Frequently Asked Questions

Organizations who meet and maintain compliance with the rigorous standards held by Beck Institute will be eligible to earn the designation of a “Beck Accredited” organization.

Organizations may apply for accreditation beginning in 2020.

Accreditation by Beck Institute is for organizations that have met standards and continue to provide clinical services and/or training in accordance with the Beck Model for CBT. Accreditation is available to organizations who employ Beck Certified clinicians and supervisors.

Individuals who are licensed health or mental health professionals are eligible to apply for certification. If you live in an area where licensure is not required, you may still be eligible.

Beck Institute is the source for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Our certification program is designed by the Drs. Beck and leading clinicians in the field to encourage excellence in CBT.  Beck Institute Certified Clinicians have completed high-level training, supervision, and an evaluation process, demonstrating competence in core CBT techniques. 

Certification will be available in 2019. Register your interest to be notified as soon as it is available.

Yes, past Beck Institute training certificates can be submitted with a certification application.

Yes, Beck Institute online training certificates can be submitted with your application.

No, certification is valid for five years. After five years, you must submit a therapy session recording for review in order to be re-certified.

When certified, you will receive a signed certificate, have access to resources provided by Beck Institute, and invitations to attend exclusive Beck Institute-sponsored events. In addition, you will be included in our public therapist directory and be eligible to receive referrals from Beck Institute.

The scholarship applies only to the workshop registration fee and does not include travel or lodging expenses.

After submitting your application via the website, you will receive an automated confirmation email. If you do not receive this email, please contact the training department (education@beckinstitute.org).

All applicants will be notified of their status in early April.

Yes. We recommend reserving your seat in the workshop by submitting the registration fee. Beck Institute will reimburse you should you be chosen as a scholarship recipient.

Yes. Trainees who graduated within the same calendar year may still attend the workshop.

The content presented in our Graduate Student workshop is identical to our Core workshop (CBT for Depression & Suicide). The Graduate Student workshop is different in that it is only open to graduate students, psychiatric residents, pre-doctoral interns, or post-doctoral fellows in a mental health or related field (health, education, etc.). Additionally, this workshop does not provide CEs and the cost is significantly discounted to accommodate students.

A continental breakfast, refreshments, and light snacks will be available throughout the workshop. Lunch will not be provided as part of the workshop. However, the Marriott has a restaurant and there are several eateries available within walking distance of the hotel.

Yes. For your convenience, we have reserved rooms at the Courtyard Marriott hotel (where the workshop will be taking place). They are offering a reduced rate for participants of this workshop. To take advantage, please use this link to book your room by midnight on Friday, July 6th.

Supervision terms consist of 10 sessions over the course of 3 months. Sessions are held weekly, although we have factored in two extra weeks to accommodate illness, vacation, holidays, etc.

Beck Institute supervisors are highly skilled cognitive therapists who have trained with Dr. Aaron Beck and/or Dr. Judith Beck. You will be matched with a Beck Institute supervisor based on your treatment specialty.

Supervision terms consist of 10 sessions over the course of 3 months.  Those of you who are signed up for Group Supervision will have one term of 10  60-minute sessions. Those of you who are signed up for Individual Supervision will have two consecutive terms of ten 45-minute sessions (for a total of 20 sessions over six months.) Sessions are held weekly, although we have factored in a couple extra weeks to better accommodate for illness, vacation, holiday, etc.

The first supervision term for all participants is scheduled to begin July 1^st and end on September 30^th. Those in Individual Supervision will begin another supervision term, immediately following the first supervision term This second term will run from October 1^st to December 31^st, and will be a continuation of regular supervision, unless you qualify for supervision of supervision.

Recordings will be submitted through a private, password-protected file-sharing service that Beck Institute is providing to all supervisees. Instructions on how to use this service are included above (see “File Encryption and Delivery Portal Instructions” under “Resource Documents.”)

A single session recording should be submitted at least three days in advance of your supervision call (approximately weekly.) Those of you in Individual Supervision will end up submitting 10 session recordings. Those of you in Group Supervision will rotate who is responsible for submitting the next week’s recording; for example, in a group of four clinicians, each clinician should expect to submit 2-3 session recordings across 10 sessions

Supervision calls may be conducted via telephone or video conferencing. If using video conferencing, you are not permitted to enable the “Record” feature as recording supervision calls are strictly prohibited. More details on specific programs will be provided to program participants.

