My name is Pam Myles and I am the new Editor-in-Chief for the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (tCBT), an e-journal published by Cambridge Journals for the BABCP (British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies). I am accredited by the BABCP as a therapist, supervisor and trainer. I studied for my M.Phil at Newcastle University which I completed in 2001 and am currently working towards my PhD at Reading.

What is your current role and previous experience?
I am Director of Training at the Charlie Waller Institute, University of Reading, UK where I have been based for almost five years having worked as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist at Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust before this. As Director of Training my work involves the organising and overseeing of a range of postgraduate programmes and continuing professional development (CPD) training days and short courses. I also head up the IAPT/Primary Care stream for the BABCP Scientific Committee.

Can you tell us a bit about your research interests?
The topic of my PhD is around dissemination of evidence-based psychological treatments, an interest area of mine. In particular, I am focusing on whether course progression differs between students with and without a core profession and a review of changes in attitudes and knowledge around working with older people following the introduction of the new national curriculum for working with older people in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). I also have a long-standing interest in supervision and the development of tools to measure competence in supervision.

I have written two books – one is on the essential reading list for the IAPT psychological wellbeing practitioners – which I co-authored and edited called “A Complete Guide to Primary Care Mental Health” which was published in 2007. The other is called “The CBT Handbook” which is a self-help guide for people with low mood, anxiety or anger which I wrote with Professor Roz Shafran which is due out this September.

What do you enjoy most about being Editor-in-Chief of the journal?
It is a great honour to have been appointed Editor-in-Chief of this excellent online journal at the turn of the year. What I enjoy most about this role is having the opportunity to help guide the journal into the future. My editorial objectives include a balance of doing what we have done well in the past but also seeking new opportunities. For example, we are busy planning a new section to the journal where international experts in the field of CBT are invited to share clinical tips with us. We are also exploring ideas of an annual topical “special issue” where we will invite a guest editor for that particular issue.

Why should academics consider publishing with tCBT?

The journal is interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed and aimed primarily at cognitive behavioural practitioners in the helping and teaching professions. We feature papers covering clinical and professional issues which contribute to the theory, practice and evolution of the cognitive and behavioural therapies. As an e-journal, new developments and contributions to current professional debates can be published in a timely manner.

We offer an excellent opportunity to disseminate new work through a highly respected, peer reviewed journal. The BABCP has more than 9,500 members, all of whom can read tCBT published articles for free; in addition to institutions that have access. This makes tCBT a perfect publication to help disseminate your work!

To conclude, I am excited by the prospect and future for tCBT, and I look forward to working to increase its high-quality submissions, its profile and readership, whist maintaining its reputation of excellence. I am fortunate to have inherited a strong editorial team of clinical academics and additional support from an experienced and learned editorial board. As time goes on, I hope to add to the expertise and breadth of our editorial team as submissions to the journal increases.

Visit tCBT at journals.cambridge.org/cbt and view instructions for contributors at journals.cambridge.org/cbt/ifc. For any queries please contact Lydia Holt at journal.office@babcp.com.