Live online training via Zoom

Low Mood & Emotional Withdrawal Practitioner Training

Depression and low mood coaching certification. Two days, live on Zoom.

Train to support people experiencing depression, low mood, emotional shutdown and loss of motivation. A nervous-system-based coaching framework built on behavioural activation, regulation and compassion-focused tools, taught within a clear coaching scope.

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Next cohortSat 30 & Sun 31 January 2027
Format2 days, 9.30am to 2.30pm
Price£395
Accredited byIPHM and ACCPH

Why this course exists

Depression affects around one in six adults in England in any given week. Most are offered medication and a waiting list. Very few are offered structured, practical support in the meantime.

The GP route

A ten-minute appointment, often leading to antidepressants and a referral to a talking therapy waiting list that can take months. For many people this is the only support available.

The therapy route

Counselling and CBT are effective, but access is limited, private therapy is expensive, and both ask for a level of readiness that someone in deep withdrawal may not have yet.

The coaching route

Structured, compassionate, practical coaching that helps people rebuild daily routines, reconnect with motivation and regulate their nervous system: while they wait, alongside treatment, or where nothing else is on offer.

Who this training is for

No psychology degree or therapy background is required.

Teachers and teaching assistants supporting withdrawn or disengaged pupils

Coaches and therapists who want a structured framework for low mood and depression

Social workers, youth workers and support workers in frontline roles

HR professionals and workplace wellbeing leads

Parents and carers supporting a family member through depression

STILL Method coaches adding a low mood specialism

Career changers looking for meaningful, flexible work

People with lived experience who want to support others

What the course is built on

Every tool on the course is drawn from established psychological frameworks and adapted for coaching use with people experiencing low mood, depression and emotional withdrawal.

NICE recommended

Behavioural activation

One of the most evidence-backed interventions for depression. You learn how to help clients break the inactivity cycle using structured activity scheduling, mood and activity monitoring and graded micro-activation. Research shows behavioural activation is as effective as CBT for depression and particularly useful for people stuck in withdrawal.

Polyvagal informed

Nervous system mapping

Many people in low mood are in a shutdown state, the nervous system's collapse response. You learn to help clients recognise which state they are in, understand why "just get up and do something" fails, and use body-based regulation tools to shift gradually from shutdown toward safety and reconnection.

From ACT

Values-based action

Depression strips away meaning. Drawing on acceptance and commitment therapy, you learn how to help clients reconnect with what matters to them and take small, purposeful steps even when motivation is absent. This is not positive thinking. It is building a life worth showing up for.

Compassion focused

Shame and the inner critic

Depression usually comes with a harsh inner critic and deep shame. Using tools from compassion-focused therapy, you learn to help clients soften self-attack, activate the soothing system and build the internal safety that makes change possible.

Coaching core

Co-regulation and safety

Before any technique works, the person in front of you needs to feel safe. You learn how to use your voice, pacing and presence to create the conditions where someone in withdrawal can begin to re-engage. The coaching relationship as a regulation tool in itself.

Practical

Micro-activation and routine rebuilding

When someone cannot get out of bed, you do not start with goals. You start with one thing. You learn how to design tiny, achievable experiments that build momentum without overwhelming a nervous system already in shutdown. Structure before stretch.

All of these approaches are taught within a clear coaching scope. You learn where each tool sits, when to use it, and when someone needs more than coaching can offer. Coaches on this course do not diagnose or treat.

What you will learn

Two training days covering what you need to support people with low mood, emotional withdrawal and mild to moderate depression safely and effectively.

01

Understanding low mood and depression

What depression is and how it differs from sadness. The nervous system in shutdown: why people withdraw, lose motivation and disconnect. Why pushing harder makes things worse.

02

The coaching and clinical boundary

Where coaching sits alongside therapy and medical treatment. What you can and cannot do. When to refer, and how to have that conversation without breaking trust. Ethical practice and safeguarding.

03

Working with withdrawal and disconnection

Practical tools for engaging people who have pulled away. Co-regulation, nervous system mapping and building safety before building momentum. Understanding resistance as protection.

04

Nervous system regulation and behavioural activation

Adapting STILL Method tools for shutdown rather than overwhelm. Grounding techniques, micro-activation strategies and structured activity scheduling that bring people back online without flooding their system.

