Apply for Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation

Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation with the BABCP demonstrates to the public and to employers that you meet our high standards of training and experience in CBT.

You will appear as Accredited on the CBT Register UK and Ireland once you have been awarded Accreditation. You will be asked to submit your First Accreditation Audit in 12 months.

If you have completed a Level 2 BABCP Accredited course you should complete a Level 2 Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Application form.

If you completed a BPS accredited Clinical Psychology Doctorate please click here. 

If you have previously been accredited with us, you will apply via the Return to Practice for Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists route.

Criteria

To become Accredited as a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist, you must -

• be a BABCP member
• be a resident of the UK, its territories or Ireland
• have a relevant mental health core professional training to degree level or provide evidence of equivalence by completing a KSA portfolio
• show how your CBT training meets our Minimum Training Standards (MTS) and adhere to our Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics for the Practice of Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapies
• use Cognitive and/or Behavioural therapies as your main (or one of your main) therapeutic models in clinical practice
• show at least two episodes of live supervision in the 12 months practice prior to application

Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Application Form and Guidelines

Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Application Form [Word] - All applications submitted after 30th September 2023 must be using the latest version of the application form.

Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Guidelines [PDF] - This document provides guidance for therapists wishing to become BABCP accredited as a Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist. You should refer to this document if you graduated from a BABCP accredited Level 1 training programme or a non-accredited course.

EEDI Reflective Statement [Word]

Further Resources for your application

• Minimum Training Standards
• Core Curriculum
• Core Professions
• Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes (KSA)

Supervisor's Report  

You must supply a Supervisor's Report - Supervisor's Report [Word]

• The report must be from your current or most recent CBT clinical supervisor. They must be a BABCP accredited CBT therapist or meet the criteria described here.
• The report  must show that they have included regular ‘live’ assessments (in-vivo, video, audio) of your clinical Practice. If your current supervision arrangements have been in place for less than six months, you must also provide a Supervisor Report from your previous Supervisor.
• Further information regarding supervision requirements for accreditation can be found in the above Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Guidelines.

Professional Reference

You must supply a Professional Reference, this must be from a different person to the author of your Supervisor's Report - Professional Reference [Word]

• The reference must be provided by a BABCP accredited CBT therapist or a member of one of our recognised Core Professions. The latter does not have to be a BABCP member or a CBT therapist, but can still provide the reference if they are.
• The referee must have had regular professional contact with you during the last 12 months of practice in order to comment on your suitability for accreditation.
• Further information regarding  Professional Reference requirements for accreditation can be found in the above Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation Guidelines.

Training Cases

Criterion 3 of the Application form asks for you to provide evidence of 8 training cases. You can find more information about these in the Guidelines.

Closely supervised cases - if you need to provide evidence of further closely supervised cases, you and your supervisor should consult Close Supervision Guidelines.

Case studies – if you need to complete further case studies after your training, please consult our Case Study Guidelines. These include guidance on how to find a suitable assessor and an optional feedback sheet which independent assessors may choose to use when marking your case studies.

Instructions for submission and payment

Please don't send anything to us by post.  These instructions will tell you how to submit your application and supporting documents online.

Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapist Accreditation - Online Document Submission Instructions