Open-Access Treatment Manuals
Complete treatment manuals that are free and legal to use: U.S. federal public domain publications (SAMHSA, NIDA, NIAAA, the VA), openly licensed protocols from the WHO, and other manuals their publishers distribute free (RAND, NCTSN, Kaiser Permanente, and Australia’s Centre for Clinical Interventions). The same manuals used in graduate training programs and community clinics, organized by approach, each one paired with the printable worksheets and interactive tools on this site that implement its assignments.
ACT for Depression (ACT-D) Therapist Manual
A complete 12-session ACT protocol for treating depression, written by Robyn Walser and colleagues for the VA's national therapist training program. Each session includes therapist scripts, sample dialogue, metaphors, mindfulness exercises, and homework, moving from creative hopelessness and control-as-the-problem through acceptance, defusion, values, and committed action.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
ACT for PTSD Group Manual
The VA's session-by-session manual for a 10-week ACT group for veterans with PTSD, written by three VA psychologists at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Each 90-minute session gets a full script: willingness and mindfulness, defusion, personal values with a card sort, the observing self, and observing the trauma, plus an optional pre-group individual session.
VA publication, free access
TIP 57: Trauma-Informed Care
SAMHSA's consensus guide to delivering trauma-informed care in mental health and addiction treatment settings. Part 1 gives clinicians concrete guidance on screening, assessment, and trauma-specific interventions; Part 2 shows administrators how to build a trauma-informed organization and workforce.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) Manuals
The complete VA therapist's manual for Cognitive Processing Therapy adapted for veterans and service members, written by the treatment's developers. It walks through all 12 sessions with sample dialogue, session summaries, and progress notes, and a companion volume contains every patient handout.
VA publication, free access
Psychological First Aid (PFA) Field Guide
The standard evidence-informed manual for supporting children, adults, and families in the immediate aftermath of disaster and mass violence, built around eight core actions from contact and engagement through linkage with services. Written jointly by NCTSN and the National Center for PTSD, it is the field guide most disaster mental health deployments train on.
Free with explicit redistribution grant (no-fee, no-modification)
Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) Guide
The step after Psychological First Aid: a skills-based intervention for disaster survivors in the weeks to months after the event, teaching problem solving, positive activity scheduling, managing reactions, helpful thinking, and rebuilding healthy social connections. Each skill comes with provider scripts and survivor handouts.
Free with explicit redistribution grant (no-fee, no-modification)
CBT for Depression Therapist Manual
The VA's full protocol for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy to depressed veterans and service members, written by Amy Wenzel, Gregory Brown, and Bradley Karlin. It walks through CBT theory, case conceptualization, session structure, behavioral and cognitive strategies, and relapse prevention, with session-by-session guidance and reproducible clinical forms.
VA publication, free access
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Therapist Guide
A complete therapist guide to Interpersonal Psychotherapy for depression, adapted for veterans as part of the VA's national evidence-based psychotherapy rollout. It walks through the full 16-session protocol across the four IPT problem areas (grief, role disputes, role transitions, interpersonal deficits) and devotes nearly half its pages to six extended case vignettes with session dialogue.
VA publication, free access
Muñoz Individual CBT for Depression Manual
A complete individual CBT protocol for adult depression by Ricardo Muñoz and Jeanne Miranda, developed at the San Francisco General Hospital Depression Clinic and published free by RAND. The sessions are organized around the classic CBT triad for mood: how thoughts shape mood, how activities shape mood, and how people (relationships) shape mood, with session outlines, in-session exercises, and homework throughout.
Free official distribution (RAND, noncommercial use)
Muñoz Group CBT for Depression Manual
The group-format companion to the Muñoz individual manual, and the format RAND's page notes was the protocol's preferred mode of delivery. It gives group leaders a session-by-session structure built on the same thoughts, activities, and contacts framework, written in plain language for use in public-sector clinics.
Free official distribution (RAND, noncommercial use)
CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I) Therapist Manual
A session-by-session therapist guide to CBT-I, the first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, written by Rachel Manber, Jack Edinger, Colleen Carney, and colleagues for the VA's national CBT-I training rollout. It walks through case conceptualization, sleep restriction, stimulus control, cognitive therapy for unhelpful sleep beliefs, and relapse prevention.
