Unseen Minds Practitioner® Training
Formerly Aphantasia Therapist Training. Same programme, same CPD accreditation, now carrying the credential its graduates hold.
The professional credential for therapists and counsellors working across five invisible cognitive differences: multisensory aphantasia, SDAM, anauralia, anendophasia and alexithymia. You'll leave knowing what to do differently in the room, not only what to name.
Awarded on completion
When your methods aren't landing
Every experienced practitioner has met this. The pattern is consistent enough to recognise once you know what you're looking at.
The disconnect
Clients who seem engaged but suddenly drop off or stop progressing, leaving you wondering what went wrong.
The stuck feeling
Established visualisation techniques produce nothing, which is frustrating for you and demoralising for the client.
Professional doubt
Questioning your own skill when standard interventions don't yield the results your training predicted.
The barrier may not be your skill. It may be a fundamental difference in how your client experiences the world, and one your training never covered.
People are looking for this, and finding almost nobody
Clients who discover they have aphantasia often go searching for a therapist who understands it. Across the whole of the UK, Counselling Directory currently lists ten who name it as a specialism.
Seven of those ten trained with Aphantasia Academy, which tells you two things: how small this field still is, and where the expertise in it has come from so far.
Being one of the few who can do this work well matters, because for the client sitting opposite you, there may be nobody else.
therapists listing aphantasia as a specialism on Counselling Directory trained with Aphantasia Academy.
- 10 therapists across the UK list it, against more than 27,000 listing ADHD
- 2.7 to 3.5 million people in the UK have aphantasia, before counting the other four differences
- More than 300 million people worldwide, at a prevalence of 3.9 to 5%
Counselling Directory listings checked August 2026 and correct at that date. Prevalence figures per current published estimates.
Practical, and usable in your next session
Recognise these differences without waiting for disclosure, since most clients have never had a name for what they're missing.
Ask the questions that surface it, in a way that doesn't leave a client feeling tested or deficient.
Adapt established methods so the work can land without relying on mental imagery, emotional recall or inner dialogue.
Work safely and ethically, including around hidden risk, misdiagnosis and documentation.
Reason through complex presentations where several differences sit in the same client.
Hold the credential, with a certificate and digital badge, and apply for the Academy's practitioner directory.
Five assessed modules, 30+ CPD-accredited hours
Each module carries its own assessment, reflective practice questions and learning outcomes, and is designed to give you skills you can apply in your next session.
Understanding Aphantasia and Related Cognitive Differences
Definitions, history, neuroscience and prevalence across all five differences, so you can recognise what you are looking at and explain it to a client in language that lands.
Emotional Processing and Memory Challenges
How these differences affect emotional insight, identity, trauma work and therapeutic engagement, including what happens when several sit in the same client.
Therapeutic Adaptations
The core of the training. How to tailor established therapeutic techniques so the work can land without relying on mental imagery, emotional recall or inner dialogue, with worked adaptations you can use immediately.
Risk Management and Ethical Practice
Safeguarding, hidden risk, misdiagnosis, consent, documentation and supervision, covering the ethical questions that arise once you start adapting your practice.
Case Studies and Applied Skills
Six worked case studies developing your ability to assess, adapt and reflect with confidence, including trauma work with a client who has both aphantasia and SDAM, CBT with a client who has no inner voice, and a client who cannot name what she feels.
Live integration and practice session
A live three-hour online session designed to help you confidently apply your learning in real-world therapeutic contexts. This interactive session offers the opportunity to deepen your understanding, reflect on lived experience, explore ethical considerations, and practise adapting your approach through guided case studies and group discussion.
It's a valuable space to ask questions, connect with peers, and consolidate your practice as an Unseen Minds Practitioner®.
Sassy Smith
Founder, Aphantasia Academy
Sassy is the author of Unseen Minds: A Therapist's Guide to Multisensory Aphantasia and Invisible Cognitive Differences and the creator of the UK's first CPD-accredited training for therapists working with aphantasia and connected cognitive differences.
She lives with all five differences herself, which means she can tell you what it actually feels like to be on the receiving end of imagery-based techniques, and how to adapt without leaving a client feeling broken. She has taken part in research, followed the studies closely as they were published, and worked directly with researchers to share what she notices from the inside.
More about SassyWhat graduates say
This has been so good. I really think it should be mandatory training for all therapists.
I've done a lot of training since I qualified, and none have been as valuable as this one.
Be the practitioner they've been looking for.
Your next client with an unseen mind may already be on your caseload.
- 30+ hours of CPD-accredited training
- Five assessed modules and six worked case studies
- Live three-hour integration and practice session
- Lifetime access to materials
- Private community access
- Certification and digital badge
- Eligibility for the Academy's practitioner directory
14-day money-back guarantee