05

Values, identity and the inner critic

Helping clients reconnect with what matters when everything feels pointless. Values-based action, compassion-focused tools for shame and self-attack, and small experiments that rebuild purpose and momentum.

06

Session plans, scripts and ongoing support

Complete session frameworks for one-to-one and group delivery. Worksheets, scripts and client materials, ready to use with clients after training.

After you qualify

Certification

Low Mood & Emotional Withdrawal Practitioner certification from The STILL Method, accredited by IPHM and ACCPH.

Complete coaching toolkit

Session plans, worksheets, scripts and client resources for one-to-one and group work.

Ongoing mentoring

Mentoring support during and after training, and the option to join the STILL Method practitioner network.

Flexible ways to work

One-to-one, group programmes, schools, workplaces, or as a specialism within an existing practice.

Live training dates

All cohorts run live on Zoom, 9.30am to 2.30pm each day. Choose a weekend or a weekday cohort.

Saturday 30 & Sunday 31 January 2027

Weekend cohort

Book this cohort

Tuesday 16 & Tuesday 23 March 2027

Weekday cohort, one week apart

Book this cohort

Book your place

Train live with Stuart on Zoom in a small group.

Live online training

£395

Payment plans available

  • Two days on Zoom with Stuart, 9.30am to 2.30pm
  • Interactive group exercises and practice
  • Complete session plans and client materials
  • Low Mood & Emotional Withdrawal Practitioner certification
  • Accredited by IPHM and ACCPH
  • Ongoing mentoring support after training
  • Option to join the STILL Method network
Book on Bookwhen

Training Pass: every STILL Method certification, including this one, for £2,100. See the Training Pass

Stuart Thompson, founder of The STILL Method

Your trainer

Stuart Thompson created The STILL Method after more than 25 years working in anxiety and emotional health, including many years as a social worker. A wheelchair user since birth, Stuart brings both professional expertise and lived experience to everything he teaches.

Stuart has trained over 100 coaches who now deliver anxiety, grief, ADHD, sleep, art and emotional regulation support across the UK and internationally. The STILL Method has been featured in The Guardian and on the BBC, and is used in schools, children's homes, workplaces and private practice.

"Depression is not the opposite of happiness. It is the nervous system pulling the handbrake. This course teaches you how to help people release it, gently, safely and at their pace."

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Coaching offers structured, practical support for people experiencing low mood, emotional withdrawal and mild to moderate depression. It is not a replacement for clinical treatment. It sits alongside it, in the gap between a GP appointment and a therapy waiting list.

Counselling and therapy typically involve assessment and in-depth exploration of past experiences. Coaching focuses on practical, forward-looking support: rebuilding daily structure, reconnecting with motivation, regulating the nervous system and taking small meaningful steps. Coaches do not diagnose or treat.

Behavioural activation (NICE recommended for depression), nervous system regulation informed by polyvagal theory, values-based action from acceptance and commitment therapy, and compassion-focused tools for working with shame and the inner critic. Every tool is taught within a clear coaching scope.

No. You do not need a psychology degree or therapy background. The course is designed for beginners as well as experienced professionals. Many students are teachers, support workers, parents, carers and people changing careers. Safeguarding, session planning and ethical boundaries are all covered.

No. This course is fully standalone. Many practitioners combine several STILL Method certifications, and the Training Pass covers all of them.

Safeguarding is central to the course. You learn the boundaries between coaching and clinical treatment, how to recognise when someone needs more support than coaching can offer, and how to make appropriate referrals. The course includes a dedicated module on risk awareness, ethical practice and working within your scope.

Live online via Zoom across two training days, 9.30am to 2.30pm each day. Cohorts: Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January 2027; Tuesday 16 and Tuesday 23 March 2027. You train with Stuart Thompson in a small group with practice and real-time support throughout.

£395. Payment plans are available. The fee includes all course materials, session plans, client resources, certification and ongoing mentoring support. The course is also included in the STILL Method Training Pass.

Yes. Many practitioners are teachers, social workers, HR professionals, therapists or youth workers who use low mood coaching within their current role. Others start a new coaching practice or add a specialism to existing coaching work.

Train as a Low Mood Practitioner

Two days live on Zoom. £395. Accredited by IPHM and ACCPH.

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Low Mood Practitioner · £395 See dates