Growing into CBT: A Social Worker’s Journey Toward Structured Psychotherapy

My name is Jasdeep Nijjar, and I am a Registered Social Worker and Certified Cognitive Behavioural Therapist practicing in Ontario. I currently provide CBT within the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy (OSP) program and serve as an active committee member with the Canadian Association for Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CACBT). My path into structured psychotherapy has been shaped by years of frontline social work and a growing commitment to evidence-based care.

I began my social work career in 2011 working on the front lines in shelters, community housing, residential programs, and outreach teams. I supported individuals living with severe and persistent mental health challenges, including schizophrenia, substance use, trauma, and chronic homelessness. My days were filled with crisis intervention, safety planning, advocacy, and navigating complex systems.

Social work shaped how I understand mental health. It taught me to look beyond symptoms and into context including culture, trauma, poverty, migration, and stigma. It taught me to remain grounded during crisis and to hold space without judgment. Yet over time, as clients stabilized, I noticed a quiet tension within myself. Many people were safe, housed, and connected to services, but still stuck in painful cognitive and behavioural patterns.

I could offer validation and support, but I wanted a more structured way to help clients move beyond insight and toward measurable change. I wanted a framework that explained how thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and physiology interacted, and how to intervene deliberately.

I pursued formal training through the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy (OSP) program, affiliated with the University of Toronto. Training within OSP was transformative. It was rigorous, structured, and rooted in fidelity to evidence-based CBT models. I learned not only interventions, but formulation like how to map maintaining cycles, identify core beliefs, and design behavioural experiments that tested assumptions rather than simply discussing them.

OSP strengthened my clinical discipline. It emphasized structured assessment, measurement-based care, and clear treatment planning. I became more intentional in my sessions and more confident in guiding clients through collaborative, evidence-based change. Rather than replacing my social work identity, CBT refined it. My frontline background allowed me to understand systemic and relational complexity, while CBT gave me a structured framework to translate that understanding into targeted intervention.

As I deepened my practice, I began seeking a broader professional community rooted in CBT standards. That is how I came to CACBT. Initially, I was drawn to the organization as a way to ensure my training aligned with national benchmarks. Over time, membership became much more than that.

Through CACBT, I gained access to ongoing professional development, consultation opportunities, and a network of clinicians committed to advancing CBT in Canada. Becoming involved at the committee level further strengthened my connection to the profession. It has been meaningful to contribute to an organization that supports knowledge sharing, competency standards, and the growth of structured psychotherapy across disciplines.

Pursuing CACBT certification felt like a natural progression. For me, certification represents accountability to clients, to the integrity of the CBT model, and to the evolving standards of psychotherapy practice in Canada. As more social workers expand into structured therapy roles, maintaining strong training pathways and professional standards becomes increasingly important.

As we celebrate National Social Work Month, I am reminded that our profession continues to evolve. Social workers are crisis responders, advocates, system navigators and increasingly, structured psychotherapists delivering evidence-based care within public and private systems alike.

If you are a social worker considering structured CBT training, I encourage you to explore formal programs like OSP and to connect with CACBT. Structured training sharpens clinical thinking, strengthens confidence, and ensures that the care we provide is both compassionate and empirically grounded. Certification is not simply a credential. It is a commitment to excellence in practice. You can find more information here: https://www.cacbt.ca/certification-process.

For me, pursuing CBT training and engaging with CACBT has been an evolution of my social work identity. It has deepened my responsibility to the people who trust me with their stories and strengthened my confidence in delivering care that is thoughtful, collaborative, and grounded in evidence.