You will need to use a digital voice recorder that converts to audio files.

We’ve found that saying something like the following helps:

“I have an unusual opportunity for you. You should feel free to say yes or no. I’m about to begin a special supervision program and if you do say yes, I think you’ll really benefit. Here’s what I’d do. I’d record our next few therapy sessions but I would never say or write down your full name. I’ll send the recordings to a special supervisor who will listen to it, then delete it, and then give me feedback. I always think two heads are better than one. You’d get the benefit of the expert supervision that I’ll be getting. [pause] What do you think? Do you want to be the client I choose? Or would you like to think about it?”

If you are in group supervision, just change the script to say:

 “I’ll send the recordings to a special supervisor and to a couple of my colleagues. They’ll listen…”

Beck Institute recommends that you record two consenting clients per week (or, in advance of your scheduled week, for those of you in Group Supervision.) Recording more than one client at a time is helpful in the event that the primary client you’re using for supervision misses a session.

We recommend using the same client for at least the first few supervision sessions. You can then move onto another client if that would be more helpful. You are not required to use the same client throughout your supervision term, nor switch to another client.

Both you and your supervisor will rate every patient recording you submit using the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS.) You will need to read the CTRS Manual first. A Passing Score on the CTRS is 40. A copy of the CTRS and CTRS Manual are provided as downloadable documents on www.beckinstitute.org/Akron-Resources.

In order to successfully complete the supervision program, you must attend all 10 supervision sessions, submit at least 7 session recordings to your supervisor, and obtain at least 3 CTRS scores of 40 or above as rated by your supervisor.

When you successfully complete the supervision program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion in the Beck Supervision Program.

You will receive a Letter of Participation documenting your participation in the supervision program.

To be eligible to participate in supervision of supervision, you must first successfully complete your first standard term of supervision (Individual) and receive 3 scores of 50 or higher on the CTRS. Please note that the standard to progress to supervision of supervision is a higher standard than is required to receive a Certificate of Completion. You must also receive a recommendation from your supervisor to begin supervision of supervision.

Supervision of supervision is structured the same way as regular supervision (10 sessions over the course of 3 months). However, instead of recordings of therapy sessions, you will send your supervisor recordings in which you are supervising your own trainees. You will then receive feedback from your Beck supervisor on how to become a more effective CBT supervisor.

Beck Institute will provide you with a copy of the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS) and CTRS Manual, a Cognitive Therapy Worksheet Packet, access to a secure file sending service to send your recordings, and a sample consent form to use with your clients. You will also be provided with copies of Beck scales (BDI, BAI, and BHS and, if applicable, the Beck Youth Scales). Please note, the BDI, BAI, BHS, and all Youth Scales are owned by Pearson Assessments and are provided as a special courtesy as part of your participation in the Beck Supervision Program. They are only to be used with clients with whom you are working within the scope of the Beck Supervision Program. Otherwise you will be in violation of copyright laws.

Accredited organizations must employ Beck Certified clinicians and supervisors. Organizations that provide on-site clinical training must provide supervision conducted by Beck Certified supervisors.

Certification is a process and designation for individuals. Individuals within organizations may be certified even though the organization for whom they work may not be accredited.

Para recibir crédito de CE, tendrá que registrarse diariamente en el taller, completar el Formulario de Verificación de Asistencia (CAV) y completar la evaluación del curso. Usted recibirá estos formularios en el taller.

Sí, este taller le permitirá obtener  24 EC. El costo de los créditos de CE se incluye en su pago de registro.

Usted recibirá su certificado de CE por correo electrónico luego de una semana de haber finalizado el taller.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) se encuentra a unos 30 – 45 minutos de Beck Instituto.

El taller finaliza a las 4:00 p.m. Hora del Este (ET). Por lo general, toma 30-45 minutos para llegar al aeropuerto y 20-30 minutos para llegar a la estación del tren (30th Street Station).

Para asistencia con respect al hotel y a sus vuelos , por favor contacte con nuestro equipo de viajes.

Hay dos hoteles a poca distancia del Instituto Beck con tarifas especiales disponibles. El Hilton City Avenue está justo al otro lado de la calle y el Courtyard Philadelphia City Avenue (anteriormente el Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West) está a unos diez minutos a pie del Instituto Beck. El Courtyard también ofrece un servicio de traslado a Beck Institute que le llevará a nuestra oficina cada mañana y y de regreso al hotel por la tarde.

