Core Competency Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Training Series (CC-CBT)

CC-CBT has an upcoming cohort!  Email us for the application link anytime before 08/22/2025!

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Training Features

  • Target treatment population: adolescents (ages 12-17) who report co-occurring mental/behavioral health conditions (suicidality, non-suicidal self-injury, depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior, and substance use). May also be used to address eating disordered behavior as well as trauma (based on clinician training background in trauma and client presentation). 
  • Four 8-hour training days plus three optional days of Add-On Workshops
  • 6 months of bi-monthly closed group consultation calls
  • In-person format
  • Offers training in treatment of:
    • adolescent suicidality, non-suicidal self-injury, depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior, and substance abuse (in 4 core days)
    • eating disordered behavior (first Add-On  Workshop + 3-hour pre-recorded webinar), and
    • trauma (second Add-On Workshop)

Full Description

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of the most widely used and efficacious treatments for youth depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior, substance use, trauma, and high-risk behaviors. The Core Competency Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CC-CBT) protocol integrates cognitive and behavioral techniques to address adolescent (ages 12-17) suicidal ideation/behavior, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior). More recently, modules to address trauma and eating disorders were added. It also employs motivational enhancement to improve motivation for change and treatment engagement as well as some dialectical behavior therapy techniques to address severe emotion dysregulation and high-risk behavior. The CC-CBT is manualized and modular with a menu of sessions for the clinician to choose from which allows for tailoring of the protocol to each adolescent and his/her family. The CC-CBT incorporates “core” adolescent skill modules to address skill deficits common to substance abuse, suicidality, and other mental health problems (depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior). It also includes “supplemental” skill modules that are used, as needed, to address emergent crises (e.g., suicide risk assessment & safety planning, chain analysis). Acknowledging that adolescents exist within multiple systems (family, peer, school), and that problems within these systems often prevent optimal treatment gains, CC-CBT contains modules for cognitive-behavioral individual therapy session, cognitive-behavioral family therapy sessions, and behavioral parent training sessions. Coordination of services across providers (e.g., psychiatrists, pediatricians) and settings (e.g., schools) is also conducted.

CC-CBT is ideal for use in community settings with youth who present with co-occurring conditions. It is a transdiagnostic protocol, i.e., it is designed to accommodate, rather than exclude, adolescents with comorbid psychiatric disorders. CC-CBT is also consistent with a “common elements approach” to care. Many evidence-based interventions contain the same components, or elements. By learning these elements and how to combine them to address different symptom profiles, clinicians can treat a range of problems and severity levels, and can tailor the treatment according to each individual client’s needs and resources.

The CC-CBT protocol is based on a treatment developed and tested for adolescents with co-occurring substance abuse and suicidality referred to as Integrated Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT). This I-CBT protocol, when delivered to youth with co-occurring substance use disorders and suicidality, showed preliminary efficacy in reducing the incidence of suicide attempts, emergency room visits, hospitalizations, heavy drinking, and marijuana use, relative to an enhanced treatment as usual (E-TAU) condition. Supplemental analyses also suggested moderate to large effects on rates of mood, anxiety, disruptive-behavior, and substance use disorders. I-CBT was delivered by therapists in a medical school setting. In a slightly modified version of I-CBT, youth who received this treatment, with specific demographic and clinical characteristics at baseline, demonstrated greater improvement in severity of suicidal ideation over 12 months relative to youth in E-TAU. This includes youth who self-identified as Hispanic/Latino/a/x and those with social anxiety disorder. It also includes youth with greater (versus less): internalizing problems, aggression (verbal, physical, pre-meditated), and alcohol use. There was also a trend for youth who identified as Black/African American to report better outcomes in severity of suicidal ideation.

I-CBT is rated as a treatment with evidence for reductions in suicide attempts in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; 2020) publication, Treatment for Suicidal Ideation, Self-harm, and Suicide Attempts Among Youth and a recent review of the scientific literature. It has also been featured in a recent book entitled Evidence-Based Treatment Approaches for Suicidal Adolescents: Translating Science into Practice. The I-CBT model, which includes the integration of individual and family-based CBT, with motivational enhancement, has also been deemed a well-established treatment model for adolescent substance abuse in a recent literature review and rated as a treatment with evidence for reductions in substance abuse and co-occurring conditions in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA; 2021) publication, Treatment Considerations for Youth and Young Adults with Serious Emotional Disturbances and Serious Mental Illnesses.

CC-CBT is a modified version of I-CBT. Adaptations were made to the training and consultation protocol as well as the treatment manual to improve disseminability in community settings. Core skills were retained in the adaptation process. The modifications were made in collaboration with numerous community partners. Additionally, all parent handouts and worksheets have been translated into Spanish and will also be translated into Arabic and Korean. Clinicians trained in CC-CBT report statistically significant increases in knowledge and self-efficacy in the use of CC-CBT skills from pre- to post-training. Clinicians also report statistically significant increases in use of CC-CBT skills with clients at 3-month follow-up as well as good fidelity to the treatment modules. More recent additions to CC-CBT include modules to address disordered eating behavior and trauma. Further, materials have been added which offer guidance in how to deliver CC-CBT in a trauma-informed  manner, which is also covered in the core training.

General Eligibility Requirements:

  1. Be licensed to provide therapy services (LCP, LPC, LCSW, School Psychology, and others as applicable) or be under supervision by a licensed clinical supervisor to provide these services
    • Note: those under supervision must provide the contact information for their clinical supervisor.
  2. Have at least 3 clients between the ages of 12 - 17 years actively undergoing mental health therapy treatment on their caseload and must be able to maintain this minimum until the required consultation calls conclude.
  3. Have at least one (1) resident of Fairfax County/City on their caseload OR work for an organization that is located in Fairfax County/City.
  4. Have obtained at least a masters degree (or equivalent) by the date of application.
  5. Be available to attend all four core training days without interruption and commit to arriving on-time and staying for the full day;
    • Please note: partial attendance is not permitted for this training and recordings are not available.  Participants must attend in-person.
  6. Complete brief surveys used to evaluate the training, including:
    • Pre-training surveys (one before each training day)
    • Post-training surveys (one immediately after each training day); and
    • Follow-up surveys 2-3 times during the 12 months following the training.
  7. Commit to active and enthusiastic participation in all required consultation calls with a GMU trainer every other week for ~6-months (15 calls total). During which time participant will maintain a minimum of two (2) CC-CBT-appropriate clients and will use the CC-CBT protocol during the course of their treatment including administering brief evidence-based assessments to track client progress.
  8. If also applying for the optional eating disorder workshop:
    • Applicant must be available for and commit to attending in-person on the stated date;
    • Applicant must be willing to either:
      • Attend a live virtual half-day introductory workshop (date TBA) to prepare for the Eating Disorder training to be scheduled at a later date, OR:
      • Commit to watching a recording of this intro workshop prior to the in-person training in the event that their schedule cannot accommodate live attendance.
  9. If also applying for the 2-day optional trauma workshop:
    • Applicant must be available for and commit to attending in-person for both days 6 & 7;
  10. Applicant must be willing to pay for daily parking at GMU ($19.50 per day).  

Email CEBBH@gmu.edu for further information and/or to discuss eligibility requirements.