Aaron T. Beck touched the lives of countless people around the world and across generations. His work developing and disseminating Cognitive Behavior Therapy redefined mental health practice, making it more accessible, actionable, and lasting. Also, his warmth and generosity left a lasting impression on his family, friends, colleagues, and students. 

That’s why, each year, we celebrate the importance of his life and work with a call to action on July 18th, Aaron T. Beck Day.  

As we prepare for this year’s celebration through service, we asked mental health practitioners from the Beck Institute community as well as clients who have benefitted from CBT why CBT is important to them, how Aaron T. Beck influenced them, what pledges they’ve made in years past, and the impact of those pledges.  

Here’s what some of them had to say.  

Why is CBT important to you?

“Being an evidence-based therapy for a range of mental health problems, CBT helps us in clinical practice as well as being an important therapeutic approach included in training for clinical psychologists.”

— Uday K Sinha, professor of clinical psychology, India 

“Because it taught me to take care of my thoughts and therefore of myself, it allows me to work well with my patients.”

— Antonella Montano, CBT educator and director of a CBT institute, Italy 

“CBT therapy has kept me from killing myself and enabled me to change my thinking and ultimately, with the aid of medication, to lead a more fulfilling life.”

— J.H., CBT client, U.S.  

“CBT is a great tool that helps me treat my clients in psychotherapy and it sets strong steps to guide my clients when they feel it is too hard to do it on their own.”

— Eleni Dimitriadou, BSc, MSc, psychologist, Kuwait 

“CBT has influenced both my personal and professional view of human strength, difficulty, and potential in general. My training in CBT has helped me learn, acquire and provide to others, as well, the tools and knowledge to change their (our) lives to the better and improve our wellbeing- for which I am forever grateful.”

— Meropi Simou, MSc, psychologist, Greece 

“It works.”

— Jennifer Lish, psychologist, U.S. 

How has Dr. Aaron T. Beck’s work impacted your own work in—or experience with—mental health?

“Beck’s work is mentioned in most, if not all, of my undergraduate courses I teach. I am so inspired by his work that I actually named my lab the Body and Eating Concerns (BEC) lab.”

— Taryn Myers, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Psychology at Virginia Wesleyan University, U.S. 

“Dr. Beck and his research have helped me since the time I started my career in mental health.”

— Pushpraj Singh Rajawat, psychologist, India 

“His person, his manner, his loving kindness, his moral correctness. In addition, of course, to scientific rigor and seriousness. But mostly, the way he was as a person.”

— Antonella Montano, CBT educator and director of a CBT Institute, Italy 

“Dr. Beck followed my career (as a scientist, scholar, and clinician) and my life since graduate school.  He gave me an opportunity, as well as honest and gentle feedback, as well as friendship. His work and ideas informed mine in all my roles. I am grateful to have known him. I miss knowing that I can seek his counsel; however, his legacy is deep and will continue to advance the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and neuroscience.”

— Robin Jarret, professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern, U.S. 

“Dr Beck and his work have played a pivotal role in my choice of profession and my current view of therapy itself. His kind words and humane manner, as described by my father Dr Simos in his lectures, have always been a therapist role-model for me and I regret not being able to have met him in person.”

— Meropi Simou, MSc, psychologist, Greece 

What pledge did you make?

“I underwent training to become a Digital Counselor for The Trevor Project.”

— Taryn Myers, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Psychology at Virginia Wesleyan University, U.S. 

“Mine was very personal. I shared my story and the results of it with a couple of people, one of whom was very depressed and needed some help. She’s now in treatment.”

— J.H., CBT client, U.S. 

“I provided two pro bono webinars for mental health professionals working with Ukrainians affected by the ongoing war with Russia.”

— David A. Clark, professor emeritus, Canada 

“I offered free psychotherapy sessions on that day.”

— Eleni Dimitriadou, BSc, MSc, psychologist, Kuwait   

“I pledged to remain a competent, compassionate and flexible therapist, supervisor and trainer in the praxis of CBT and support people who struggle in their daily life, through my clinical work, research, as well as continuous training.”

— Meropi Simou, MSc, psychologist, Greece 

What was the impact of your pledge or your work?

“Each week, I work a 3 hour shift texting and chatting with LGBTQ+ youth, many of whom are experiencing suicidal ideation. I typically speak to anywhere from 1-5 contacts each shift and provide support and resources in addition to appropriate Risk Assessment.”

— Taryn Myers, professor and chair of psychology at Virginia Wesleyan University, U.S. 

“I am providing mental health to approximately 800 people in a remote village of India where doctors and trained professionals hesitate to go.”

— Pushpraj Singh Rajawat, psychologist, India 

“We had over 90 mental health professionals attend the webinar from all over Ukraine.”

— David A. Clark, professor emeritus, Canada 

“The people who turned up to my free training session thought it was very useful and it encouraged them to carry on with their application and other general conversations about CBT.”

— Elaine Davies, psychotherapist, South Wales, UK 

The benefits of CBT extend across the globe, and Aaron T. Beck Day is a chance to renew that positive impact for countless others. 

Please join us this year and make a pledge to improve global mental health. 

Editor’s note: Some of the above responses have been edited for clarity