VA publication, free access
CBT for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP) Therapist Manual
The VA's national training manual for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy to adults with chronic pain, built around a structured session-by-session protocol covering pain education, relaxation training, activity pacing, cognitive restructuring, and sleep. It includes three running case examples, assessment guidance, and all therapist and patient worksheets in the appendices.
VA publication, free access
Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) Manual
The original therapist manual for Motivational Enhancement Therapy, written by William Miller and colleagues for Project MATCH, the large NIAAA trial that compared three treatments for alcohol problems. It lays out a four-session MET protocol built on motivational interviewing and structured personal feedback, with session-by-session instructions, sample therapist language, and guidance for handling resistance and involving a significant other.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
CBT Coping Skills Therapy Manual
The CBT treatment arm manual from Project MATCH, the largest clinical trial of alcohol treatments ever run in the United States. It walks therapists through 12 structured sessions of coping skills training for alcohol use disorder, including managing cravings, drink refusal, problem solving, anger, and planning for high-risk relapse situations.
U.S. government publication with licensed portions
Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy Manual
The therapist manual for Twelve Step Facilitation, one of three treatments tested in Project MATCH. It gives session-by-session guidance for a 12-session program grounded in AA principles, covering core topics like acceptance and surrender, elective topics, and conjoint sessions with a partner.
Public domain (minor third-party exceptions)
CBT for Cocaine Addiction (NIDA Manual 1)
The original evidence-based CBT manual for cocaine addiction, written by Kathleen Carroll at Yale and published by NIDA as the first volume in its Therapy Manuals for Drug Addiction series. It walks through a short-term outpatient treatment session by session: functional analysis of drug use, coping with craving, refusal skills, seemingly irrelevant decisions, problem solving, and relapse prevention.
Public domain (a few copyrighted forms)
Matrix Model IOP Counselor's Manual
The counselor manual for the Matrix Model, a structured 16-week intensive outpatient program for people dependent on stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine. It gives session-by-session talking points, handouts, and protocols for early recovery skills, relapse prevention, family education, and social support groups.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 35: Enhancing Motivation for Change
SAMHSA's flagship guideline for using motivational interviewing and the stages of change model in addiction treatment. It walks counselors through building rapport, handling ambivalence, drawing out change talk, and matching interventions to a client's readiness, from precontemplation through relapse.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 41: Group Therapy
SAMHSA's consensus guideline for running group therapy in substance use treatment. It covers the five group models used in addiction work (psychoeducational, skills development, cognitive behavioral, support, and interpersonal process groups), then gets practical about client placement, group development stages, leadership techniques, and handling common problems in session.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 42: Co-Occurring Disorders
SAMHSA's flagship guideline for treating clients who have both a substance use disorder and a mental health condition. The 2020 update walks through screening, assessment, and integrated treatment planning for depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, personality disorders, ADHD, and psychosis alongside addiction.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
TIP 48: Depression in Early Recovery
A SAMHSA protocol that shows substance use counselors how to recognize and manage depressive symptoms in clients during the first months of recovery. It covers screening, counseling strategies, and when to refer out, with a separate implementation guide for administrators and a full literature review.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
Brief Counseling for Marijuana Dependence
A session-by-session protocol for treating adults with cannabis dependence, developed in the Marijuana Treatment Project funded by SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. It covers an assessment session plus nine weekly one-on-one sessions: two motivational enhancement sessions followed by seven CBT skill-building sessions, with case management woven in from session three.
Public domain (U.S. government work)
BRIGHT Group CBT Leader's Manual
A 16-week group CBT protocol for depression in clients receiving substance-use treatment, in four modules: Thoughts, Activities, People, and Substance Use. Its defining feature is who it was written for: BRIGHT was designed and trialed for delivery by addiction counselors rather than mental health specialists, so every session is fully scripted with leader language, exercises, and member handouts.
