FREE Webinars for Mental Health Professionals.

Your Learning History: How Your Past Still Shapes What You Do — and What to Do About It

 Wednesday 30 September 2026

Why do we behave as we do?

Some of the answer lies in our genes and our temperament, but a great deal also lies in our learning history — the experiences that have taught us what works, what doesn’t, what to avoid, what to fear, and what to expect from other people.

The trouble is that lessons – both positive and negative - which made perfect sense when we learned them may not serve us nearly so well now.

In this Wednesday Webinar, we look at how our learning history powerfully shapes what we think, feel and do — often without us realising it — and, most importantly, what we can do when old learning gets in the way of the life we want to lead.

Habits That Support Our Long-Term Health: A Practical Discussion

 Recorded 19 August 2026

Many clinicians and practitioners are interested in the everyday habits that genuinely support long-term health. In this free webinar, Dr William Davies, APT’s Head of Applied Clinical Psychology, will outline the approaches he has found most helpful over the years — not as prescriptions, but as practical ideas worth considering.

Rather than reviewing thousands of studies, Dr Davies will describe the routines he has gradually adopted, the reasoning behind them, and how his thinking has evolved. He’ll touch on sleep, exercise, nutrition, and a few areas that may challenge assumptions or spark new thinking. He’ll also invite participants to share the habits they’ve found beneficial in their own lives and clinical work.

This session isn’t about guaranteeing longevity — none of us can. It’s about exploring realistic, sustainable ways to give ourselves and our clients the best chance of staying healthy, happy and productive. If that sounds useful, we’d be delighted to have you join us.

How can so many of us be suffering the effects of trauma?

 Recorded 8 April 2026

The effects of trauma are so insidious that many people don’t realise they have them. They don’t think they are irritable, they feel others are irritating. And that plenty of people are anxious or depressed, as they are. And though they don’t sleep well that’s normal too.

In this short session, Dr William Davies (professionally involved in trauma since the Piper Alpha disaster onwards) looks at the many causes of trauma and complex trauma, and what that implies for us.

Join us for a concise but valuable input which may lead to you re-evaluating the nature and prevalence of trauma.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

Recorded 24th March 2021

DBT has pretty much taken the therapeutic world by storm and yet there are plenty of people still unsure as to what is an isn't DBT. This hour long session aims to clear that up, show you how you can take it further if you want to, and maybe even suggest a couple of things you can implement straight away.

Motivational Interviewing (MI).

Recorded 7th April 2021

In this free webinar from the APT, we introduce Motivational Interviewing, what it is, what it is used for, how it works, and the principles of delivering it effectively.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Recorded 21st April 2021

In this free webinar from the APT, we introduce Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, what it is, how it developed, and the principles of delivering it effectively.

The RAID® Approach.

Recorded 5th May 2021

In this free webinar from the APT, we introduce the RAID approach, a relentlessly positive approach to working with disturbed and challenging behaviour. The UK's most popular approach in this area it is used 'across the board' from secure hospitals to bringing up children.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT).

Recorded 19th May 2021

In this free webinar from the APT we introduce Compassion-Focused Therapy, what it is, how it works and who it works for, and some of the principles of delivering it effectively.

Biology

Recorded 1st March 2021

This is the first of four planned webinars for mental health professionals and anyone else who feels it may be helpful to them, covering: Biology, Behaviour, Relationships, and our Thinking Style. In this first one we look at biological factors such as illnesses, sleep, exercise, and diet, and how we can modify them to greatly benefit our mental health.

Behaviour - the importance of what we do.

Recorded 14th April 2021

This is the second of four planned webinars for mental health professionals: Biology, Behaviour, Relationships, and our Thinking Style. In this second one (Behaviour) we look at the advice from great philosophers and thinkers such as Aristotle, Viktor Frankl, and Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as techniques from modern CBT, especially guided discovery in the form of diary keeping and Socratic dialogue. All with the aim of benefitting our mental health.

Relationships

Recorded 28th April 2021

This is the third of four webinars for mental health professionals and anyone else who feels it may be helpful to them, covering: Biology, Behaviour, Relationships, and our Thinking Style. In this third one we look at relationships, why the are so important, common relationship difficulties, and even some guidelines for successful relationships.

How we think and What we think about.

Recorded 12th May 2021

This is the fourth of four webinars for mental health professionals and anyone else who feels it may be helpful to them, covering: Biology, Behaviour, Relationships, and our Thinking Style. In this fourth one we look at our thinking and how we can actively guide and modify it to greatly benefit our wellbeing.

Functional Analysis: most ‘problems’ serve a purpose, and revealing that purpose can be the key to success.

Recorded 17th March 2021

In this webinar from the APT, we talk about the functions our patients' problems and behavior serve for them, what fallacies exist around for example 'attention-seeking behavior', and what to do once we have uncovered the functions of the behavior. We'll look at hunches and ABC Analysis, depression, behavior that has 'built-in' functionality, and the importance of verifying that there aren't underlying physical causes. Functional Analysis is a concept that has long been recognised by those working with 'challenging behavior' but in fact it relevance is much wider than that.

Evidence-Based Practice: as important as looking where you’re heading when you’re driving.

Recorded 28th April 2021

In this webinar from the APT, you'll learn about evidence-based practice, practice, based evidence, and how to use them to help monitor and track the progress your patients make. We are rightly encouraged to base our practice on established evidence, and yet there isn't a protocol for every condition that every patient arrives with, so we lean heavily on 'practice-based evidence' - obtaining evidence from our practice and the patient we are working with. It is crucially important to do because without it we may be heading in the wrong direction - doing the patient more harm than good - but with it we are both encouraged and empowered.

