The Psychotherapy Training Programme

The main strands of the training programme are:

Personal training therapy

In view of the important role that personal therapy plays in your development and training as a psychotherapist, we would usually expect you to have been in personal therapy for a minimum of one year with an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist or a psychotherapist who works from a psychodynamic perspective prior to starting the course. Ideally, this would be the year prior to and during your application to the training course, so that you have an established therapeutic relationship in place to support you through the process of application and the demands of beginning the training. Therapy continues at least until Registration. Students must undertake a minimum of twice-weekly therapy from the beginning of the course.

Supervision

During the third year of the training, trainees will start client work and will have selected a supervisor whom they will enjoy working with. They will also need to have experience of supervision with at least one other supervisor during the training period in order to formulate a way of working within professional parameters. The supervision continues once weekly until registration.

Taught Course

Our approach to learning is based on insights from developments in adult education as well as attachment theory and psychoanalysis. We believe that adults learn best in a context in which they can be creative. Students need a secure base from which to explore and take risks. The organisation aims to provide an enabling and supportive environment, in which students can feel free to develop their own style of learning and presenting work – an environment which is challenging when necessary, but free from ridicule or intimidation. Each student writes their own reflection on their development and learning which builds into part of their evidence for readiness for moving into their own clinical work.

We are conscious that students have different learning styles and aim to provide variety in order to accommodate this difference within our taught programme.

During our taught course you will engage with a wide range of interesting, carefully selected theoretical material; undertake an 18 month Infant Observation and have the opportunity to prepare for, and discuss this in seminars; learn about, discuss and share of your own and others’ experiences of development across the life-cycle in the life-cycle seminars; engage with clinical material in the clinical seminars; and learn to approach film, music, visual arts, and internet technology, as well as your fellow human beings with all their differences, from a broader perspective. Most importantly you will be engaging with others, both experienced practitioners, and those less experienced amongst your peers, who will be alongside you as you take this very significant journey towards further personal development and professional competence and expertise.

Our taught course, which takes place over two evenings a week (Monday and Tuesday evenings, with Clinical Forums once monthly, too) during term times, is unique in its breadth, scope, and depth, and provides an opportunity to engage deeply with past and contemporary thinking, and clinical experience, in the field of psychotherapy and the social sciences. In addition to the 4 year taught course, trainees usually take at least a further year to complete their portfolio for registration. The fee for any further, non-taught, year is very substantially lower than that for the taught part of the training. Your course tutor will continue to support you during the non-taught part of your progress towards registration.

Interaction with the Course Tutor

The Course Tutor is the main link between the student and The Bowlby Centre and has a key support and assessment role throughout the course. Students meet regularly with their tutor on an individual and group basis from the beginning of the training and usually continue with the same tutor until the end of their training.

Clinical forums

Our clinical forums are held monthly, on Saturday mornings and some Sundays. The forums provide the opportunity for trainees and members of our organisation to meet together on a regular basis. Trainees are required to attend the Clinical Forums at least three times a year.

“…in the clinical forum, students can hear their tutors, supervisors and peers present current work and thereby feel part of a community of psychotherapists at various stages in development. Psychotherapists outside our Centre also share their experience with us.”

(Chair of the Clinical Forum)

Apply Online

There are quite a few requirements so please read the form thoroughly before you begin filling in the form.

Clinical Training Application Form - Next Intake September 2023 Deadline for Applications: 30th June 2023

Contact Details

Name *

Address *

Address Line 1

Address Line 2

City

State / Province / Region

Postal Code

Country

Email *

Daytime Phone Number

Weekend Phone Number

Mobile Phone Number

Payment

In order to book your place on your chosen course you will need to pay a deposit of £250 by 30th June 2023 and commit to paying the full course fee for the coming year.

Interview Fee *

Price: £ 100.00

Deposit *

Price: £ 250.00

I will pay the £250 deposit and £100 interview fee via PayPal when submitting this form online

Declaration

I understand that my place on the course is not secure until the deposit of £250 has been paid to The Bowlby Centre in full. I confirm that I herewith require The Bowlby Centre to book my place on the course indicated at the top of this form. I confirm that if accepted I will pay the full fee for the first year on demand and that my place on the course is at risk if payments are not made. I understand that courses can be over-booked or places become unavailable, and that my deposit will be returned in those eventualities. I confirm that my deposit is non-returnable if I withdraw from the application process after 10th July 2023.