En algunos casos, sí. Ofrecemos becas de capacitación a terapeutas que trabajan con personal militar activo o con veteranos.  Las becas están basadas en las necesidades, y ofrecemos un taller especial anualmente a un precio reducido para los estudiantes.Puede haber otra ayuda financiera disponible. Para obtener más información, envíe un correo electrónico a Maritza Lawson en education@beckinstitute.org.

Yes, Beck Institute will provide handouts to the organization 5 days in advance of the training, electronically. The organization is responsible for making hard copies of handouts and distributing handouts to participants.

No, Beck Institute uses a travel and planning company to book faculty’s travel and lodging. Beck Institute submits expenses to the organization for reimbursement following the training.

Yes, the organization is responsible for securing audio-visual equipment, including a computer or laptop with PowerPoint software installed, Wi-Fi, slide clicker, digital projector and screen, DVD playing capability with sound amplification, lavaliere microphone, handheld microphones for audience participation and roleplays, and a dry erase or flip board.

Yes, the organization is responsible for securing the training space.

No, we do not allow audio or video recordings of trainings.

Scholarships for organizations may be available. Contact Bonnie Nicolari (bnicolari@beckinstitute.org) for more information.

Yes, participants will receive a Certificate of Workshop Attendance via email.

We do not set the minimum or maximum for workshops. It’s really up to you and the capacity at your site.

We do not provide continuing education credits for training at organizations. Some organizations decide to get credits through a local university or other credentialing source. It is also our understanding that some licensing boards accept a certain number of hours of continuing education that are not approved in advance, *but it is up to the individual participant to submit proof of attendance to their licensing board. If the licensing board allows for this, the licensing board makes the determination on whether credits will be counted.

We typically schedule workshops 3-4 months in advance.

You can find this out by reading the accreditation information provided on our website. If a particular board is not listed, you may contact the board for further details.

No, you must attend the workshop in full in order to receive CE credit.

IAHB does not grant credit retroactively. All CE requirements must be fulfilled on-site at the workshop.

At the end of the workshop, you will receive directions and a link to electronically retrieve your CE certificate.

Yes, you will be able to download a CE certificate of completion after all necessary steps are completed.

In order to receive CE credit, you will need to sign in and out daily at the workshop and follow the website link that is provided to you at the end of the workshop. You will need to complete a post-workshop evaluation. Once you complete this, you can download your CE certificate.

Cognitive behavior therapy is one of the few forms of psychotherapy that has been scientifically tested and found to be effective in hundreds of clinical trials for many different disorders. In contrast to other forms of psychotherapy, cognitive therapy is usually more focused on the present, more limited in duration, and more problem-solving oriented. In addition, patients learn specific skills that they can use for the rest of their lives. These skills involve identifying distorted thinking, modifying beliefs, relating to others in different ways, and changing behaviors.

Cognitive behavior therapy is based on the cognitive model: the way we perceive situations influences how we feel emotionally.

For example, one person reading this website might think, “Wow! This sounds good, it’s just what I’ve always been looking for!” and feels happy. Another person reading this information might think, “Well, this sounds good but I don’t think I can do it.” This person feels sad and discouraged.

So it is not a situation that directly affects how people feel emotionally, but rather, their thoughts in that situation. When people are in distress, their perspective is often inaccurate and their thoughts may be unrealistic.

Cognitive behavior therapy helps people identify their distressing thoughts and evaluate how realistic the thoughts are. Then they learn to change their distorted thinking. When they think more realistically, they feel better. The emphasis is also consistently on solving problems and initiating behavioral changes.

It’s important to remember that cognitive behavior therapists use a different formulation for each psychiatric disorder. We use this formulation in conceptualizing the individual patient, which is an essential component to developing a sound therapeutic relationship, setting goals, planning treatment, and selecting interventions. Building trust and rapport with patients from the very first contact, demonstrating accurate empathy, sharing the conceptualization with the patient (and making sure it “rings true” for the patient), and collaborating are also essential. Another important part of every therapy session is helping patients respond to inaccurate or unhelpful ideas. The basic question to ask when a patient is reporting a distressing situation, emotion, or dysfunctional behavior is: “What is going through your mind right now?” Once we help patients identify their dysfunctional thinking, we help them gain more adaptive and accurate perspectives, especially by helping them examine the validity and usefulness of their thoughts. We also help them design behavioral experiments to test the accuracy of their predictions.

