Workshop 3
Take a(nother) seat: A practical introduction to cognitive behavioural chairwork
Dr Matthew Pugh, Clinical Psychologist and Co-Director of Chairwork, UK
Wednesday 14 October: 9am – 12.30pm
Chairwork is a family of active, experiential methods that enable clients to engage with different ‘mindsets’, ‘modes’, or ‘parts’ of themselves, including individuals they have internalised. As one of the oldest psychotherapeutic tools, chairwork has shown clinical effectiveness (Ottingerová et al., 2026; Pascual-Leone & Baher, 2023; Pugh, 2022) and has been incorporated into many therapeutic approaches, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) (Pugh, 2017; 2019).
At its core, chairwork aims to shift therapy from merely talking about difficult experiences to bringing them to life in the room, so clients can work with these issues more directly. For this reason, chairwork can be a particularly effective way to achieve ‘head-level’ and ‘heart-level’ changes.
This skills-focused workshop will give therapists a practical introduction to chairwork and its applications in CBT. Participants will learn what chairwork is, how it works, and why it can be a powerful addition to every therapists’ toolkit. The workshop will also describe how chairwork can be used to address a range of common clinical issues, including worry, self-criticism, and rumination. The workshop will incorporate lectures, group discussions, self-practice, and demonstrations of chairwork.
Key learning objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Explain what chairwork is and what it involves.
Appreciate how chairwork can augment and enhance CBT.
Introduce chairwork and ‘parts-work’ to clients within a CBT framework confidently and collaboratively.
Use chairwork to address distressing cognitive processes, such as self-criticism, worry, and rumination.
Adapt chairwork for online therapy.
Biography
Dr Matthew Pugh is a Clinical Psychologist, Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, Advanced Schema Therapist, and Voice Dialogue Facilitator. He is Co-Director of Chairwork (www.chairwork.co.uk), Lead Content Developer at Psychology Tools, a Teaching Fellow at University College London, and a Visiting Lecturer at Henley Business School and Maudsley Learning.
Matthew has trained thousands of therapists in chairwork nationally and internationally and has published widely on the topic. He is the author of Cognitive Behavioural Chairwork: Distinctive Features, which has been published in three languages.
Key references
Ottingerová, L., Halamová, J., & Szitás, D. (2026). Experiential therapies including chairwork: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1692630.
Pascual-Leone, A., & Baher, T. (2023). Chairwork in individual psychotherapy: Meta-analyses of intervention effects. Psychotherapy, 60, 370–382.
Pugh, M. (2017). Chairwork in cognitive behavioural therapy: A narrative review. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 41, 16-30.
Pugh, M. (2019). Cognitive behavioural chairwork: Distinctive features. Routledge.
Pugh, M. (2022). Cognitive behavioural chairwork: Theory, research, and practice. In J. Passmore & S. Leach (Eds.), Third wave cognitive behavioural coaching: Contextual, behavioural, and neuroscience approaches for evidence based coaches (pp. 53-77). Pavilion.
