Self-paced online course

CBT for Social Anxiety: Tools for a Quieter Inner Spotlight

A complete introduction to CBT for social anxiety. Understand the social anxiety loop, train outward attention, examine the negative predictions and post-event rumination that fuel it, gradually approach feared social situations, and drop the safety behaviours that keep the fear alive. No diagnosis or prior knowledge needed.

Modules 13
Duration Approximately 2 hours of reading
Level Foundation
Format Self-paced
CBT for Social Anxiety: Tools for a Quieter Inner Spotlight
Overview

What this course is.

A complete introduction to CBT for social anxiety. Understand the social anxiety loop, train outward attention, examine the negative predictions and post-event rumination that fuel it, gradually approach feared social situations, and drop the safety behaviours that keep the fear alive. No diagnosis or prior knowledge needed.

Social anxiety is one of the most painful and most treatable difficulties in mental health. It runs on a recognisable loop of attention, thinking, and behaviour — and CBT for social anxiety is one of the most evidence-based ways to interrupt that loop. This course teaches the full toolkit, in plain language, written for everyday clients.

You will learn what social anxiety actually is, how to shift your attention outward, how to spot and examine the predictions and post-event rumination that fuel it, and how to gradually approach the social situations you have been avoiding while dropping the safety behaviours that keep the fear alive. Thirteen lessons across five modules. Self-paced. Lifetime access.

What you will learn

What you will walk away knowing

A practical understanding of how social anxiety works and how to use CBT skills to live a fuller social life — even when anxiety is still around.

What social anxiety is, the cycle that maintains it, and how it differs from shyness
How to shift your attention from inward (self-monitoring) to outward (the conversation, the person, the room)
How to spot and examine negative predictions before social situations
How to interrupt post-event rumination the replaying that follows social events
Behavioural experiments that test what your fear is predicting
How to drop the safety behaviours that have been keeping the fear alive
How to build lasting social confidence and prevent relapse
Curriculum

Five modules, thirteen lessons

A complete CBT toolkit for social anxiety — from understanding the loop, through attention training and cognitive work, to behavioural experiments and a personal maintenance plan.

Approximately 2 hours of reading 13 lessons 5 modules
What social anxiety is, the self-reinforcing cycle that maintains it, and how it differs from shyness.
  • What Social Anxiety Actually Is
  • The Social Anxiety Cycle
  • How Social Anxiety Differs From Shyness
How self-focused attention drives social anxiety, and how to train outward attention as a default.
  • Self-Focused Attention: The Inner Spotlight
  • Shifting Attention Outward
Working with the negative predictions before social situations, the rumination after, and how to examine the evidence.
  • Negative Predictions Before Social Situations
  • Post-Event Processing: The Rumination After
  • Examining Evidence for Social Fears
Avoidance, safety behaviours, behavioural experiments, and the practice of dropping the safety habits that keep the fear alive.
  • Avoidance and Safety Behaviours in Social Settings
  • Behavioural Experiments for Social Anxiety
  • Dropping Safety Behaviours
Building lasting social confidence and the maintenance routine that keeps the gains over time.
  • Building Social Confidence
  • Maintaining Gains: Social Anxiety
Who this is for

Who this course is for

This course is written for everyday clients, not clinicians. It is for anyone whose social anxiety has started to constrain how they want to live.

It's for
  • People with social anxiety, mild to moderate If your anxiety in social situations is more than discomfort and is constraining your life, this course is for you.
  • Anyone who has started declining social invitations If your social world has been quietly shrinking, the behavioural and attention skills here are designed for that pattern.
  • Working alongside therapy A solid CBT foundation that pairs well with sessions for social anxiety.
  • Family and supports Understanding the model so you can support someone you love who is working through social anxiety.
FAQs

Frequently asked questions

A few of the questions we hear most often before people enrol.

No. This course is psychoeducational — it teaches you the CBT skills and the model behind them. It is not therapy and is not a substitute for clinical care. If your social anxiety is severe — extensive avoidance, panic attacks, or major life impact — please consider working with a therapist alongside this course.

Yes. CBT for social anxiety has strong evidence even for people who have been struggling for a long time. The patterns are changeable; the dose of practice may need to be larger.

Yes. Behavioural practice — approaching feared situations and dropping safety behaviours — is the most evidence-based part of treatment. The course teaches it in small, doable steps.

Approximately two hours of reading, broken into 13 short lessons. Most people work through it over a few weeks while practising the skills in between.

This course covers the cognitive and behavioural patterns of social anxiety. If you are experiencing frequent panic attacks alongside social anxiety, working with a therapist who can also work with panic specifically is recommended. Skills here will still help.

Start your CBT for social anxiety journey today

Thirteen lessons. Lifetime access. The full CBT toolkit for social anxiety, in plain language. Work through it at your pace and return whenever you need a refresher. A gentle note: this course is psychoeducational and is not a substitute for individual therapy. If you are in crisis, please reach out to a clinician or, in Australia, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Enrol now