Are you a CBT Technician or a CBT Clinician?

On Friday, January 8, 2021, SWEET will hold a full-day CEU Online Seminar on CBT, while on Wednesday, January 13, 2021, starts the 3rd Edition of the SWEET CEU CBT Certificate Course. The 1st edition focused on various CBT Techniques; the 2nd edition focused on a comprehensive and deep understanding of CBT, and introduced the Normal and Natural Blueprints, and targeted Cognitive Restructuring. This third edition is designed to be entirely skill-based, using real-life scenarios to ensure that every point we make is clinically relevant, applicable, and readily implementable.

For this, we will use a different framework. A clinical case will be used throughout the course to capture, step by step, how to treat any patient using CBT in the most efficient way possible, with the highest level of rigor and satisfaction. The purpose is to ensure that through the clinical practice of CBT, the best clinical skills are honed.  And, we know there is a difference between skillfully honing clinical skills and just using the tools related to a clinical intervention.  In other words, when using CBT, the most important decision we make is whether we are a CBT Technician or a CBT Clinician. What is the difference between the two?

Let us start there:

The CBT Technician:

1. The CBT Technician starts using CBT without considering if it is the best-recommended step at this time or not

2. The CBT Technician jumps to CBT Techniques before having an adequate understanding of what the presenting challenge may be

3. The CBT Technician knows very little about the patient

1. The CBT Clinician knows very well that the best techniques in the world will not work without adequate engagement and trust-building with the patient

2. The CBT Clinician works like a scientist and follows Einstein’s model of “55:5” (55 minutes to understand the problem and 5 minutes to solve it)

3. The CBT Clinician does with the patient instead of doing to the patient

4. A CBT Clinician will work to best integrate his or her clinical skills with any new CBT skills he or she may be learning.

We will use a clinical case framework throughout our upcoming full-day CBT Online Seminar and throughout the 3rd edition of the SWEET CBT Certificate Course. Here is an example:

Paul, a 28-year-old individual who identifies himself as male, came to you, stating, “I hate myself.”

What is your next best step?

Regardless of your level of clinical skills or your level of CBT skills, skill integration does not come straight forward to anyone. Are you ready to embark on being the best CBT Clinician you know you can be? If so, do one or both of the following:

1. Join us for our upcoming full-day Online Seminar on CBT; or

2. Apply for our upcoming CBT Certificate Course and see if you qualify to join us, and we will look forward to reviewing your application and serving you.

We look forward to seeing you at either our full-day CBT Online Seminar or at our 12 week CBT Certificate Course, or both.

Karen and Mardoche