A still from a film scene. Seated woman with cropped hair to the right presses a pad of paper into the lap of a seated woman with gathered braided hair to the left.

Spring 2025 brings the second series of CAT Training Films

We are really pleased to announce that our the second series of CAT Training Films are now available to stream. They depict five different clinical scenarios, aiming to represent challenging situations that may be encountered in CAT. You can find all the details at the dedicated page here. For a flavour of the material, watch the short trailer below. Here you’ll also catch a glimpse of the team of actors who helped make the films possible.

We are very grateful to all those whose goodwill, energies and improvisations helped director Kathryn Pemberton facilitate and edit the finished versions. You can see a full list of contributors on the information page. If you’ve purchased a copy of editor Yvonne Steven’s Creativity and Mental Health: A Cognitive Analytic Approach to Integrating Play and Imagination in Psychotherapy, Supervision and Training, you may have seen Kathryn’s chapter (14). In this she recounts reflections on creating two series of training films on cognitive analytic therapy as aides to learning.

Frank Margison lent us his keen overseeing eye on the weekend of filming. Frank was one of the working group who helped conceive and develop this second project. Others who couldn’t make it on the day were Glenys Parry and Mark Evans, but Rhona Brown brought a shelf-full of CAT books to help set the weekend’s stage.

The venue for filming was kindly provided by Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust. Their Endowment Grant funding also helped make it possible to begin the initial stages of this project. The Brickoven Video Production Company team kept us to time and focus over the weekend. They took care of the myriad (and exacting) technical aspects of the filming, sound, lighting and set design. To see some of their images of the filming on the day, click on their logo below.

Brickoven video production company log consisting of a flat triangle made of 12 blocks in hues of orange and brown

We very much hope that these resources will add fruitfully to the range of materials available to scaffold learning in CAT. They aim to support reflection and debate about possible therapeutic responses. They are particularly geared towards year 2 of Practitioner level training, and further CPD applications of CAT.

If you’re interested in subscribing, whether as a course, a Trust, a trainer, or even an individual seeking to refine your clinical skills, then you can do so on either an annual or three month basis. All subscription details are available at this link.