Cognitive Behavioural Therapy MA

Deepen your therapeutic expertise and train to deliver evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy with confidence, clarity and clinical integrity.
The MA Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is an advanced postgraduate training designed to help you develop as a skilled, reflective and adaptable counsellor with a CBT orientation. Combining a robust theoretical foundation with applied clinical learning, the programme supports you in building both conceptual depth and practical competence. You will strengthen your ability to think critically, collaborate across disciplines and respond flexibly to the complexities of contemporary therapeutic work.
Designed for graduates with prior counselling training and experience in a helping role, this programme offers a professionally grounded and evidence-informed route towards Individual Membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. On completion, you will be equipped to practise independently under the professional title of Counsellor or Psychotherapist, with clear progression pathways towards Registered, Accredited and Senior Accredited Member status.
Throughout your training, you will progress from a supervised practitioner to an autonomous CBT-focused clinician. You will move beyond core counselling skills to develop advanced, disorder-specific CBT formulations and deliver high-intensity interventions for complex clinical presentations. By working with clearly defined diagnostic categories, you will learn to identify and address the cognitive and behavioural processes that maintain psychological distress, enabling you to intervene with precision and confidence.
You will also benefit from selected shared modules with the BACP-accredited MA Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, broadening your clinical perspective and strengthening your therapeutic flexibility. This integrative dimension enhances your ability to work thoughtfully and collaboratively while remaining grounded in CBT practice.
By the end of the programme, you will have developed the clinical expertise, professional identity and ethical awareness needed to build a sustainable and rewarding career as a CBT practitioner, prepared to work effectively across a range of professional settings.

• An undergraduate degree at grade 2.2 honours or above
• Evidence of enrolment on counselling skills certificate training (minimum Level 2) that has been completed, or will be completed, before entry on the programme.
• Evidence of experience of working in a helping role that uses basic counselling skills and requires active listening and the provision of emotional support with vulnerable adults. This may be in either paid or voluntary employment and at minimum consist of working in this role part-time for six months prior to the start of the academic year.