Each class consists of slides, course
leader notes/scripts, worksheets and a linked booklet that
summarizes the topic and includes work tasks to facilitate
practice at home. The classes offer guided CBT for depression
delivered over a series of eight class-based sessions
delivered over eight weeks. Each class is delivered using
a mix of didactic teaching, question and answer discussion
and tasks in groups or pairs. There are currently no
equivalent classes using the same model of delivery.
This accessibility is reinforced by the language used
(that is, the “class” not “group”, “life skills training” instead
of “CBT” and “low mood and stress” rather than
“depression and anxiety”). The way of communicating
CBT is highly accessible [20] and effective [21,22]. The
language used in the classes includes everyday terms to
describe symptoms such as stress, distress and low mood
rather than the more formal diagnostic terms depressive
disorder, depression and anxiety, and so on. The aim is to
be inclusive and appealing to participants who are being recruited
through a community-based initiative.