Welcome to the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (AREBT) Annual Conference 2026 programme.
Conference networking room opens at 09.30am and is open all day.
The AREBT AGM starts at 17.00pm.
NB All times in GMT (UK time).
Booking for Conference Day 1 – 2nd December 2026
Cost: AREBT Members Free (or voluntary donation). Non-Members: £50.
IMPORTANT: AREBT Members can obtain their free ticket on Eventbrite by using the ‘FREE AREBT Members – CONFERENCE (Tues 2nd Dec)‘ selection. (Members can make a donation by scrolling further down the selection options if they so wish.)
Booking: Eventbrite Booking Platform
Paper: The (ir)Rational Musician: Findings and Implications for Practice from Research into a Rational Emotive Behavioural Coaching Intervention with Conservatoire Music Students with Jo Hensel CPsychol
“I’ve got to give a brilliant performance.” “It would be awful to disappoint my teacher.” “I can’t bear making such slow progress.” “That performance just shows how useless I am.” What happens when musicians learn to recognise and challenge unhelpful beliefs and replace them with more flexible, goal-enabling alternatives? Building on papers presented at this conference over the past three years, this paper draws together findings from a completed mixed-methods doctoral research programme investigating a Rational Emotive Behavioural Coaching (REBC) intervention designed specifically for conservatoire music students and considers the implications of those findings for practice.The research programme incorporated within-participants analyses, a randomised waitlist-controlled trial, investigations of possible mechanisms of change, qualitative analysis of participants’ experiences and an individual case study. Findings showed reductions in music performance anxiety and irrational performance beliefs, alongside improvements in mental wellbeing. Mediation analyses suggested that belief change contributed to improvements in performance anxiety and wellbeing at follow-up. Working alliance did not statistically mediate outcomes, although participants’ accounts highlighted the value of supportive peer and coaching relationships and of working with a practitioner who understood the musical context. The paper considers what may be required to make REBC effective and meaningful for conservatoire musicians, including the complementary value of group and individual work, the time required to apply and consolidate learning, and the importance of identifying and addressing the particular irrational beliefs underlying students’ difficulties. It concludes by considering possible next steps, including helping music educators understand how their language, feedback and expectations may contribute to the reinforcement of students’ irrational beliefs, and how greater awareness of these processes might enable them to support more flexible, goal-enabling alternatives that benefit students’ wellbeing, learning and performance.