Engaging Your Patients: if you don’t do this then everything else is wasted time.

Recorded 12th May 2021

This webinar will take you through the most critical elements of engaging your patients. Even with the best tools and training in the world, if we can't properly connect with and engage our patients, we won't be able to help them. All therapists mean to engage with their patients but many have never really been taught how to do it, as though it is achieved simply through an act of will on the part of the therapist. In fact there are clear principled strategies for achieving it, and this is what you learn here.

Differentially Reinforcing Adaptive Behaviour: a simple piece of jargon that can make or break therapy.

Recorded 24th February 2021

In this webinar from the APT, we talk about the practice of differentially reinforcing adaptive behaviour, so your patients are encouraged to do more of what is helping them, and less of what isn't. Highlighted in DBT but relevant and effective in virtually every form of therapy, we look at why it works so well and what pot-holes there are to avoid; effectively we focus on how to 'water the flowers and not the weeds'.

Consultation Meetings: why you should set them up, and how to do it.

Recorded 17th February 2021

In this distance learning module from the APT, we talk about what consultation meetings are, why they're valuable, and how to structure them for maximum benefit. If you work with extremely distressing and demanding conditions - as many mental health professionals do - or work with very specific therapeutic approaches which need close adherence to their principles, then it is virtually certain that your work will be tremendously facilitated by well organised consultation meetings. This module shows you how to achieve just that.

Case Formulation: making sense of the information you obtain.

Recorded 10th February 2021

In this Case Formulation Module from the APT, you'll learn how to appraise the 6 P's of case formulation: the patient's problem, pre-disposing factors, precipitating factors, perpetuating factors, positive and protective factors and of course, the plan! It enables us to form a powerful strategy to organise the information we obtain in the assessment so we can help the patient as quickly and effectively as possible. And without it, we can be very much 'stumbling in the dark.'

Avoiding the fatal Second Arrow: Acceptance.

Recorded 3rd February 2021

In this module from the APT, we'll be talking about how to neutralise the extremely destructive 'second arrow,' through a principle of mindfulness: acceptance. The 'second arrow' refers to the spiral that so often occurs when for instance a person becomes depressed and then becomes frustrated that they are depressed, which makes them more distressed, which makes them more depressed and frustrated, and so on downwards. An exactly parallel effect occurs with anxiety, irritability, psychotic conditions and more.

Assessment: how to ask the right questions.

Recorded 27th January 2021

In this Assessment Module, you'll learn or re-learn how to achieve one of the fundamental starting points of effective therapy: how to conduct consistent, subjective assessment of the key factors affecting each patient. This is an essential skill in any therapeutic endeavour and is too often 'glossed over' in the often unrealistic hope that even the most distressed patients will easily tell us just what is the matter. In reality, a skilled assessment provides hope for both the patient and for us.

Leadership: Worry not about becoming one, worry more about how to do it.

Recorded 20th January 2021

Dr Davies takes the view that the question “What makes a leader?” is much less important than the question “What do good leaders do?” and this hour reflects on the latter because when we answer that question it means that most people can be leaders when they are required to.

Improving your mental health (Part 1): All you need to know in one hour!

Recorded 23rd December 2020

The presentation takes the view that good mental health needn’t be complicated to acquire so it examines all the most convincing ways to develop it, along with gaining a good degree of resilience.

Improving your mental health (Part 2): All you need to know in one hour!

Recorded 13th January 2021

The presentation takes the view that good mental health needn’t be complicated to acquire so it examines all the most convincing ways to develop it, along with gaining a good degree of resilience.

An overview of DBT.

Recorded 27th May 2020

An overview of DBT, and what it may have to offer during the Covid-19 pandemic.

5 Covid-Specific thoughts from CBT.

Recorded 17th June 2020

5 Covid-Specific thoughts on CBT from Dr William Davies, author of Overcoming Anger and Irritability and Academic Director of the Association for Psychological Therapies. And questions to the panel, consisting of all of the mental health professionals who have presented over the past 11 weeks.

Minding the children during the pandemic.

Recorded 10th June 2020

Minding the children during the pandemic: thoughts from an applied psychologist about what parents can do.

Solution-Focused Therapy

Recorded 3rd June 2020

A Brief Introduction to Brief Solution-Focused Therapy and its relevance during the pandemic crisis.

Self-soothing in Times of Crisis.

Recorded 20th May 2020

using Compassion Focussed Therapy to offer understanding and support in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and the COVID Crisis.

Recorded 13th May 2020

an overview of ACT and how we can apply it simply and practically to help people get through the crisis, and with minimum post crisis effects.

Addressing Domestic Abuse under lockdown.

Recorded 6th May 2020

Addressing Domestic Abuse under lockdown: a positive, constructional, RAID, approach.

When the 5000-1 event happens.

Recorded 29th April 2020

What the Leicester City FC story can teach us about getting through the COVID-19 crisis.

First Aid for health anxiety.

Recorded 22nd April 2020

Helping people cope with their health anxieties when health anxiety is entirely justified.

The impact of COVID-19.

Recorded 15th April 2020

A webinar in two parts; (1) Attendees share ideas and progress about how well they are doing in supporting others – friends, family, patients - to get through the crisis. (2) Understanding the financial impact of COVID-19 on small and medium enterprises: a candid interview with Steve Wenlock, printer.

Helping people get through quarantine and social isolation.

Recorded 8th April 2020

A review of Brooks et al’s paper The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: a rapid review of the evidence.