GreenWood Mentors is among the first in the UK to offer a certificated Dissociation Practitioner programme: practical, graduated training that builds your confidence to recognise, assess and treat dissociation. (BPS Approval pending.)
Dissociation underpins many mental health conditions, as well as a range of medically unexplained physical symptoms, and demand for skilled treatment is growing fast, from depersonalisation-derealisation disorder (DPDR) to dissociative identity disorder (DID).
Whether you work in the NHS or private practice, or you manage or commission services, you can be among the first to offer effective, evidence-based and cost-saving treatment for dissociation.
Why Study Dissociation?
A psychological process that underpins many mental health conditions — and a growing area of clinical demand.
- Underpins many mental health and medically unexplained physical conditions
- DPDR, dissociative amnesia, fugue states and DID are increasingly common
- Clients are increasingly seeking appropriate, effective treatment
Be among the first to offer these services from your own practice, or stay ahead of the curve by building dissociation into your pathways of care — whether as a dedicated dissociation pathway or within your Complex Emotional Needs or Trauma pathways.
Interested? Contact Dr Fiona Kennedy to find out more and register your interest:
Dr Fiona Kennedy
Graduated Training
Four one-day courses, building step by step from assessment through to DID
First of Its Kind
The first certificated Dissociation Practitioner programme in the country
Live Online
Delivered live online and recorded, with tailored in-house options
Ongoing Support
BABCP-accredited supervision groups you can join
Who Is This Training For?
The Dissociation Practitioner Certificate is for qualified mental health practitioners: practitioners who already deliver therapy or psychological care within an accountable professional role, and who want to recognise, assess, formulate and treat dissociation with greater confidence. The programme assumes you already have foundational assessment, formulation, risk-management and therapeutic skills.
The four courses become progressively more specialised, moving from recognising and targeting dissociation across presentations, through depersonalisation and derealisation and the dissociative disorders, to dissociative identity disorder. Each builds on the one before, and the training is supported throughout by an offer of ongoing supervision.
Eligibility is checked before your place is confirmed, and we will ask for evidence of your qualification and current registration or accreditation. If your booking cannot be confirmed we will refund the fee in full. If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please ask before booking.
Why Train With GreenWood Mentors?
A 20-Year Track Record
More than 20 years' experience researching, training, supervising and delivering effective treatments for dissociation
Recognised Expertise
Led by Dr Fiona Kennedy, who developed the CBT model of dissociation (published 2004), with Dr Helen Kennerley, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Oxford CBT trainer
Certificated Training
The first in the country to offer a Dissociation Practitioner Certificate, covering presentations from DPDR to DID and somatoform (conversion) disorders, including FND. BPS Approval has been applied for
Ongoing Supervision
BABCP-accredited supervisors with experience of presentations from simple through to complex DID. Join a supervision group to apply your training with confidence
How the Training Is Structured
The Dissociation Practitioner Certificate is made up of four one-day courses, each delivered live over two mornings. You can take courses individually or book all four together and work towards the full Certificate. You receive a certificate of attendance for every course you complete.
Each course provides 6 hours of CPD — 24 hours across the full Certificate.
Free Introduction
A 20-minute introduction to dissociation, free to watch on this page
Four One-Day Courses
December to April, building from assessment through to DID
Practitioner Certificate
Awarded on completing all four courses and their assessments
Start here
New to the subject? Watch Dr Fiona Kennedy's free 20-minute introduction before you decide.
Fees
A single course
£95
per course, 6 hours of CPD
- Two live online mornings, 9.30am–1.00pm UK time
- Certificate of attendance for every course completed
- Recording available afterwards
All four courses
£340
the four courses together — a saving of £40
- 24 hours of CPD across the programme
- December 2026 to April 2027
- One booking and one invoice, rather than four
GreenWood Mentors Ltd is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added. You can pay by card, or request an invoice if your employer is paying — we can quote against a purchase order and invoice on 30-day terms.
Learning Outcomes
Across the four Certificate courses you will develop the knowledge and skills to:
- Recognise dissociation as it presents across different settings and diagnoses
- Explain the PES cognitive model of dissociation and how it disrupts memory, sense of self, perception and bodily functioning
- Assess dissociation, including DPDR, dissociative disorders and dissociative identity disorder
- Add dissociation to a clinical formulation and plan appropriate interventions
- Apply practical, evidence-based strategies to help clients manage and recover from dissociative experiences
- Know when and how to refer on, and how to access supervision and support for this work
By the end of the four-course programme, successful participants will be able to demonstrate the following outcomes, organised using Bloom's taxonomy.
