The CAT Foundation course is accessible to professions with prior training in psychological therapies. It aims to equip trainees with the CAT skills and competencies for working primarily as one to one therapists, usually in primary care or NHS Talking Therapies services. The emphasis is on therapeutic work with people who present with problems in relationships alongside other symptoms and difficulties. They may have experienced early adversity with aspects of complex trauma, and been identified as demonstrating traits (but not a formal diagnosis) related to the concept of “personality disorder“. The Foundation Training syllabus aims to give an introduction to the CAT competencies for working with individuals with these kinds of difficulties.
The course does not train applicants to be accredited CAT therapists/practitioners, nor equip them to work using CAT with clients experiencing more complex difficulties. Specifically, it does not qualify therapists to work using CAT with those who may attract a diagnosis of “personality disorder” and who may typically present in secondary care or specialist psychotherapy services.
The course takes place over one year and is equivalent to the first year of a CAT Practitioner Training in its academic and clinical content, and written work requirements. Unlike Practitioner Training, the training does not include a full personal therapy. Instead, the therapy component is a brief personal reformulation experience.
An invitation to develop a CAT training for IAPT workers (now known as NHS Talking Therapies) led to the design of the CAT Foundation course. A number of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (D.Clin.Psychol.) courses also offer the CAT Foundation Training in fulfilment of the British Psychological Society (BPS) requirements for clinical psychologists to train in two therapeutic models. For these trainings this constitutes the D.Clin.Psychol. CAT Accreditation Pathway at Foundation Level. As the CAT Foundation course is delivered across the three years of professional training, D.Clin.Psychol. trainees register with ACAT as a trainee member for 3 years. The membership cost is, however, held at just 1 year, to be equivalent with other foundation courses.
"I particularly enjoyed exploring some interesting and new concepts in understanding an integrative model of psychotherapy and these were completely new to me; however the style and manner in which they were taught made it fun and interesting. The course offered plenty of very useful resources for learning and I felt there was a high level of support from the course facilitators and other trainees. The training has offered me the confidence to apply the model in my clinical work and helped me to build on my skills and knowledge in working with clients."
The Foundation course is modular and as such offers Foundation Year credit towards the further training, clinical experience and assessments necessary for accreditation as an ACAT accredited CAT Therapist/Practitioner. Foundation status conveys preparation for further study. Accordingly, Foundation level graduates can only apply for acceditation as a CAT therapist after a further year of training. Those successfully completing the Foundation course may apply to join Year 2 of any Practitioner Training course in the UK.
Applicants are expected to demonstrate that they are academically capable of undertaking post-graduate study. You will therefore have either a first degree or equivalent qualification, or other evidence of academic capability. You will already have (and will be asked to demonstrate) relevant experience of conducting psychological therapies with people in a mental health setting within therapeutic boundaries. The course is designed to be accessible to High Intensity therapists in NHS Talking Therapies services. Additionally it may also be suitable for others with a core mental health profession who can demonstrate a level of prior experience in delivering psychological therapies.
Applicants must have the personal qualities that make them suitable for the profession of psychotherapy. This includes demonstrable awareness and sensitivity to issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, class and disability, ethnic and cultural difference. Additionally applicants need to have sufficient emotional competence to deal with the psychological aspects of the work.
We will be looking for:
a lively and enquiring mind,
an ability to listen and respond with compassion and respect and without prejudice,
evidence of self-reflection, self-awareness and a commitment to self-development,
evidence of personal stability and appropriate boundaries, and
a capacity for constructive working relationships.
Foundation training comprises:
a minimum of ten training days
8 hrs of seminar/peer reading groups
four supervised CAT clinical cases
two clinical appraisals
an essay on reformulation
a case study, and
a CAT Personal Reformulation experience
These usually consist of a combination of preliminary reading, lecture format presentations, group discussions, experiential learning, skills practice and case discussions as appropriate. There is an emphasis on applying concepts to current practice / training cases. The format is ten days and additional seminar/reading groups; or eleven days with discussion of a key paper or chapter within each day.
The syllabus and teaching structure is based on the first year of a CAT therapist/practitioner course focusing on core concepts adjusted to the setting. For example an NHS Talking Therapies Foundation Course incorporates a focus on working with a greater degree of relational complexity and with people identified as demonstrating traits (but not a formal diagnosis) related to “personality disorder”.
Trainees are required to complete a minimum of four supervised CAT cases. Supervision will take place weekly with an accredited CAT supervisor. Of the four cases required, two of these should be of 16 or more sessions. Minimum clinical hours for foundation level training (excluding follow-ups) must total at least 48 hours. Insofar as it is possible, trainees are encouraged to accumulate a range of clinical experience in terms of presentation, gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic group.
