Home / About RICBTC

Mission

To set and uphold clear standards for therapists, psychotherapists and coaches who work in cognitive behavioural ways.

What RICBTC does

RICBTC is a professional register. It is not a training provider and not a statutory regulator. It sets standards for, and accredits, integrative cognitive behavioural therapists, psychotherapists and coaches. It will also approve CPD (continuing professional development) courses and workshops.

When the register opens, each person on it will be listed with their grade, their discipline (therapist, psychotherapist or coach) and their approach, so that members of the public can check who they are seeing and know how to raise a concern.

What integrative means

Integrative is the working idea at the centre of RICBTC. It means working with the whole person in their context, not only with their thoughts, and bringing together mind, body and behaviour.

RICBTC encourages transdiagnostic practice, which looks for the processes that keep problems going across diagnoses, such as avoidance, rumination and self-criticism. Ideally, it encourages process-based practice: a treatment plan for each client, built from their formulation. Treatment manuals and protocols can be part of that plan. What RICBTC discourages is applying any protocol in a fixed, one-size-fits-all way.

The important thing is that we identify causes and interventions irrespective of what theoretical framework or school of psychotherapy they came from.

Tom Borkovec, interviewed at the congress of the European Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, Geneva, 2012

Who it is for

RICBTC is for therapists, psychotherapists and coaches who work in evidence-based cognitive behavioural ways, whichever approach they trained in. Hypno-CBT® and NA-CBT® (NeuroAffective-CBT®) are its founding training routes. Training from other schools is assessed against the same standards. Entry requirements will be published when RICBTC opens for applications.

How RICBTC is run

RICBTC is a division of Mindease Limited and aims to function as an independent register while it remains owned by Mindease Limited. Hypno-CBT® College teaches and awards qualifications; RICBTC sets the standards and decides who is registered. Completing a College course does not by itself give anyone a professional title. The College provides administrative support during the transition.

The board and its declared interests are set out on the Governance and Board page.

The transition from REBHP

RICBTC takes over from REBHP, the Register of Evidence-Based Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy, which is being retired. The transition from REBHP explains what this means for existing members.