Remember
- Define dissociation, dissociative disorders and related concepts, including dissociative processes, self-states, depersonalisation, derealisation, dissociative amnesia, fugue states, functional neurological symptoms and dissociative identity disorder.
- Identify the principal clinical features and diagnostic criteria associated with dissociative symptoms and dissociative disorders.
Understand
- Explain how dissociation can disrupt perception and consciousness, memory, bodily experience, emotional processing, behaviour and continuity of the sense of self.
- Explain the Perceptual-Experiential-Self (PES) cognitive model of dissociation and how dissociative processes may develop and be maintained.
- Describe how dissociation may occur across a range of psychological presentations, as well as constitute a primary dissociative disorder.
Apply
- Conduct a sensitive and systematic clinical assessment of dissociation using clinical enquiry, behavioural observation, information from relevant others and appropriate assessment measures.
- Apply the PES cognitive model to develop an individualised formulation that identifies triggers, dissociative processes, appraisals, self-states, maintaining cycles, risks and protective factors.
- Communicate a formulation of dissociation using accessible, validating and non-stigmatising psychoeducation.
- Demonstrate selected grounding, stabilisation and self-management strategies for reducing dissociation and increasing present-moment awareness.
- Integrate appropriate interventions drawn from CBT, DBT, ACT and compassion-focused approaches to increase awareness, acceptance and control or choice in relation to dissociation and self-states.
Analyse
- Differentiate dissociative disorders and dissociation from other possible explanations while recognising comorbidity, diagnostic overlap and occasions when specialist medical, neurological or psychiatric assessment is required.
- Analyse relationships between trauma or overwhelm, environmental triggers, self-state switching, dissociative symptoms, risk behaviours and difficulties within the therapeutic relationship.
- Analyse complex clinical challenges, including severe amnesia, engagement and trust, risk, therapy-interfering behaviours, neurodiversity, prolonged or organised abuse and intergenerational trauma.
Evaluate
- Evaluate the quality and sufficiency of assessment information, compare alternative clinical hypotheses and revise the formulation in response to new evidence.
- Evaluate the appropriateness, timing, potential benefits and risks of proposed interventions, including when to stabilise, target trauma, sit with the process, adapt the intervention, refer onwards or obtain specialist consultation.
- Critically review personal competence and scope of practice, identifying continuing professional development and supervision requirements.
Create
- Develop a phased, individualised and evidence-informed treatment plan incorporating agreed goals, risk management, stabilisation, work with maintaining processes and self-states, outcome monitoring and regular review.
- Design appropriate adaptations to clinical services and professional support arrangements, including therapist time, continuity of care, supervision and multidisciplinary working, to support safe and effective treatment.
Start With a Free Introduction
Watch Dr Fiona Kennedy's free, 20-minute introduction to dissociation — right here on the page.
The Four Courses
Each course runs across two live online mornings, 9.30am–1.00pm UK time, and provides 6 hours of CPD.
How common dissociation is, and why it is not confined to the dissociative disorders in the manuals. If you are stuck with a case, dissociation is very often what is going on.
- Dissociation across disorders: prevalence and clinical significance
- The PES cognitive model of dissociation
- Sensitive clinical enquiry and assessment measures
- Adding dissociation to a clinical formulation
- Strategies and techniques for intervention
- Formulating and planning work on your own cases
A trans-diagnostic target affecting clients across many presentations, and one where services can realistically develop access and a care pathway.
- What DPDR is and how it may present
- Recognising and assessing DPDR
- CBT models of DPDR
- Adding DPDR to your clinical formulation
- Intervening with and treating DPDR
- Diagnostic criteria for dissociative disorders (DDs) and somatic disorders
- Assessment and formulation, including understanding when a presentation is not a DD
- Dissociative amnesia, fugue states, functional/dissociative seizures and unexplained physical symptoms
- Specific challenges: severe amnesia; risk; therapeutic relationship; length of therapy
- Neurodiversity and cultural considerations
- Case studies and vignettes, including participants' own cases
- Service adaptations, continuity of care and freeing up therapist time
- Supervision requirements and arrangements
- What DID is, and varieties of presentation
- Assessment, including understanding when a presentation is not DID
- Specific challenges: severe amnesia; risk; therapeutic relationship; length of therapy; organised abusers; inter-generational abuse; involvement of professionals in abuse
- Neurodiversity and cultural considerations
- Case studies and vignettes, including participants' own cases
- Service adaptations and effective pathways
- Supervision and professional support
Complete all four courses to gain the GreenWood Mentors Dissociation Practitioner Certificate. Book all four together for £340.
