Welcome

Staff in optical practice deal with many pressures during a shift: patients and customers need attention, phone calls arrive, people wait, relatives may be anxious, records and admin build up, handovers must be accurate, and unexpected events can disrupt plans. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) offers practical techniques to show how thoughts, feelings and actions interact in those moments so stress can be spotted and managed more effectively.

This course is for optical assistants, reception and administration staff, dispensing staff, dispensing opticians, optometrists, contact lens opticians, practice managers, supervisors, locums and other staff working in high street optical practice. It is written for a UK audience while recognising that employer policies, NHS/private service arrangements, professional responsibilities and support routes differ across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This is not training to deliver CBT as therapy. It introduces straightforward CBT-informed techniques to help staff notice unhelpful thinking, challenge assumptions and respond more calmly during busy or emotionally demanding shifts.

Why This Course Matters

• Stress depends on interpretation as well as events: the thought linked to a complaint, delay, incident or difficult interaction can increase pressure.
• CBT gives clear, practical methods: models such as ABC and ABCDE break stressful situations into parts you can review and change.
• Many optical practice stressors recur: distressed patients and customers, worried relatives, dispensing tasks, frame adjustments, reception pressures, staffing gaps and handovers often reappear across shifts.
• Small cognitive changes help: more balanced thinking can improve communication, concentration, emotional steadiness and recovery after difficult episodes.

How This Course Will Help You

By the end of the course you should be able to use basic CBT-informed techniques to identify stress-inducing beliefs, correct common thinking distortions, ground yourself during immediate stress and build practical habits that support calmer, more resilient practice.

Is this the right stress management course for you? We have many others for optical practice staff, covering different techniques. Click here for more info.