Introduction To Counselling And Psychotherapy

This course is for people interested in the mind and mental health and offers a psychodynamic approach to understanding human emotions and behaviours.  It provides an introduction to the field of talking therapies. It is suitable as an introductory course for those seeking a qualification in counselling or psychotherapy in the longer term. It is also a course for practitioners in mental health care seeking CPD who wish to deepen their understanding of clinical work. 

The course is delivered through a combination of theory lectures, clinical discussion groups and reading seminars together with personal tutorials. It links with a variety of further trainings at the Tavistock and Portman Clinic.

Why study with us?

This course is not academically assessed and provides an opportunity for you to study at a pace appropriate to your level of competency and experience. However, past students have reported in quality feedback data that the variety of learning modes on the course provide significant benefits in their professional work as well as their personal lives.

The course encourages the student to  develop new skills in listening and understanding the people they are in contact with in their working lives:

 "As a university lecturer I’ve learnt a great deal about the unconscious communications of students. Very pleased to have done the course. An education in the true sense of the term."

"My training in mental health work did not include these ideas. I wish I had known about this way of thinking earlier in my career. I understand things differently now."

Attendance

Every Tuesday 09:30 - 12:30 for 3 ten week terms plus personal tutorials arranged at mutually convenient  times - usually  8.45 -9.30 or 12.30 -13.30.

Start date

Term commences on Monday 29 September 2014 and finishes on Friday 22 May 2015.  If your course has a clinical element then please be advised that clinical work, clinical supervision and support will continue beyond the dates of the teaching term. Tutorial and Unit support will also be available.

What students say?

"So good to have a course for thise of us without much formal trainingin our mental health jobs. It may lead to further training but developing what I do now is just as important. I can offer a better standard of care in my job today"

"In discussion, it's good to hear other people's work in different settings, especially other people in the NHS"

"Course design overall wsa excellent. Nice sense of progress. Plenty of time to think and develop."

Other study options

There is a distance learning version of this course available (eD12),  in partnership with Essex University online.

This is a one-year introductory programme in psychodynamics and psychotherapy for staff in the public sector and voluntary mental health services. The course is aimed at those practitioners who are looking for an opportunity to deepen their understanding of their clinical work, or who have clinical experience and responsibility, but no formal professional qualifications. It is also suitable for those interested in an experience of psychoanalytic thinking, and as an introductory course for those seeking a qualification in counselling or psychotherapy in the longer term, who, as yet, have no experience or qualifications in the caring professions.

Potential students will:

•          be fluent in spoken and written English

A minimum Graduate level of study is preferable, but not essential.