Supervision & Supervisor Training
After-Training Supervision
Put your learning into practice with confidence. Our BABCP-accredited supervisors have experience of presentations from simple through to complex DID, and you can join an ongoing supervision group to apply your training and deliver effective interventions for your clients.
Specialist Dissociation Supervisor Training
A separate course for those who hold the Certificate or are experienced in working with dissociation and DID — ideal if you would like to develop internal supervisors within your service, or become a supervisor yourself.
- Refreshing the principles and practices of supervision, and monitoring its quality
- Use of language in DDs, and specific issues such as therapists' own PTSD and the emotional toll of the work
- Requirements for supervision of supervision
A Recognised and Growing Need
There is growing recognition across the field that complex dissociation is under-identified in current services, and that many clinicians feel under-prepared and unsupported when they encounter it. Recent stakeholder work — including a NIHR-supported Public & Patient Involvement report by Dr Paul Langthorne (Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust), and his talk at the 2026 Building Foundations Together conference at the University of Derby — sets out the case for better-developed care pathways, a dissociation-informed workforce, and proper clinical supervision.
That is precisely the gap this training is designed to help close: equipping practitioners to recognise, assess, formulate and treat dissociation with confidence and skill.
Built on a Recognised Evidence Base
The training is led by Dr Fiona Kennedy, who developed the CBT model of dissociation (published 2004) and has since authored and co-edited books and articles on the subject, together with Dr Helen Kennerley, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Oxford CBT trainer who will deliver part of the training. It is grounded in established theory and practice, and draws throughout on current research and clinical evidence.
Covers presentations including:
- Depersonalisation-derealisation disorder (DPDR)
- Dissociative amnesia and fugue states
- Dissociative identity disorder (DID)
- Somatoform (conversion) disorders
- Functional neurological disorder (FND), including non-epileptic seizures
What you gain:
- Confidence to recognise and assess dissociation
- Practical, evidence-based intervention skills
- The ability to formulate and plan your own cases
- Effective, cost-saving treatment approaches
- Ongoing supervision and support
Meet Your Expert Trainers
Dr Fiona Kennedy
Course Director, Clinical Psychologist
Developer of the CBT model of dissociation (2004) and author and co-editor of books and articles on the topic. More than 20 years' experience training, supervising and delivering effective treatments for dissociation, nationally and internationally.
Dr Helen Kennerley
Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Senior Associate Tutor at the University of Oxford. A founding fellow of the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, co-author of An Introduction to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (now in its 4th edition), and in 2026 an Honorary Fellow of the BABCP.
Marie Wassberg
Social Worker, CBT & DBT Therapist and Trainer
Marie integrates CBT, DBT and trauma-focused approaches in her supervision and training, with particular expertise in children and adolescents, including neurodivergent presentations. Registered with Social Work England and an Accredited CBT Therapist with the BABCP, she has delivered training across the UK, USA and Europe.
What Participants Say
"Very approachable, knowledgeable, and a great presentation style. I found it easy to relate the workshop to my own cases, and attending in a group format was very helpful for thinking together about issues and ways forward."
"Linking theory to practice, the use of videos and live examples, and the focus on an action plan at the end were all really helpful."
"I really appreciated the humour and accessibility of the information. Fiona clearly understood the NHS system we work in, and the staff and patients we encounter. It increased our motivation and passion for the subject."
"The level of knowledge and expertise of the speaker was impressive. All the information was highly applicable to my clinical work and helps me formulate patients in a more comprehensive way."
Frequently Asked Questions
Booking & Enquiries
- Take individual courses at £95, or book all four for £340
- Pay by card, or ask us to invoice your organisation against a purchase order
- Tailored in-house training available by arrangement
- Read the participant course handbook before you book
Available right now
Take a look at our pre-recorded trainings, including Working with Self-States and other dissociation courses.
Get in Touch — Contact Dr Fiona Kennedy
If you are interested in these courses, Dr Fiona Kennedy would be glad to hear from you. Get in touch to find out more and register your interest.
Phone
07841 573732Terms & Conditions Summary
- Courses are delivered live online, with tailored in-person options by arrangement
- You receive a certificate for each course attended
- Recordings are made available to registrants after each course
- Cancellations received at least 14 days before a course are refunded in full
- Client data must be anonymised and GDPR compliant
- Reasonable adjustments available on request
- Course materials are copyright GreenWood Mentors
- Full terms are set out in the participant course handbook