Thinking Errors Class Online

Courts, probation officers and diversion programs sometimes ask for a class with a name like "thinking errors," "cognitive skills" or "decision making." It often comes up after a theft, a minor offense, or a missed condition of probation. The goal is simple: look at how a choice got made, so the next one goes better.

This class may fit you if:

• Your paperwork says "thinking errors class," "cognitive skills class" or "decision making class."
• Your officer wants a class about choices, not just about anger.
• You keep making choices you regret and want to understand the thoughts behind them.

This is an educational cognitive skills course. It is not Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT) or Thinking for a Change and is not affiliated with them. If your order names one of those programs, ask your officer what they will accept.

Each lesson is about one hour of reading, listening and short exercises, with a quiz at the end.

1. Understanding Thinking Errors: How Your Thoughts Drive Your Choices
2. Your Brain on Impulse: Urges, Rewards, and the Brakes
3. Common Thinking Errors: Blaming, Excuses, and Minimizing
4. Catch It, Check It, Change It: Correcting Thinking Errors
5. Better Decisions: STOP, Pros and Cons, and 10-10-10
6. Entitlement, Power, and "The Rules Don't Apply to Me"
7. Who Else Is Affected: Empathy and Seeing Other Points of View
8. Taking Responsibility and Building Your Thinking Skills Plan
9. Saying No: Assertiveness and Peer Pressure
10. Solving Conflicts Without Fighting
11. Delayed Gratification and Setting Goals
12. Stress, Sleep, Substances, and Self-Control
13. Shame, Guilt, and Your Past
14. Repairing Harm: Apologies, Amends, and Rebuilding Trust
15. Mindfulness and Daily Self-Care
16. Values, Goals, and Staying on Track

The first lessons name the common thinking errors in plain words: blaming, making excuses, "it's not a big deal," "everyone does it," "just this once" and "no one will know." Then you practice how to catch the thought, check it against the facts, and swap it for a truer one. Every length ends with your own Thinking Skills Plan.

Take the number of hours on your paperwork. If it says weeks or sessions instead of hours, ask your officer how many hours they need.

A certificate only helps if your officer can trust the hours on it. So the course counts time the honest way:

• A timed study log. The timer counts active time only, like reading, listening and doing exercises. It stops when you walk away. Your hours are saved on our server, not on your phone. How the timer works →
• A quiz after each lesson to check that you understood it.
• A final test that opens only after every lesson is done and the hours are logged.

You can stop and come back as often as you need. Your progress is saved after every step.

• An enrollment letter you can send as soon as you start, so your officer knows you are working on it.
• A progress report that shows how many hours and lessons you have done so far.
• A certificate of completion with a certificate ID and a QR code.
• A public check page. Your officer can enter the certificate ID and your last name at /verify to confirm it is real.

The course works on a phone, tablet or computer, and every lesson can be read to you with audio narration. We never ask for your case number, court or date of birth.

Your court or officer decides whether a certificate counts, not us. Ask three questions, by email if you can:

1. "Will you accept an online, self-paced cognitive skills or decision making class?"
2. "How many hours do you need?"
3. "Does my order name a specific program or provider?"

If the answer is a specific program, such as MRT or Thinking for a Change, this course does not replace it. Our page for probation officers explains how hours are logged and how to check a certificate. For more on who decides, read will a court accept an online class?