'Just such a massive, monumentous achievement’: an exploratory study on how trainee and recently qualified CBT practitioners experience postgraduate CBT training and understand its contribution to the development of competence

The literature on CBT practitioner development suggests that extensive training that monitors adherence and reinforces skilfulness produces increased therapist competence, which is related to better patient outcomes. However, little is still known about how trainees perceive their training and its impact on what they understand to be competent practice. Fifteen trainee and recently qualified CBT practitioners who were taking or had taken a UK BABCP Level 2 CBT training course were recruited and asked to complete a photo elicitation task followed by a semi-structured individual interview. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in an overarching theme of training as a personal odyssey, comprising four main themes: 1) an opportunity to work in a meaningful profession; 2) a reflective learning process, 3) a well-rounded practitioner, and 4) a worthwhile outcome. The multifaceted nature of each theme is described and related to existing theory and to author reflexivity. Recommendations are made for ways these findings might be applied to help make CBT training more effective and less demanding. Limitations of the study include the preponderance of participants drawn from the Improving Access to Therapies programme in England and the lack of gender and ethnic diversity.