A complete CAT case is one in which the trainee develops and shares all three CAT tools (prose reformulation, SDR and goodbye letter). The exception to this is in an 8 session CAT, when a recommended alternative is a SDR and 'hybrid' (reformulation/goodbye) letter being shared at the end of therapy.
Supervised practice runs in tandem with the training days to allow application to practice. CAT training supervision aims to be group supervision where possible to allow learning opportunities across cases and therapist style. Groups ideally include three trainees, carrying two cases at a time. This allows 30 minutes discussion time per trainee per week.
Click here for more information on supervised clinical practice as part of CAT training.
Successful completion of the course will comprise
assessment and regular attendance (minimum 85%) at all aspects of the course
completion of supervised clinical work
satisfactory completion of written work, and
satisfactory reports from trainers, supervisors and tutors
Trainees will demonstrate their understanding and practice of CAT through two pieces of written work (an essay and a case study). These will show evidence of self-reflection and clinical application.
Supervisor reports on the trainees’ clinical practice, and their use of supervision, are usually completed at six monthly intervals. Within clinical psychology training, the overall supervisor appraisal may integrate evaluation of this training.
CAT therapy (16 sessions) is not a requirement of the CAT Foundation course, although this is mandatory for further CAT training. We encourage any trainee, who wishes to, to arrange for personal therapy at this stage of their training. However, the Foundation course involves a brief ‘personal reformulation’ experience.
The aim of personal reformulation is to offer participants the opportunity to explore with a CAT therapist, what it is ‘they bring to work’. The starting point for this experience is often through reflecting upon the use of self in relation to a clinical case or scenario. It gives participants some flavour of what it is like ‘at the receiving end’. In addition, it also shows that work in this area of mental health inevitably involves personal reactions. As a relational therapy, this requires an openness to discussion of these issues in CAT supervision. Personal reformulation is not therapy but simply an opportunity to explore these issues in confidence, and with an appropriately experienced therapist offering this brief adaptation of CAT.
Please click here for further information on personal development within CAT training.
Further details about Personal Reformulation for Personal and Professional Development and how to arrange this are provided by the course at the start of training. [THIS IN ITALICS LIKELY TO GO OR CHANGE] Once registered as an ACAT member on a course you can click into ACAT 'Training Resources' (under 'Training' on a member's home page when logged-in) to access the downloadable document 'Personal Reformulation: Skills and Foundation', or please click here to be transferred to your home page where you can access ACAT Training Resources
Successful completion of the Foundation course, confers upon the candidate the One Year Foundation Level Certificate in Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT).
A Foundation course is a substantial preparation for further study. Undertaking this course offers you an opportunity to judge whether the model is something to which you are suited. Hopefully you will be better able to decide whether you want to invest in further training in CAT. Trainees have a maximum study period of 3 years to complete the Foundation course but must continue as an ACAT trainee member if training is extended.
CAT Foundation Course graduates can go on to apply to complete the second year of an ACAT CAT Practitioner course . If you wish to train further towards accreditation as a CAT Practitioner, please note that you have a maximum total period of up to 6 years to remain registered as an ACAT trainee.
More details are provided on application and during training but in summary:
If as a CAT Foundation graduate you want to remain a trainee member of ACAT, ACAT requires you to be in regular supervision in line with ACAT CPD policy for a minimum of 1.5 hrs per month. You can then practice CAT within your core profession/professional role as a trainee member of ACAT, under supervision with an accredited CAT therapist/supervisor.
If you apply to do a CAT second year, there is a total six year registration period from the start of the Foundation Course to completion of the second year of CAT Practitioner training. (N.B. if your Foundation training was conducted during the three years of DClinPsychol training, this period 'counts' as one year.) You can apply to any practitioner course nationally to join their second year.
If you choose not to do further training, then after a total of 6 years, your CAT membership status reverts to ‘friend’ of ACAT. If you do not wish to remain a trainee member of ACAT after the one year course, you can also be a ‘friend’ of ACAT and can use CAT concepts within your professional role.
CAT Foundation Courses do not run on a regular basis, other than those run in collaboration with clinical psychology doctorate training. Otherwise, NHS Trusts usually commission them specifically for therapists in NHS Talking Therapies services.
Three courses are currently running and D.Clin.Psych. trainees on the courses listed below can access the ACAT accredited Foundation training.
At the time of writing, there are no current Foundation courses open to individual application. If you want to find out more about commissioning a bespoke CAT Foundation course please contact Alison Marfell, ACAT Administrator, at alison.marfell@acat.me.uk
