Mental Health Physical Therapist Certification Program

Welcome to the Practice of Mental Health Physical Therapy!

Expand your skillset. Address a real and growing patient need. Improve both mental and physical health outcomes.

Learn essential physical, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and somatic techniques to optimize mental health. Earn 32 CEUs for PTs & PTAs.

Certification Summary

The Mental Health Physical Therapist Certification provides physical therapists with the knowledge and skills to integrate mental health care into their clinical practice.

This comprehensive certification prepares professionals to identify, screen, and address common mental health conditions while recognizing the complex interaction between mental and physical health. By focusing on the management of mental health conditions, this training expands the personal scope of a physical therapist’s practice to include essential components of mental health care.

Participants will explore models of care that highlight the biological, psychological, and social factors contributing to mental health while also learning the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration with mental health professionals. Practical skills training includes trauma-informed, relational, and empathic approaches to care that address psychological distress through cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and somatic techniques. Additionally, this course equips participants with tools to implement psychosocial interventions that are feasible to deliver within the physical therapy setting. By learning how to scale these interventions across stepped-care systems, physical therapists will be prepared to innovate in mental health treatment, addressing gaps in care at both the individual and population levels. Graduates of the certification program will be able to apply their expanded skills to provide a more holistic, patient-centered approach that promotes both physical and mental health.

The Mental Health Physical Therapist Certification has 3 Components

1. Mental Health Foundations - the knowledge and clinical skills to identify, screen, and address common mental health conditions while appreciating the dynamic interplay between mental and physical well-being. 6 hours are asynchronous (self-paced). 2 hours are live, virtual training. This is 8 hours in total.
   
   
2. Mental Health Essential Skills - equip yourself with practical cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and somatic techniques and tools for managing mental health within the scope of your PT practice. 14 hours asynchronous (self-paced). 2 hour live, virtual training. This part of the training is 16 hours in total.
   
   
3. Mental Health Mastery - this important component of the certification provides clinicians with experiential learning, where they can directly apply advanced techniques in real or simulated clinical scenarios. The focus is on developing practical skills through guided practice, reflection, and interactive exercises. Each clinician will receive personalized supervision from experienced trainers, ensuring they gain critical feedback and support as they refine their skills in a controlled and supportive environment. This is a live, virtual, one-day training of 8 hours.

Foundational Learning Objectives

1. Apply biobehavioral principles to address the impact of mental health in physical therapy practice.
2. Integrate trauma-informed care principles into physical therapy interventions to enhance patient outcomes.
3. Demonstrate the use of an empathic and relational approach during clinical interactions with patients.
4. Implement components of the stepped care system to structure mental health treatment within your practice.
5. Match appropriate mental health interventions to various patient needs based on the stepped care model.
6. Apply ethical guidelines when delivering psychosocial interventions as a physical therapist in a mental health context.
7. Select and deliver psychosocial interventions that are both acceptable and feasible for physical therapists.
8. Utilize cognitive-behavioral techniques to help patients reduce psychological distress.
9. Incorporate somato-emotional techniques to promote emotional regulation in patients.
10. Design an 8-session psychosocial intervention appropriate for the physical therapist to deliver for individuals or groups experiencing traumatic stress.

"It is within the scope of physical therapist practice to screen for and address mental health conditions."- APTA Policy P06-20-40-10