in your clinical work.
- Accreditation valid for three years, with straightforward renewal options.
- Formal registration of your accreditation with APT.
A note on what APT accreditation means:
APT accreditation is not awarded by a committee, nor purchased through an affiliation fee. It is earned through the ratings of the professionals who attend the courses. Only courses that achieve an average rating of over 90% from attendees receive APT accreditation — and courses that fall below that standard are withdrawn from the catalogue, regardless of their subject matter. This is evidence-based accreditation in the truest sense: grounded in the direct experience of over 150,000 clinicians who have attended APT training.
For full details, see APT Accreditation.
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Live Feedback Ratings.
Every delegate rates the course upon completion and the averages below update automatically as each course is completed.
These live results also power APT’s acclaimed Accreditation System — so widely valued because it is evidence-based, drawing directly on the real-time ratings of professionals who have completed the training.
Online Anytime*
Overall Rating:
* Feedback taken from the last 20 people completing the course.
Reviews.
APT prides itself on the feedback we receive about our courses. Below are just some of the great comments APT courses have received.
"Brilliant. Approachable, clear, kept me motivated for 3 days (an impossibility!). Best course I've been on in 18 years on the job."
"I feel that this has been the best training course I have been on so far in my professional career in terms of its relevance to my current practice and enhancement of my existing skills."
"I really enjoyed this course, absolutely the most impressive and useful training I have received in the 11 years working for the Trust."
