CBT skills for physical health practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a psychological intervention initially developed for emotional disorders. It is now widely used in supporting people to deal with the challenges of physical ill-health. Professionals from various backgrounds can learn to use a simplified CBT skills set, and use of these skills enables them to be more effective in managing aspects of their patients’ distress.

The training is a mix of theory, skills demonstration and skills practice, giving participants a better understanding of the applicability of the skill set in their area of practice and providing some skills to take away. Training sessions are spaced to allow participants to use their new skills in their clinical practice. Each participant reflects on their learning and their work with a specific patient, and the whole group reflects on lessons learned. In this way, learning remains rooted in participants’ clinical practice. These CBT courses are consistently evaluated highly by participants.

The Course

• Teaching will be commenced with 2 days of in person sessions. 19th and 20th Feb 2026 at Mary Potter Hospice, Wellington and subsequently 2 sessions on-line via Zoom. These will be either 18th or 19th March an 22nd or 23rd April 2026.

• Attendance at all sessions is mandatory to complete the course.

• The courses cost is $850 per person (incl GST).

The Trainers

• Kathy Burn was a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Palliative Care who went on to train in CBT and to develop the CBT service at St Christopher’s Hospice, London. She now works in CBT in chronic pain, and she teaches and supervises CBT trainees at the institute of Psychiatry, London.

• Kathryn Mannix was a Palliative Medicine Consultant and CBT therapist. She developed ‘CBT First Aid’ to enable palliative care clinicians to adapt skills from CBT into their clinical practice. She is an author. There are insights into her use of CBT in her books With the End in Mind and Listen.

Terms and Conditions

Attendance: In order to create a learning community for each course, it is important that each person on a course attends every session and is able to join in the discussions by keeping up with the course. By accepting a place on a particular course, you agree to attend all the sessions, to arrive on time, and to work alongside your group members during the session to support each other's learning. Each session builds on the last, and you'll be asked to put your new learning into practice in- between sessions. Building learning groups in this way means we can't add new trainees after a course has begun.

We are not able to run catch-up sessions for sessions missed. If you miss sessions, you may be asked to withdraw from the course and no refunds will be given.

Refunds/Canellations: Once you sign up and pay, we won't be able to refund your payment unless we can reallocate your place to another person before the course begins. The deadline for cancelling your place is 28 days before the day and time of the first session. If you cancel and we can fill your place with another person, we'll offer you the choice of a refund or a place on a future course, if places are available. We will do our best to fill your place, but we can't promise this. Refunds will incur an administration fee.

Dates and Times of Sessions: all dates and times are given in NZ time, and this varies over the year. It is up to you to check the correct time in your time zone: you may find this website useful to check your own time zone with Auckland NZ time on each specific date: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/

Trainers: we have a team of trainers, all of whom are experienced CBT therapists and trainers, and all are familiar with applying CBT in physical health settings. Different sessions may be taught by different trainers, or by 'guest appearances' by some of our team. The team of trainers will ensure there is continuity of content and of learning as the course progresses.

Special circumstances: Sometimes, life events appear unexpectedly. If something unexpected prevents you from attending, please let us know as early as you can, and we will give consideration to how we might be able to support you to continue your training if that is what you wish to do.