Signature *

I hereby apply to enroll with the Bowlby Centre.

Current Psychotherapy

In view of the important role that personal therapy plays in your development and training as a psychotherapist, we would expect you to have been in personal therapy for a minimum of one year with an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist or a psychotherapist who works from a psychodynamic perspective prior to starting the course. Ideally, this would be the year prior to and during your application to the training course, so that you have an established therapeutic relationship in place to support you through the process of application and the demands of beginning the training.
When you commence the training it is a requirement to be in therapy twice a week with a therapist who meets The Bowlby Centre’s criteria for approval as a Training Therapist. They must be a member of the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy, (UKCP) Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis (CPJA) section or a member of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC).
If you are unsure as to whether your personal therapy experience or current therapy arrangements meet this criteria you can discuss this with the member of the Clinical Training Committee responsible for applications.

Name of your therapist *

Length of time with your therapist

Name of the section of the UKCP or BPC to which your therapist belongs

Are you registered disabled?

Would you describe yourself as differently abled including special educational needs eg dyslexia?

Please provide details so we can think together about the kind of support you may need on the training

Have you had an enhanced CRB check?

Is it up to date?

About You

Please explore for us your reasons for applying to train as a psychotherapist with The Bowlby Centre

This is so that we can get a sense and understanding of you as a person. Tell us about your past and current circumstances and some idea of what you would bring to The Bowlby Centre, as well as what you would hope to gain from the course. How would you describe this point in your life and why you are considering training now?

Personal Psychotherapy

Details

a) Please outline all your previous psychotherapy or counselling giving us the length of the therapy and when in your life this was undertaken. It is also helpful to know the therapeutic orientation of your therapist(s).

b) Please reflect on your experience of therapy and how this has influenced your application to train with The Bowlby Centre.

Relevant Life and Work Experience and its Relationship to Your Emotional Readiness to Train

Current Occupation

Do you have any relevant experience of working in a paid or voluntary capacity with people in emotional distress? Please list with dates

Please reflect on your experience of being with people in emotional distress and how this has led you to feel that you are ready to train as a psychotherapist.

Education or Experience of Learning

Please tell us about what education or life experience you have which you feel equips you to study at this level.

The Bowlby Centre’s values around education support people’s different learning styles and those with special educational needs. As the course is at the equivalent of post-graduate level, the abilities we are looking for are the capacity to explore, analyse and engage with your own process, the material and with others in a learning group.

The Bowlby Centre and Equal Opportunities

• mental distress has its origin in failed and inadequate attachment relationships in early life and is best treated in the context of a long-term human relationship. • attachment relationships are shaped in the real world and impacted upon by poverty, discrimination and social inequality. The impact of the social world will be part of the therapy. • psychotherapy should be available to all, and from an attachment-based psychoanalytic perspective, especially those discriminated against or described as “unsuitable” for therapy. • psychotherapy should be provided with respect, warmth, openness, a readiness to interact and relate, and free from discrimination of any kind. • those who have been silenced about their experiences and survival strategies must have their reality acknowledged and not pathologised. The Bowlby Centre values inclusiveness, access, diversity, authenticity and excellence. All participants in our organisation share the responsibility for anti-discriminatory practice in relation to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, (dis)ability, religion, class, educational and learning style. Equal opportunities is not about political correctness or policing, it is about developing awareness of the real world issues that face us and our clients which exclude many from therapeutic support. As a student at The Bowlby Centre you will be working towards integrating the values of the organisation into your understanding of the world so that they can enrich your relationships with your colleagues and therapeutic practice as a psychotherapist in training and ultimately as a member of The Bowlby Centre. Difference and power are an inevitable part of human interaction and the therapeutic space is not immune to these dynamics. By naming and working openly and confidently with difference we can hopefully alleviate some of the harm caused by unconscious prejudice.

With this in mind, please address the following: a) What are your personal values?

b) What is your experience and understanding of oppression?

c) How do you take responsibility for your own prejudice?

Guidelines for references for applicants to the four year part time psychotherapy training

You will need to get one professional and one personal reference to support your application. Please direct each of them to http://thebowlbycentre.org.uk/training/references-form