Accreditation Overview

To gain accreditation as a schema therapist, as stipulated by the International Society for Schema Therapy (ISST), you must attend the taught components of Module 1 and Module 2 (6 days in total), followed by a minimum number of supervision sessions provided by a certified schema therapy supervisor. The number of supervision sessions required will depend on whether you are opting for standard of advanced accreditation. Click here for a Schema Therapy School (STS) overview of accreditation criteria for standard and advanced certification.

You can also view here the ISST criteria to become an accredited schema therapist.

Selection Criteria

To become an accredited schema therapist you must meet the following professional requirements:

• You must be licensed or certified to practice within your country. You will have at least a masters-level qualification.
• You will need to have access to clients who are suitably complex or chronic for mode work and this must include each of the following 1) clients meeting criteria for a personality disorder or with significant characterological difficulties, and 2) clients who are complex due to (a) clinical chronicity manifesting as failure to respond to previous treatments, (b) a pattern of treatment relapse, or (c) because of comorbidity or other issues of complexity such as significant struggles in the interpersonal domain.
• We highly recommend that you pursue personal therapy alongside your training as a schema therapist. Schema therapy is an emotionally demanding and relational model that requires a degree of personal investment and awareness that can come from one’s own experience of personal therapy.

Practical Criteria

• Meeting the ISST criteria as a schema therapist requires that both sets of workshops are completed, plus the supervision component, and tape rating requirements within a three-year period. If there are extenuating circumstances meaning that this is impossible then an application to the ISST training committee requesting an extension can be made.

You may first apply for standard accreditation and top it up later to achieve advanced level, or apply for advanced certification from the outset.