British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies

Who we are

BABCP is the lead organisation for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in the UK and Ireland. We promote, improve and uphold standards of CBT practice, supervision and training. We support our members to develop professionally and link with the CBT community. We are a professional association operating a highly-respected voluntary register for our accredited cognitive behavioural psychotherapists, and help to protect the public by supporting best practice.

Our strategy

Our mission is to advance the theory and knowledge of CBT in order to improve and enhance wellbeing. We want to lead the way in continually developing high-quality CBT across the UK and Ireland. This is to help therapists provide high standards of practice and better help those attending therapy.

Our key strategic aims -

1.    Advancing the theory and knowledge of CBT

2.    Extending public and health service understanding of CBT and its value

3.    Supporting and advancing the practice and delivery of CBT

4.    Informing the public about safe and effective CBT practice

5.    Ensuring the sustainable development of the organisation and its membership

Our values

The following values underpin our strategic plan and we endeavour to ensure they are central to everything we do.

Diversity, inclusivity, and collaboration – we appreciate the importance of diversity and inclusivity and seek to maximise participation and engagement from everyone with an interest in CBT, in particular those from under-represented groups. CBT is a collaborative therapy, and we value collaboration and consultation with members and wider groups as needed.

We oppose discrimination of any kind and are continually working to improve our recognition of, and take an active stance against discrimination and inequality.

Integrity, openness and honesty – We believe there should be integrity in all that we do. We aim to be open and transparent so that we can be responsible and accountable.

Professionalism – as an organisation we strive to have the highest standards of professionalism, as we also expect from our members, who agree to abide by our Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics.

An evidence-based and developmental approach - CBT is an evidence-based therapy. This means there is an evidence base that demonstrates it can be effective. We value this evidence-base and it shapes the actions and decisions we take.