Psychologist Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) Education Program launched!

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) is the recommended ‘first line’ treatment for chronic insomnia, but is accessed by less than 1% of patients.

This partly because of a shortage of psychologists with CBTi training;

• There are only 30 full-time equivalent psychologists in the country that specialise in insomnia management (ASA internal documents, 2022).
• Only 7 of these are internationally recognized CBTi specialists (Meaklim et al., 2023).

To increase access to psychologists with CBTi training in Australia, the Australasian Sleep Association has been working with the Australian Psychological Society on education articles, workshops, webinars, and most recently, an interactive online education module. 

This 6-hour on-demand module provides interactive information about insomnia development, assessment, and management. A suite of downloadable resources including a manualised CBTi program will help course completers to deliver CBTi in psychological practice. It is developed primarily for psychologists, but is suitable for GPs, Nurses, Pharmacists, and other health clinicians with an interest in insomnia management.

 APS and ASA members can access the CBTi module  at a discounted price.

The ASA’s Behavioural Management of Sleep Disorders Education subcommittee have worked with the APS to develop this module over the last 18 months. A special thank you to all members of the subcommittee (pictured below), the ASA Education Committee and ASA Board for reviewing and approving the module, and our colleagues at the Australian Psychological Society.


We will monitor engagement with the module, offer ongoing support and education opportunities to graduates, and aim to develop a public registry of ‘sleep’ psychologists throughout the country. 

Sustained change requires a system-wide approach: These psychologist education activities complement insomnia education resources for GPs, nurses and pharmacists, implementation of digital CBTi approaches, government advocacy work, and public messaging.