1. Mission
The World Confederation of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (WCCBT) is a global multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the prevention, assessment, and treatment of mental distress and suffering, and the promotion of health and well-being through the scientific development and implementation of the broad range of evidence-based cognitive and behavioural approaches.
2. Aims
The aims of the WCCBT are to:
1. Support the development and profile of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (CBT) worldwide, while promoting equity, inclusion and diversity.
2. Develop a worldwide network to promote collaboration and to share information, and issues in CBT.
3. Promote and advocate for global mental health, CBT and evidence-based treatments.
4. Develop and support CBT implementation through training policies and practice.
5. Develop and support effective implementation of CBT through training and research.
3. Incorporation and Authority
The WCCBT was legally incorporated in the State of New York, United States in 2021. The rules contained in the most recent edition of “Robert’s Rules of Order” shall govern the WCCBT.
4. Membership and Benefits
4.1. Members of the WCCBT shall consist of regional and national associations, federations, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, and institutes (hereafter referred to as “organizations”) that represent behavioral, cognitive, and cognitive & behavioural therapists, students and trainees, and that educate, advocate on behalf of, promote, and disseminate behavioral, cognitive, and cognitive-behavioral therapies, broadly conceived.
4.2 Categories of Membership: There are two categories of members: Full members, and Affiliate members. The membership designation assigned to the organization is at the sole discretion of the WCCBT Board of Directors.
4.3. Full membership is given to one regional organization from each of the six geographical regions of the world (Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, North America, and Central and South America), and non-regional members from the International Association for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy. As such, full Membership belongs to the following regions and members:
- Asia, as represented by the Asian Cognitive and Behavior Therapy Association (ACBTA)
- North America, as represented by the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies/ L’Association Canadienne des thérapies cognitives et comportementales (CACBT/ ACTCC)
- Australasia, as represented by the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (AACBT) and Aoteoroa New Zealand Association for Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies (AnzaCBT).
- Europe as represented by the European Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (EABCT)
- Central and South America, as represented by the Latin-American Association of Analysis, Behavioral Modification, and Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (ALAMOC).
- Non-regional members represented by the International Association of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (IACBT; formerly the International Association of Cognitive Psychotherapy; (IACP)
4.4. If other established CBT organizations from another country exist within a geographic region, the WCCBT will work to encourage a fair rotation of board representatives from the non-member organizations so long as the selected representative from the non-member organization obtains membership in the WCCBT member regional organization.
4.5 Full Membership may be made available in the future to not-for-profit regional organizations not currently represented in the WCCBT (e.g. , Africa), that represent national associations, and that represent all forms of behavioral, cognitive, and cognitive & behavioural therapists, students and trainees, and that educate, advocate on behalf of, promote, and disseminate cognitive and behavioural therapies, broadly conceived.
4.6 Full Member associations shall
4.6.1 Subscribe to the goals of WCCBT as stated in the Mission Statement.
4.6.2 Represent all forms of behavioural, cognitive, and cognitive & behavioural therapists, students and trainees that educate, advocate on behalf of, promote, and disseminate behavioural and cognitive therapies, broadly conceived.
4.6.3 Be a registered not-for-profit organization.
4.6.4 Must have existed as an association for at least one year.
4.7 Full Members shall have the following benefits:
4.7.1 Reduced fees for their members at the WCCBT congress.
4.7.2 The ability to place information on the WCCBT website and in the newsletter. 3
4.8 Affiliate Membership: There are three classes of Affiliate members that are available to organizations that meet one of the following criteria:
4.7.3 The ability to hold national or regional conferences with the sponsorship and consultation
from the WCCBT.
4.7.4 The ability to vote on all matters related to WCCBT.
4.7.5 The ability to have representative(s) on the Board of Directors.
(1) Not-for- profit national member organizations that represent diverse forms of behavioral, cognitive, and/or cognitive & behavioural therapies within a geographical region of the globe, in terms of theoretical background, clientele, types of professionals accepted as members and activities but elect not to join WCCBT through a regional member organization or do not yet have a regional organization within their region to which they can belong.
(2) Not-for- profit organizations that represent specific forms of behavioural, cognitive, and/or cognitive & behavioural therapy within a specific country or geographical region of the globe, in terms of theoretical background, clientele, types of professionals accepted as members and activities.
(3) For profit organizations that represent broad or specific forms of behavioural, cognitive, and/or cognitive & behavioural therapy within a specific country or geographical region of the globe, in terms of theoretical background, clientele, types of professionals accepted as members and activities. 4.9 All affiliate member organizations must: 4.9.1 Subscribe to WCCBT goals as stated in the Mission Statement.
4.9.2 Have a minimum of 25 members or employees.
4.9.3 Pay the annual dues assessed to it by the WCCBT by March 31 of each calendar year.
4.9.4 Must have existed as an organization for at least one year.
4.10 Affiliate Members have the following benefits: 4.10.1 Have reduced fees for their members at the WCCBT congress.
4.10.2 Are able to place information on the website and in the newsletter.
4.10.3 Are able to hold national or regional conferences, with the sponsorship of the WCCBT.
5. Governance and Elections
5.1. The WCCBT Board of Directors shall normally consist of 12 members, including two representatives from each of the full member associations detailed in article 5.3.
5.2 The Board of Directors shall elect the following officers from among its membership: President, President-elect, Past- President, Secretary, Treasurer, and two Members at Large. If necessary, the Board of Directors may include more than 12 members, in order to fill the roles of Past-President, Secretary and Treasurer.
5.3 The responsibilities of the WCCBT Board of Directors and its officers are elaborated in the policies and procedures of the WCCBT.
5.4 Election of Officers to the Board
5.4.1 The Secretary will seek nominations for vacant officer posts of the WCCBT at least 3 months prior to the end of each calendar year to enable the full complement of members of the Board of Directors.