If you are undecided about therapy, think about the following:

You don’t need to make a commitment to a minimum number of sessions:
Some patients find even a few therapy sessions useful and then choose to continue working on their own.

View therapy as an experiment:
There is no way of your knowing in advance that cognitive therapy will definitely help, but it has helped countless people with difficulties. Think of giving cognitive therapy a try; there’s probably no hard evidence that it won’t help.

Realize that there is no big risk:
If it’s not helpful enough, you can stop, but the potential benefit might be great. It would be a shame if you decided not to try something that could really make a difference in your life.

It’s normal to have concerns:
You may worry whether therapy can help or you may feel hopeless about it. If you’re predicting that nothing will make you feel better, you may be wrong.

Finances are often a problem:
Many insurance plans pay for part of the cost of evaluation and treatment. Our goal is to teach you to be your own therapist and to keep therapy short, so cognitive therapy may be the best investment you could make.

If you’d like to know more, please call our intake coordinator, Molly Finkel, at 610-664-3020. There are also many excellent self-help books that can give you a good idea of what cognitive therapy is all about.

Cognitive therapists, being both practical and collaborative, can discuss the advantages and disadvantages of medication with you. Many patients are treated without medication at all. Some disorders, however, respond better to a combination of medication and cognitive therapy. If you are on medication, or would like to be on medication, you might want to discuss with your therapist whether you should have a psychiatric consultation with a specialist (a psychopharmacologist) to ensure that you are on the right kind and dosage of medication. If you are not on medication and do not want to be on medication, you and your therapist might assess, after four to six weeks, how much you’ve progressed and determine whether you might want a psychiatric consultation at that time to obtain more information about medication.

One way is to ask your therapist how you might be able to supplement your psychotherapy with cognitive therapy readings, workbooks, client pamphlets, etc. A second way is to prepare for each session, thinking about what you learned in the previous session and jotting down what you want to discuss in the next session.

A third way to maximize therapy is to make sure that you try to bring the therapy session into your everyday life. Therapists should make sure you take home notes or a recording of anything you want to remember, both changes in your thinking and an action plan to follow during the week.

Many patients notice a decrease in their symptoms within a few weeks of therapy, or even sooner, if they have been faithfully attending sessions and doing the suggested assignments between sessions on a daily basis.

An important first step is to set goals. Ask yourself, “How would I like to be different by the end of therapy?” Think specifically about changes you’d like to make at work, at home, in your relationships with family, friends, co-workers, and others. Think about what symptoms have been bothering you and which you’d like to decrease or eliminate. Think about other areas that would improve your life: pursuing spiritual/intellectual/cultural interests, increasing exercise, decreasing bad habits, learning new interpersonal skills, improving management skills at work or at home. Your therapist will help you develop a goal list and decide which goals you might be able to work toward on your own and which ones you might want to work on in therapy.

At each therapy session, cognitive behavior therapists help clients specify the problems they have encountered during the week or that they expect to encounter in the current week. They then collect data to identify the ideas and behaviors that have interfered with patients’ ability to solve problems themselves. Cognitive behavior therapists get clients actively engaged in deciding where to start working. Together, they develop an “action  plan” or homework for patients (to do during the week) to implement solutions to problems or to make changes in their thinking and actions. This process gets clients actively involved in their own treatment; they begin to recognize that the way to get better is to make small changes in how they think and what they do every day. When treatment ends, clients are able to use the skills and tools they have learned in therapy in their day-to-day lives.  

Please contact us at info@beckinstitute.org for information about internship or volunteer opportunities.  We do not offer pre- or post-doctoral internships at this time.

In some cases, yes. We offer training scholarships to therapists working with active-duty or veteran military personnel, needs-based scholarships, and we offer a special workshop annually at a reduced rate for students.

Other financial aid may be available. For more information, please email Maritza Lawson at education@beckinstitute.org.

Yes. If you are interested in learning to supervise other cognitive therapists, you must first successfully complete one standard term of supervision and receive 3 scores of 50 or higher on the CTRS. You must also receive a recommendation from your supervisor to begin supervision of supervision.

You will receive a Letter of Participation documenting your participation in the supervision program and you may enroll in additional terms.

