Workshop Overview - Indicative
1. Welcome, Aims and Rationale
- Overview of the workshop goals
- Importance of addressing core beliefs within the CBT model
- Distinguishing core beliefs from automatic thoughts and other cognitions
- Indications for targeting core beliefs in treatment
2. Conceptualising Core Beliefs
- Introduction to key conceptual models (e.g. core belief maps, maintenance cycles)
- Developing a working conceptualisation from clinical material
- Technique: Downward Arrow to uncover core beliefs
3. Identifying Core Beliefs in Session
- Verbal and non-verbal clues for recognising core beliefs
- Identifying recurring language, metaphors, and emotional themes
- Technique: Imagery-based recall to explore emotionally significant memories
- Technique: Historical Pattern Mapping (e.g. Lifeline or Schema History exercises)
4. Intervening to Weaken and Modify Core Beliefs
- Cognitive strategies to challenge and restructure beliefs
- Technique: Socratic dialogue and guided discovery
- Technique: Evidence for and against
- Technique: Responsibility pie chart for guilt- or shame-based beliefs
- Technique: Cost-benefit analysis of maintaining the belief
- Technique: Strength based dimensions
5. Behavioural Experiments to Restructure Core Beliefs
- Using behavioural methods to test and disconfirm beliefs
- Designing appropriate behavioural experiments based on belief themes
- Examples: Assertiveness trials, social prediction testing, vulnerability exposures
- Reviewing experiment outcomes to support belief change
6. Strengthening and Embedding New Beliefs
- Methods to consolidate change and prevent relapse
- Technique: Core belief flashcards and self-statements
- Technique: Future visualisation with new belief in place
- Aligning new beliefs with values and behavioural goals
7. Reflections, Application and Next Steps
- Therapist reflection: identifying personal challenges in working with core beliefs
- Common obstacles and strategies for supervision
- Discussion and Q&A
- Recommended reading and resources for continued development
This event is ideal for:
- CBT practitioners at all stages, from early career to senior clinicians
- Supervisors and trainers who want to model and teach structured review techniques
- Therapists working in IAPT, CAMHS, private practice, or specialist services
What You’ll Receive
- Client resources
- Follow-up access to additional resources
- Certificate of CPD Completion
- Copies of all slides
What have previous delegates said about our other webinars?
- Thank you, very useful workshop. Lots of information, clearly laid out and easy to understand
- A lot of great information when considering the foundations of couples counselling.
- Such a great and informative workshop
- Great course ... lots learned and further interest sparked. All very well explained ...
- Very informative. Lots of different models covered.
- This workshop has been brilliant! I have learned so much, and welcome further similar workshops.
- Fantastic, informative workshop.
- Helpful, good tools and helped with my confidence in exploring this area of work
- Really helpful to start to understand how to apply couples counselling interventions.
- As a student this has given me valuable insight. Thank you
- Comprehensive overview of couples approaches. Lots of new material to investigate.
- I'm an experienced counsellor but there is always things to learn and I always get great guidance from these workshops.
- Very good.
- Workshop was excellent as it is an area I wish to become more involved in. Individual clients frequently highlight relationship problems during their own personal therapy.
- A lot of material and techniques. Would definitely need a follow up session. Patrick explains and uses case studies really well. Presentation and interaction is great!
- Great introduction with a huge amount of territory covered before going into further depth at the next stage. As usual, very practical and some immediate things to take away and use today.
Who is leading this webinar?
Professor Patrick McGhee is a CBT therapist, psychologist and UK National Teaching Fellow. Educated at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford, he has completed CPD programmes at Harvard Business School and Ashridge. In 2017 he was a Visiting Fellow/Scholar at the universities of Cornell, Yale and MIT in the USA. He has taught, researched or practised in psychology and therapy for 30 years. His first post was a Research Fellow in Psychiatry and Psychology at St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London. He is the author of Thinking Psychologically (Palgrave) and co-editor of Accounting for Relationships (Methuen). He is an occasional columnist for the Guardian, the BBC and the Times Higher. He currently works in private practice in Greater Manchester. He has full accreditation from the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies.