5.4.2 A representative of the proposing member association should present the curriculum vitae of the nominee for discussion. The representative from at least one other member association is necessary to second the nomination.
5.4.3 If there are no nominations, the Board of Directors will nominate officers, and send information to the member associations one month before the end of the year. In nominating Officers to the Board, the Board of Directors should give due consideration to ensure that Officers are drawn across the six member associations, and are from a variety of national member associations within the six member associations. Officers can be nominated from members or representatives of the six member associations or from members of the Board.
5.4.4 All Officers are normally appointed for 3 year terms. To ensure continuity, board terms will be staggered so that they do not occur in the same year, with no more than 4 elections or re-elections in any year. The Board will ensure continuity by seeking nominations for officers to serve a shorter period if necessary.
5.4.5 All members of the Board of Directors have one vote in any election process. The President will not normally vote but shall have the determining vote in the event of a tie.
6. Meetings of the WCCBT
6.1. Meetings of the Board
6.1.1. The Board of Directors shall meet at least twice each year via distance conferencing, and ideally once a year in person in geographically broad places across member associations.
6.1.2. A quorum shall be 50% of the Board plus one.
6.1.3. Meeting schedules must be set at the beginning of each year. The agenda and supporting materials for each meeting shall normally be circulated at least one week in advance.
6.1.4. Meetings may be called by the President, or by 50% plus one member of the Board of Directors.
6.2.1 The agenda for the General Meeting will include at minimum:
6.2 General Meeting of Members
To ensure accountability of the Board of Directors, and to facilitate communication, a General Meeting of all Members and the constituents that they represent, will be held every three years at the World Congress.
- Opening/Introductions
- President’s Report
- Treasurer’s Report
- Reports from Officers
- Calls for nominations for future World Congresses
- Any other business
- Closing
6.2.3 The General Meeting of members shall be held in the host country of the World Congress,
6.2.2 The General Meeting of members shall be organized by the WCCBT and facilitated by the member association that organizes the World Congress that year.
6.2.4 The host country is responsible to facilitate and fund the meeting rooms and the facilities (e.g., audio- visual equipment) necessary for the WCCBT general meeting.
7. Other Scientific Meetings
7.1 WCCBT member associations may arrange training events or mini-conferences, such as to mark the World CBT Day, between World Congresses. Such activities may be endorsed by the WCCBT Board of Directors and use the affiliation of the WCCBT, subject to compliance with By-laws.
7.2 To help to ensure the success of World Congresses, the WCCBT Board of Directors will not endorse any local or regional conferences held within two months and the same geographical region as the WCCBT congress.
8. Revenue and Budget
8.1.1 The WCCBT was initially financially supported by the member association’s contributing to the activities of the Confederation (administration, website, communications, etc.) in kind.
8.1.2 A budget, including anticipated revenues and expenses will be submitted to the WCCBT Board for approval annually.
8.1.3 A contribution of costs incurred by the Board of Directors and Representative of the member association(s), such as travel and accommodation, will be met by discussion between the member and the member association they represent and not from the WCCBT Budget unless agreed otherwise.
8.1.4 Members of the Board of Directors will receive a complimentary registration for any WCCBT congress they attend in order to fulfil their responsibilities.
8.1.5 No Board member or officer shall receive compensation from WCCBT for services rendered in that capacity.
9. Limitations of Liability and Indemnification
9.1 Nothing herein shall constitute members of WCCBT as partners or joint venturers for any purpose. No member, officer, director, employee or member of a committee of WCCBT shall be liable for his or her act or failure to act or for the act or failure to act by any other member, officer, director, employee, or member of a committee of WCCBT.
9.2 The Confederation shall indemnify and save harmless any officer, director, employee, or committee from any claims (and expenses, including attorney’s fees, reasonably incurred in connection with opposing or defending against any claims) arising out of or pertaining to any act or omission of such person on behalf of the Confederation, except in the event of criminal, wanton or grossly negligent conduct; provided such office, director, employee, committee gives prompt written notice to the Confederation of the assertion of any such claim and cooperates with the Confederation and its insurer(s) in opposing and defending against such claim.
9.3 The Board of Directors may, by majority vote of the Directors not involved in the matter, indemnify and save harmless any officer, director, employee, committee from any and all claims (and any expenses reasonably incurred in connection with the defense of any claims) arising out of or pertaining to any act or omission of such person while acting on behalf of the Confederation if such person acted in good faith, was not opposed to the best interest of the Confederation and its members, and reasonably believed that he/she was not violating any criminal laws; provided such officer, director, employee, committee gives prompt written notice of any such claim to the Confederation and cooperates with the Confederation in opposing and defending such claim.
9.4 The Confederation irrevocably waives any claims it may have against any officers or directors for damages to the Confederation on arising out of or pertaining to any act or omission of such persons except those claims arising out of or pertaining to the intentional doing of an unlawful act by such persons.
10. Conflict of Interest Policy
All officers, coordinators, committee chairs, and senior staff are required to acknowledge and comply with WCCBT’s conflict of interest policy.
11. Employee and Volunteer Protection Open Door and Whistleblower Protection Policy
Pursuant to the New York State 2013 Nonprofit Revitalization Act, WCCBT has developed an Employee and Volunteer Protection Open Door and Whistleblower Protection Policy.
12. Distribution of Assets on Dissolution
In the event of the termination, dissolution, or the completion of the affairs of the WCCBT in any manner, any remaining assets shall be fairly distributed its member organizations.
13. By-law Changes
Changes to these by-laws can be made by the Board of Directors, as necessary, and must be reported to the membership at the next General Meeting of members.
Adopted: December 16, 2019
Modified: June 4, 2023