Free official distribution (RAND, noncommercial use)
Problem Management Plus (PM+)
A WHO manual for a brief five-session intervention that helps adults dealing with depression, anxiety, and stress in communities under hardship. It simplifies core CBT strategies, including problem solving, stress management, behavioral activation, and strengthening social support, so trained helpers without specialist degrees can deliver them.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
mhGAP Intervention Guide
WHO's flagship clinical manual for assessing and managing mental, neurological, and substance use disorders in settings without a psychiatrist. Version 2.0 gives step-by-step assessment and management algorithms for depression, psychoses, epilepsy, child and adolescent behavioral disorders, dementia, substance use, and self-harm.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
Group IPT for Depression
A complete 8-session group protocol for treating depression with interpersonal therapy, written for the WHO by Lena Verdeli, Kathleen Clougherty, and Myrna Weissman of Columbia University. It walks facilitators through pre-group interviews, the group phase, and termination, with scripts, case examples, and handouts.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO open license)
Thinking Healthy (WHO Perinatal CBT)
A CBT-based program for perinatal depression designed for delivery by community health workers rather than specialists, using illustrated materials, family involvement, and simple thought-and-activity strategies woven into routine maternal health visits from pregnancy through the infant's first year.
WHO publication, free access (all rights reserved)
Self-Help Plus (WHO ACT Course)
A five-session group course built on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, designed so supervised non-specialist facilitators can run groups of up to thirty adults under stress and adversity. Sessions teach grounding, unhooking from difficult thoughts and feelings, acting on values, kindness, and making room for difficult emotions, with full facilitator scripts.
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO
Adolescent Coping With Depression Course (CWD-A)
Clarke, Lewinsohn, and Hops' classic group CBT course for depressed adolescents: sixteen two-hour sessions covering mood monitoring, social skills, pleasant activities, relaxation, constructive thinking, communication, and negotiation, taught in a classroom-style format teens tolerate well. It is one of the most-studied adolescent depression treatments in existence and the direct ancestor of many school and clinic programs in use today.
Free official distribution (KPCHR download grant)
SSET School Trauma Program
A ten-lesson, group-format program for middle-school students exposed to trauma, adapted by Jaycox, Langley, and Dean from the evidence-based CBITS intervention so that teachers and school counselors can deliver it without clinical training. The book includes a leader training section, complete lesson plans, and all student worksheets, parent letters, and screening forms.
Free official distribution (RAND, noncommercial use)
TF-CBT Implementation Manual
An honest framing first: this is the implementation guide for TF-CBT, not the session-by-session treatment manual. That book (Cohen, Mannarino, and Deblinger's Treating Trauma and Traumatic Grief in Children and Adolescents) is a commercial Guilford title. What NCTSN's free guide covers is everything around the protocol: the components and evidence, preparing an agency to adopt it, training and supervision paths, maintaining fidelity, and handling comorbidity and cultural adaptation.
Free official distribution (NCTSN)
CBT for Psychotic Symptoms (CCI)
A ten-module therapist manual for working with residual psychotic symptoms: engagement and assessment, psychoeducation, cognitive therapy for delusional beliefs, cognitive and coping approaches to voices, behavioural skills, and managing the anxiety and depression that ride along with psychosis. Client handouts are included in the appendix.
Free official distribution (CCI, personal use)
Social Skills Training Manual (CCI)
A structured social skills training program for people living with schizophrenia and other severe psychiatric illness, covering conversation skills, assertiveness, conflict, and community participation with session-by-session therapist guidance and practice exercises.
Free official distribution (CCI, personal use)
Social Anxiety in Schizophrenia (CCI)
A group CBT program for the social anxiety that commonly co-occurs with schizophrenia, blending graded exposure, cognitive work, and social practice in a format adapted for the attentional and symptom realities of psychotic illness.
Free official distribution (CCI, personal use)
Why these manuals are free
Publications authored by U.S. federal agencies are public domain by law, which makes them free to read, print, and use. World Health Organization materials are released under open licenses that permit non-commercial use with attribution, and several other publishers (RAND, NCTSN, Kaiser Permanente, and Australia’s CCI) make their manuals free to download under their own terms. The exact license varies by manual, so each page states its own and links to the official source, and you are always downloading from the publisher, never from us. Therapy Resource is not affiliated with these organizations; we organize the library and build the worksheets and interactive tools that put the protocols to work in session.