When you successfully complete the supervision program, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. You are encouraged to obtain certification in cognitive therapy through the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Your supervisor will rate your therapy recordings using the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS). In order to receive a Certificate of Completion, you must obtain a score of 40 three times and be recommended by your supervisor. Trainees who do not reach competency  receive a Letter of Participation and may enroll in additional terms.

Yes, trainees may submit translated transcripts of therapy sessions in lieu of session recordings and receive voice-to-voice supervision. Alternatively, we may be able to provide you with a Beck Institute supervisor who can listen to your tapes and conduct supervision calls in other languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese, and Thai. Some international trainees who speak English decide to offer treatment at a reduced fee, if need be, to an English-speaking client.

Recordings will be submitted through a private, password-protected file-sharing service that Beck Institute provides to all trainees. You will be provided with unique login information for this service prior to the start of your supervision term.

International trainees are not required to have a license. If you practice in the US, you must have a license if your state requires it. We ask you to provide the appropriate documentation.

For supervision sessions, you will record clients from your own practice.

We recommend that you record two consenting clients per week. Recording more than one client at a time is helpful in the event that the primary client you’re using for supervision misses a session.

You will need to use a digital voice recorder that converts to audio files. You can find an example by clicking here.

Yes. Beck Institute supervisors represent a wide variety of expertise in using cognitive therapy with a range of disorders and specific populations.

Yes. If we are unable to provide you with the supervisor you request, we will match you to an available supervisor whose training and experience match your needs and interests.

Beck Institute supervisors are highly skilled cognitive therapists who have trained with Dr. Aaron Beck and/or Dr. Judith Beck.

Yes learn more on our Training for Organizations page.

Philadelphia Workshops are held at the Beck Institute, across the street from the Philadelphia city limit. Our address is 1 Belmont Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004.

On the Road workshops are held in cities throughout the US.

Yes! Starting in January 2016, Beck Institute is offering On the Road Workshops in various cities throughout the US.

For hotel and travel assistance, contact our travel team.

There are two hotels within walking distance of the Beck Institute with special rates available. The Hilton City Avenue is directly across the street, and the Courtyard Philadelphia City Avenue (formerly the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West) is about a ten-minute walk from Beck Institute. The Courtyard also offers a shuttle to Beck Institute trainees that will take you to and from our office each morning and afternoon.

Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) is located about 30 – 45 minutes from Beck Institute.

The workshop ends at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). It usually takes 30-45 minutes to get to the airport and 20-30 minutes to get to 30th Street Station.

Participants must hold at least a master’s degree in a mental health, education, medical, or related field, although we do consider graduate students on a case-by-case basis. Graduate Students are eligible to attend our annual Graduate Student Workshop: CBT for Depression. We recommend (but do not require) participants to attend at least one Core Curriculum workshop before attending a Specialty Workshop.

The Core Curriculum workshops are designed to build the essential knowledge and practice competencies in CBT. Core 1 (Depression) focuses on the fundamentals of CBT: case conceptualization, treatment planning, goal setting, session structure, identifying and responding to automatic thoughts, behavioral experiments, etc. Core 2 (Anxiety) covers theory and treatment specific to the more commonly encountered anxiety disorders such as GAD, Social Phobia, and Panic Disorder. Finally, Core 3 focuses on challenges: personality disorders, problems in the therapeutic relationship, problems with homework completion and therapy engagement, difficulties with identifying cognitions, and other seeming obstacles to therapy. We recommend having taken Core 1 or 2 before Core 3, depending on prior experience and familiarity with CBT.

Yes. Throughout the year, Beck Institute offers a changing menu of specialty workshops on a variety of topics. Specialty workshop topics are determined based on feedback from Core Curriculum workshop participants, and reflect current interests and issues.

Learn more

Yes. Attendance at our three-day Philadelphia workshops earns 18 CE credits and two-day workshops earn 12 CE credits. Cost of CE credits is included in your registration payment.

Dr. Judith Beck directs all workshops and teaches at many of them. Beck Institute faculty, who have specific expertise in specialty areas, also present. Dr. Aaron Beck conducts a question and answer session at most Philadelphia workshops.

Beck Institute accepts applications on a rolling basis until the Friday prior to the workshop start. Your tuition guarantees your space.

A workshop will show in the store as out of stock when the capacity has been reached. If you have questions about availability, please email us or call 610-664-3020.

You may pay tuition by check drawn on a U.S. bank or by credit card.