Certification in CBT?

A colleague recently wrote "Have you heard of the "National Board of Cognitive Behavioral Therapists"? It is based in South Bend, Indiana, and the Area Director's name is Donald Lytle. They are offering certification as a "Cognitive Behavioral Therapist" and I'm wondering if this is a worthwhile piece of paper to buy ($195.) and if this is in any connected with the national board of cognitive therapists that you'd mentioned, but that I thought was not yet formally organized? If not, what is the name of the organization that you'd talked about? And do you have any suggestions for knowing what is a "real" cognitive certification vs. an unhelpful certification?"

The question of whether there should be some mechanism for obtaining certification in CT or CBT is likely to gain increasing attention in coming years. After all, there are many therapists who declare themselves Cognitive Therapists or cognitive-behavioral therapists after attending a few workshops or reading a book. Unfortunately, there is considerable variability in the extent to which these therapists understand CBT and can practice it competently. It seems that some form of national certification in CBT would have value.

• Masters or doctoral degree in psychology, counseling, social work or related field from a regionally accredited university.
• Three years of post-graduate supervised experience providing cognitive-behavioral treatment to children, adolescents or adults. Supervision must average at least one hour per week during the three year period.
• Three letters of recommendation from mental health professionals who are familiar with the applicant's cognitive-behavioral skills.
• One graduate course or nine continuing education hours in cognitive-behavioral treatment.
• Pass a written and oral examination.

As far as I know, neither of these organizations is well-established or widely known. The one from South Bend appears to be willing to "certify" virtually anyone who sends them a check and this would seem to raise questions about the value to the certificate. Aldo Pucci's organization has more stringent requirements for certification, however it appears to be strongly slanted towards RET/REBT and it isn't clear to me whether they represent the full range of CBT or not.

Neither of these groups is the organization which I had mentioned to my colleague. For some time a number of Cognitive Therapists who have trained and or worked with Aaron Beck have talked of organizing some sort of certification in CT. Almost two years ago Beck hosted a meeting of leading Cognitive therapists and the group agreed to establish the "Academy of Cognitive Therapy" as a non-profit certifying body. Unfortunately, things have progressed slowly since then. A board has been elected and bylaws have been approved but nothing further has transpired. Hopefully the Academy will agree on criteria for certifying therapists in CT and start doing so one of thee days but the wheels seem to be turning quite slowly at present.

As far as criteria for determining which certifying bodies are legitimate, I'd consider the following characteristics:

• Do I need to demonstrate knowledge and competence in the area for which I am being "certified" order to achieve certification? (If all I need to do is send in a check, then how can the certification be valid?)
• Is the certifying body widely known and respected?
• Has the certifying body or the certification itself been endorsed by relevant experts?

Replies:

Update on the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, by Jim Pretzer, 10/12/98 Status of ACT as of 11/6/98, by Jim Pretzer, 11/9/98 The Academy of Cognitive Therapy has begun operations!, by Jim Pretzer, 9/17/99

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