News
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy training boosted by UK’s first
elearning service
20 March 2008
Training of an extra 3,600 psychological therapists in the recently
announced £170m UK government programme to boost treatment of depression
could progress faster than expected. This is just one benefit of a new
elearning service launched by one of the UK’s leading cognitive
behavioural therapy (CBT) training centres using the very latest
interactive webcast technology.
This new approach is being pioneered by the Oxford Cognitive Therapy
Centre (OCTC) using webcast software supplied by In Situ Productions.
After completing their set courses, trainee therapists can discuss their
caseloads with world-class trainers during monthly interactive video
tutorials. They can also view webinars and role-play exercises.
The online service is the first of its kind in the UK for CBT and
aims to supplement and reinforce what is currently available offline.
OCTC’s short and accredited courses attract so many applications from
GPs, social workers and mental health professionals each year that they
are always over-subscribed. Using the latest webcast and elearning
techniques will allow more health professionals to benefit from
first-class training.
The launch comes as a new study announced that anti-depressant drugs
may be ineffective for treating all but the severest depression. In
2004, NICE recommended that ‘talking treatments’, such as CBT, be used
as the first-line treatment for mild to moderate depression.
However, a shortage of qualified therapists means GPs continue to
prescribe anti-depressants. In 2006, around 32 million prescriptions for
anti-depressants were issued in the UK — the most on record — hence the
Government’s commitment to training 3,600 new therapists.
At the announcement of the new training programme in February, Health
Minister Ivan Lewis commented on the extent of the mental health problem
in the UK: "More than one in six people suffer from mental health
problems such as anxiety, stress and depression at any one time and GPs
spend a third of their time dealing with people with these common mental
health problems.
"For many people, prescribing medication is a successful treatment
but psychological therapies have proved to be as effective as drugs in
tackling these common mental health problems and are often more
effective in the longer term."
Jon Allen, Director of Nursing and Clinical Governance at the
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust said,
“The OCTC pioneered CBT techniques and its staff have written some of
the leading texts in the field. We wanted to make the expertise of our
world-class CBT practitioners available to more trainee therapists.
"Using modern webcast software, supplied by In Situ, was the ideal
solution. We already have our first subscribers, despite only
'going-live' last week. This is excellent, especially since depression
is a major problem — reportedly affecting one in six of the UK
population and costing around £12 million per year in lost
productivity.”
|