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Symposium

Interventions and Care Delivery Models in the Context of Resource Limitations
Symposium

Symposium 18 - Increasing Access to Evidence-based Psychological Therapies Across the World: Shared Learning and Complimentary Initiatives

Thursday, June 25, 2026
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM PDT
Location: Yerba Buena Salon 1, B3 Level
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Evidence-Based Practices , Underserved Populations , Treatment / Program Design
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Clark, D. M. (2018). Realizing the Mass Public Benefit of Evidence-Based Psychological Therapies: The IAPT Program. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 14(1), 159–183. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050817-084833,   Smith, O. R. F., Clark, D. M., Hensing, G., Layard, R., & Knapstad, M. (2025). Cost–benefit of IAPT Norway and effects on work-related outcomes and health care utilization: results from a randomized controlled trial using registry-based data. Psychological Medicine, 55, e86. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172500025X,   Cano-Vindel, A., Muñoz-Navarro, R., Moriana, J. A., Ruiz-Rodríguez, P., Medrano, L. A., & González-Blanch, C. (2022). Transdiagnostic group cognitive behavioural therapy for emotional disorders in primary care: the results of the PsicAP randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 52(15), 3336–3348. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720005498,   Cromarty, P., Drummond, A., Francis, T., Watson, J., & Battersby, M. (2016). NewAccess for depression and anxiety: adapting the UK Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Program across Australia. Australasian Psychiatry, 24(5), 489–492. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856216641310,   Gratzer, D., & Goldbloom, D. (2016). Making Evidence-Based Psychotherapy More Accessible in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(10), 618–623. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743716642416

Psychological therapies, such as cognitive-behaviour therapy, are recommended as first-line treatments for common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety disorders. However, access to these treatments remains low globally. The “Improving Access to Psychological Therapies” (IAPT) programme, now called “NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression” (TTad), was established in 2008 to provide evidence-based therapy in the English National Health Service (NHS). It has grown so that it now provides treatment to over 670,000 people each year nationally. The programme has inspired the development of similar initiatives in several other countries, tailored to fit local healthcare contexts. This symposium will bring together a knowledge network of expert clinicians, researchers and policy makers from across the world to share their experiences with implementation.
Joshua Buckman, Rob Saunders and David Clark will first focus on developments in the English NHS Talking Therapies services, including the incremental benefit of therapy, evidence of the long-term impacts of therapy on physical health through analysis of linked healthcare records, and an upcoming initiative improve access to such data for researchers. Kyung-Mee Chung will discuss changes to law and the structures around services providing psychological therapies, and the ongoing developments in the Seoul Metropolitan Psychology Centre. We will then hear about two largescale Randomized Clinical Trials of at-scale therapy programmes from Robert Smith and Marit Knapstad who will present the results comparing treatment in the Prompt Mental Health Care (PMHC) service in Norway to treatment as usual in primary care, and from Roger Muñoz Navarro who will present findings from the Psicología en Atención Primaria (PsicAP) programme, the largest ever psychological therapies RCT in Spain. We will then hear from Giovanni Ruggiero who will discuss experiences from the implementation of the InTherapy programme, a network of psychologists in the private health sector who have adopted a model comparable to NHS TTad in Italy. Then Krista Vanderheide will present on the development and learnings from a new digital low-intensity psychological therapy service and 10 years of the NewAccess Programme across Australia and Martin Antony will then present findings from the first 10 years of the Structured Psychotherapy Programme in Ontario, Canada. The symposium will finish with a panel discussion with questions from the audience. It will highlight key learning points about the implementation of CBT programs at-scale and will focus on the consistency of outcomes and economic/health benefits across countries.

Learning Objectives:

  • Describe the evidence for large-scale psychological therapies programmes.
  • Explain the economic benefits of evidence-based psychological therapies programmes.
  • Recognize the importance of routine outcome measurement in the delivery and improvement of psychological therapies programmes.
  • Discuss the impact of evidence-based psychological therapies on long-term health and mortality.
  • Name the implementation barriers for large-scale psychological therapies programmes.

Presentations:

  • 4:05 PM - 4:22 PM PDT
    (SYM 18) The Use of Routine Outcome Data to Inform Developments in England's NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression

    Speaker: Joshua E J Buckman, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University College London

    Co-Author: Rob Saunders, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University College London

    Co-Author: David M. Clark, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Oxford

    Co-Author: Celine El Baou, MSc (she/her/hers) – University College London

    Co-Author: Amber John, PhD (she/her/hers) – University of Liverpool

    Co-Author: Joshua Stott, PhD; D.Clin.Psy (he/him/his) – University College London

  • 4:22 PM - 4:39 PM PDT
    (SYM 18) Clinical and Economic Outcomes of Prompt Mental Health Care (IAPT Norway): Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial

    Speaker: Robert Smith, Ph.D. – Norwegian Institute of Public Health

    Co-Author: Marit Knapstad, Ph.D., Other – Norwegian Institute of Public Health

  • 4:39 PM - 4:56 PM PDT
    (SYM 18) Improving Access to Transdiagnostic Group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Emotional Disorders in Spanish Primary Care. the Psicap Randomized Controlled Trial

    Speaker: Roger Muñoz Munoz Navarro, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – University of Valencia

    Co-Author: Gabriel Esteller-Collado, Dr. (he/him/his) – University of Valencia

    Co-Author: Maider Prieto-Vila, Dr. (she/her/hers) – University of Valencia

    Co-Author: César González-Blanch, Dr. (he/him/his) – Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital

    Co-Author: Juan Antonio Moriana, Dr. (he/him/his) – University of Córdoba

    Co-Author: Paloma Rodríguez-Ruiz, Dr. (she/her/hers) – Health Service of Madrid

    Co-Author: Antonio Cano-Vindel, Dr. (he/him/his) – Complutense University of Madrid

  • 4:56 PM - 5:13 PM PDT
    (SYM 18) Effectiveness and Key Issues of Seoul's Citywide Psychological Services Program

    Speaker: Kyong-Mee Chung, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Yonsei University

    Co-Author: Jeanyung Chey, PhD (she/her/hers) – Seoul National University

  • 5:13 PM - 5:30 PM PDT
    (SYM 18) Large-scale Psychotherapy Initiatives in Canada and Australia

    Speaker: Martin M. Antony, ABPP, Ph.D. (he/him/his) – Toronto Metropolitan University

    Co-Author: Krista Vanderheide, BA (she/her/hers) – Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Division of the Australian Government

    Co-Author: Randi McCabe, Ph.D. – Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University

    Co-Author: Karen Rowa, Ph.D. – St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton