Cognitive Behavioural Therapy & Training: Cognitive Coaching in a Psychology Student Graduate Programme

Coaching is an expanding area of professional work, and recent years have brought forward the notion of cognitive coaching (Costa, 2006; Oestrich, 2005) which adapts theory and techniques from cognitive therapy to serve self-enhancement in non-clinical populations. We suggest that a cognitive coaching module in the graduate curriculum for students of psychology is a rewarding introduction to cognitive behavioural approaches, since it allows combination of traditional lectures with “action-reflection-learning” workshops, during which students train cognitive behavioural techniques in their own repertoire. The skills needed for cognitive coaching reflect all therapeutic techniques but at a less advanced psychotherapeutic level, and still prepare for future clinical work and development. In the poster, we summarise a cognitive coaching course syllabus as well as results from data collected to monitor and evaluate the learning process. The course is embedded in a graduate programme of applied cognitive, developmental and neuropsychology, and includes 92 hours (17 days spanning one academic year) of lectures and workshops on cognitive behavioural therapy and coaching. Seven behaviour competence categories, reflecting the requirements for certification as a cognitive coach are measured four times during students’ educational sessions: structure making, problem identification, problem analysis, goal setting, problem solving, homework assignment, evaluation, and empathic skills. Pre- and post course ratings on students’ social and emotional skills (Oestrich, 2007) will also be reported. Educational perspectives for future programmes are discussed.