Reading List

A curated Reading List to support and extend learning from The CBT Five-Part Model for Stress Management for Dental Nurses.

This course uses the Five-Part Model as a CBT-informed framework for how thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, behaviours, and environmental pressures interact during stress. The resources below cover dental professional standards, CBT, practical self-help techniques, workplace stress, and routes to support across the UK.

1. Core Dental and Workplace Guidance

• GDC - Standards for the Dental Team
  Professional standards for dental professionals in the UK. Useful for linking communication, teamwork, professionalism, patient-centred care and raising concerns to safe, sustainable practice under pressure.
  https://www.gdc-uk.org/standards-guidance/standards-and-guidance/standards-for-the-dental-team

• GDC - Scope of practice
  GDC guidance on the roles, skills and limits of different dental professionals, including dental nurses. Useful for keeping stress responses linked to role boundaries, delegation, handover and escalation.
  https://www.gdc-uk.org/standards-guidance/standards-and-guidance/scope-of-practice

• NICE - Mental wellbeing at work (NG212)
  Current NICE guidance on workplace culture, prevention and mental wellbeing at work. Clarifies that managing stress requires sensible workplace conditions and employer action as well as individual coping strategies.
  https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng212

• HSE - Work-related stress and how to manage it
  The Health and Safety Executive overview of work-related stress in Great Britain. Explains common causes, employer responsibilities and organisational approaches alongside personal strategies.
  https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/overview.htm

2. CBT and Practical Self-Help Techniques

• NHS - Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
  The NHS overview of CBT, how it works and how thoughts, feelings and behaviours are linked. Serves as the core official background for the model used in this course.
  https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cognitive-behavioural-therapy-cbt/

• NHS Every Mind Matters - Self-help CBT techniques
  A practical NHS collection of self-help tools based on CBT. Describes simple skills to use day to day rather than a full therapy programme.
  https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/

• NHS Every Mind Matters - Thought record
  A structured NHS exercise for working through stressful thoughts. Useful for applying the thoughts-and-emotions element of the Five-Part Model with a concrete tool.
  https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/thought-record/

• NHS Every Mind Matters - Problem solving
  A practical NHS guide to breaking problems down and separating solvable issues from hypothetical worries. Supports the behavioural and environmental parts of the model and helps form clear next steps.
  https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/problem-solving/

• NHS Every Mind Matters - Staying on top of things
  An NHS guide to turning useful techniques into regular habits and personal plans. Helps make a Five-Part Model stress plan part of routine practice rather than a one-off exercise.
  https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/staying-on-top-of-things/

3. Support Routes Across the Four Nations

• England - NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression
  The main NHS route in England for accessing talking therapies. Use this when stress is persistent, extends into anxiety or low mood, or affects daily functioning beyond self-help.
  https://www.nhs.uk/talk

• Scotland - NHS inform: What to do if you are struggling with stress
  A Scotland-facing NHS page on stress symptoms, coping steps and routes to further support. Useful for Scotland-specific signposting alongside the CBT and self-help resources above.
  https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-living/mental-wellbeing/stress/what-to-do-if-you-are-struggling-with-stress/

• Wales - HEIW Mental health
  An NHS Wales workforce wellbeing page that brings together mental health and practical support resources for staff in Wales.
  https://heiw.nhs.wales/workforce/workforce-wellbeing/mental-health/

• Northern Ireland - nidirect Workplace stress
  A Northern Ireland government resource on workplace stress, warning signs, responsibilities and practical next steps.
  https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/workplace-stress

Use this list to deepen your knowledge of the Five-Part Model, practise CBT techniques for stress, and identify official support routes when workplace pressure requires more than self-help.