Course for mental health professionals
For a client with little or no mental imagery, an exercise that asks for a picture can fail without either of you knowing why. Learn to recognize aphantasia in session, and to adapt CBT, EMDR, DBT and trauma work so each technique still does its job.
The introduction and Module 1 are free, about an hour.
5 modules · 21 lessons · 7.25 instructional hours · Certificate of completion · 30-day money-back guarantee
For
Not for you yet
Mawtus and colleagues (2024) asked 2,405 people with aphantasia and 410 with typical imagery about their mental health care. For those with aphantasia, the techniques that asked for pictures were the ones they rated effective least often.
Aphantasia was named in 2015. There are no clinical guidelines for adapting therapy to it yet, and no manualized protocols. The course brings together the research there is, and says where the evidence ends and clinical reasoning begins.
“It just felt like I was too, too dumb to understand the exercise.”
Different, self-selected people rating their own past therapy, so the survey points one way without settling it.
Mawtus et al. 2024
Before any definitions, try something on yourself. Think about your front door. What color is it?
Now notice how you answered. Did a picture appear, or did the facts come without one?
Some people see, some know, and many do a mix. These are all ordinary ways for a mind to work, and the differences change how therapeutic techniques land.
Practice resources to keep: the Imagery Screening Reference Guide, Understanding Aphantasia, a handout for clients, the Differential Assessment Guide, the Active Ingredient Guide, the Therapeutic Language and Adaptation Guide.
Tom Ebeyer, instructor
Tom Ebeyer is one of the 21 people studied in the 2015 paper that named aphantasia. He founded Aphantasia Network with Jennifer McDougall, and is one of the authors of the study behind the single-item screener the course teaches.
Licensed clinicians reviewed the modules during development. Every submission from the clinician review panel scored 5 out of 5 on whether a mental health professional would be better equipped after completing the reviewed module.
“I had a client with hypophantasia and she really had some struggles with recall. This content would have been very helpful.”
Neesa Suncheuri Sunar, Licensed Social Worker
“The material was clearly presented, the argument was well-constructed and the evidence was convincingly described.”
Anne Bernstein, Clinical Psychologist
“The baseline of trait not deficit is clear, and I’ve learned some cool things about how the brain processes that I didn’t know.”
Christina Crowe, Counsellor / Psychotherapist
Certificate of completion
has completed
When Clients Can’t Visualize
7.25 instructional hours
Pass the final assessment and submit the course evaluation, and your Aphantasia Network certificate of completion appears on the course page. It documents 7.25 instructional hours, the learning objectives, the instructor and the methods. Anyone can check it on our site, and it comes with a self-petition letter for your licensing board.
Boards differ. Some accept a course you submit yourself, some accept only approved providers, and some ask you to apply before you start. Check with your board first; acceptance is its decision.
If your board wants approval before you start, apply before you open the free part: a free start may count as starting.
$499.99
once, with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Start with the introduction and Module 1 for free. Everything you do there counts toward the full course, and the full course is yours for good.
Paying through an employer or school, or buying for a team? We can invoice or take a purchase order: write to us.
The introduction and Module 1, about an hour: what mental imagery and aphantasia are, where your own imagery sits, and how to screen clients in practice, with the two-page Imagery Screening Reference Guide. Make a free account to start; everything you do in it counts toward the full course.
The certificate documents 7.25 instructional hours of required lessons, read at your own pace, with optional deep dives beside them. You keep access for good.
No body has approved the course for CE. On completion you receive a certificate of completion documenting the instructional hours, the learning objectives, the instructor and the methods, and a self-petition letter for your licensing board.
Boards differ. Some accept a course you submit yourself, some accept only approved providers, and some ask you to apply before you start. Check with your board first; acceptance is its decision.
That is the gap the course is for. About 1 in 25 adults have faint or no visual imagery, but a figure for the population doesn’t identify any one client. The course teaches when to ask, how to screen, and when not to read aphantasia into one failed exercise.
The full course has a 30-day money-back guarantee. It’s one payment, with access for good.
Yes. For three or more clinicians, or to pay by invoice or purchase order, write to us.
Besides its courses and memberships, Aphantasia Network sells a multisensory imagery questionnaire, the Imagination Index, and listings in its directory of practitioners. The course doesn’t teach either or need them. Tom Ebeyer is one of the authors of the study behind the single-item screener that Module 1 teaches, and the Network’s website collected its data.
Free, about an hour, and everything you do counts toward the full course.