The San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy (SFBACCT) was founded in 1995 by Drs. Jackie Persons, Michael Tompkins, and Joan Davidson. Located in Oakland’s Rockridge district, our Center, originally named The Center for Cognitive Therapy, opened at a time when cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) was not yet widely known in the Bay Area. Many nationally and internationally recognized leaders in the field, including Dr. Aaron Beck, founder of CBT, visited to welcome our Center to the growing number of Centers across the country and offer training and workshops for us and for the small but growing community of local CBT practitioners.
We hired staff therapists, psychological assistants, and administrative assistants to support our Center’s expansion. We offered classes and workshops at the Center, throughout the Bay Area, and at national and international venues. We collaborated on a video series, book, and journal articles, and we were invited to join the faculty at UC Berkeley as among the first CBT supervisors for graduate students.
Our Center also hosted educational and screening events for consumers, as well as trainings and social gatherings for local professionals. We opened two additional offices in San Francisco and built close relationships with CBT oriented clinicians from around the Bay Area who became Affiliates of our Center. In recognition of that growth, we changed our name to the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy.
Over time, we consolidated our practices to our Rockridge offices, allowing more time and focus for clinical work, writing, teaching, research, and individual projects. We shifted to a partnership model and invited full partners to join us. Over the years, we worked with many talented staff therapists and partners, and we deeply appreciate their contributions—not only to our clients’ care, but also to the field of CBT and evidence-based practices, through their books, articles, research, workshops, and teaching.
In 2013, Dr. Persons established a new center that better aligned with her goal of integrating research into clinical practice. Dr. Tompkins and Dr. Davidson became Co-Directors of the SFBACCT, and soon afterward, Dr. Daniela Owen became our Assistant Director. Dr. Persons is now the founder and Director of the Oakland CBT Center, also on College Avenue in Oakland’s Rockridge district.
The SFBACCT has remained a partnership of clinicians who consult with one another, stay current with advances in research and clinical practice, and pursue professional projects both collaboratively and independently with the support of the Center team. When the pandemic forced us to leave our Rockridge offices, we became a “Center Without Walls.” Today, all partners provide telehealth treatment, and some also offer in-person sessions.
More than 30 years after the founding of the Center, our mission continues to uphold the values of our original mission written three decades ago:
“To provide empirically supported, ethical, and compassionate care to our patients, to offer high-quality professional training for clinicians, and to disseminate information about CBT to both consumers and professionals.”
“To provide empirically supported, ethical, and compassionate care to our
patients, to offer high-quality professional training for clinicians, and
to disseminate information about CBT to both consumers and
professionals.”
Whether you’re looking for treatment information or want to set up a phone consultation, our clinicians are here to help. We aim to reply within 48 hours.