PGCert Strengths-Based Approaches in CBT

Each of us has a set of everyday personal strengths which we play down or perhaps don't even notice because they seem ordinary, ho-hum and of little consequence.   

Resilience is our ability to stay present to and recover from life's difficulties and challenges.  It includes our capacity to make the best of an unwanted situation, and to cope with the stress associated with finding the strength to do so.   

Research indicates that resilience-building efforts can improve both individual and interpersonal wellbeing, all whilst lessening the risk of moods such as depression and anxiety.   

You'll use these and other insights to discover and experience the fundamentals of engendering much more in the way of curiosity and resilience in the helping work you offer others. This course is designed to help you acquire the knowledge and skills required to do so in the context of various professional activities.  Examples include coaching, mentoring, education, medicine, social work, human resources management, nursing, counselling, medicine, business, law, advocacy, prison and rehabilitation services, youth work, police work, charity aid work, pastoral care, palliative care, community services and mental-health services.

We are in support of promoting equality, diversity and inclusion by our mode of delivery (i.e., monthly Friday evening and Saturday day block sessions), as this allows a broader range of working professionals to participate. It is possible, and indeed encouraged, to apply for this training on what is termed a 'distance-learning' basis, which permits individuals who reside outside the UK to participate alongside those who are within commuting distance of our campus. 

This course is designed to give you the opportunity to develop and demonstrate an understanding of both the art and science of strengths-based approaches in CBT, particularly as viewed through the lens of relevant neuroscientific underpinnings. These approaches will be framed as adjuncts to evidence-based practice; as such, an emphasis will be placed on the specific maps to what is known as 'classic' CBT.  

You will develop and demonstrate skills which can be directly applied in clinical and other helping settings, offering what tends to be a more positive experience than helping endeavours which are solely problem-focused in their nature. It is anticipated that embracing this perspective will inform and enhance your existing competences, all by means of experiencing, first-hand, the distinctions involved in adopting a strengths-based approach. 

The full Postgraduate Certificate training comprises two core modules, either of which can also be taken independently as stand-alone short courses which are titled similarly to the modules. 

In the module 'Strengths-Based Approaches: Principles, Qualities and Antecedents' (or in the similarly-titled short course whose content is equivalent), a strong emphasis will be placed on equipping you to critically reflect on the theoretical and research underpinnings of strengths-based approaches in CBT. Having acquired an induction to these matters, you'll be encouraged to critically reflect on your own approaches toward helping as you experience and practise a carefully curated array of skills and techniques associated with strengths-based approaches. 

Whilst making various personal and professional discoveries, you'll be introduced to some of the many ways of assessing and formulating a help-seeker's challenges from a strengths-based perspective. You'll also gain confidence in making a set of critical judgements on the application of strengths-based approaches to a range of mental-health conditions. Doing so will induct you to a critical reflection on emerging developments in relation to theories of emotion, neuroscience and the use of experiential interventions to impact all levels of a given schema, i.e., body, emotion, cognition and behaviour. 

In the module 'Strengths-Based Interventions: Evidence, Practice and Mechanisms of Change' (or in the similarly-titled short course whose content is equivalent), the emphasis is placed on applying in practice your critical reflections on your own approaches to helping, with the opportunity to experience and practise a carefully curated array of skills and techniques associated with strengths-based approaches. 

These activities will enhance your ability to apply in practice your critical reflections on emerging development in relation to theories of emotion, neuroscience and the use of experiential interventions.  

We consistently review our courses to ensure we are up to date with industry changes and requirements from our graduates. As a result, our modules are subject to change. 

• Bachelor's degree: GPA of 2.5 / 4 or overall classification of "Good" or higher
• UK Bachelor's degree with Honours: Second Class, Second Division or higher
• US Bachelor's degree: GPA 2.5 / 4

Extended Diploma or Diploma

FROM

INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

Diploma with 24 points including a minimum of 15 points at Higher Level

You are likely to be involved in, or aspire to be involved in, a helping role within an educational, management, social care, nursing, advocacy, psychology, counselling, coaching, psychotherapy or other allied helping settings. 

You might be, or aspire to be, a supervisor, manager, mentor, team leader or other role in which those you work with occasionally look to you for support, guidance, clarity or clear ways forward in either personal or professional settings. 

This training is well-positioned to help you upskill in terms of strategies and techniques, all whilst giving you confidence in ensuring that you can facilitate helpful self-enquiry on the part of those you support and/or lead, whether your contact with those you support is one-off, intermittent, occasional or ongoing. The skills you will acquire can be directly applied in clinical and other helping settings, offering what tends to be a more positive experience than helping endeavours which are solely problem-focused in their nature. 

Whatever your present and future roles and responsibilities, you will find yourself equipped to use an array of analytical and critical-thinking skills to identify, select and apply a set of reflective-practice competences which are consistent with a strengths-based approach to helping in various settings and contexts. 

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.