Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy (Taught)

Our MA and Postgraduate Diploma in Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy are offered in collaboration with Tavistock Relationships, a leading training and research centre in therapeutic and psycho-educational approaches to supporting couples.

Why choose this course?

• Both the MA and Postgraduate Diploma for this course will help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to work as a psychodynamic psychotherapist and counsellor with couples and individuals.

• You will gain an academic qualification as well as the clinical training experience required for accreditation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and registration with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC).

• Working with experienced practitioners in the helping professions, you will benefit from experiential learning and teaching techniques that foster discussion, creative and collaborative learning opportunities.

What you will learn

Through experiential learning and your own experience of personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy, you will develop an analytical understanding of self and other, and interpersonal dynamics. A diverse range of family structures are studied on this course, and we encourage an inclusive approach to couple relationships through reading, discussion groups and self-reflection.

Key areas of study include:

• assessment of core issues presented by clients

• principles of working psychodynamically with a focus on unconscious processes and transference

• psychoanalytic models of the mind

• historical development of psychoanalytic thought

• complex theoretical concepts and how they are applied to the couple relationship.

How you will learn

This course is available to study part-time in the afternoon and evening, with additional time commitments needed on other days with the start of your clinical placement and supervision in Year 2. You will also need to take part in a minimum of once-weekly, in-person individual psychoanalytic therapy for the duration of your training which must commence within two months of starting the course.

You will learn through theory seminars, clinical workshops, self-reflective groups and small-case discussion clinical groups. You will also be supported by termly one-to-one continuous professional development meetings and weekly supervision with the start of your clinical placement. You will be required to undertake clinical placements under supervision in Years 2 and 3.

Teaching and clinical work is based at Tavistock Relationships in central London, close to Liverpool Street station, with occasional sessions at Birkbeck's Bloomsbury campus.

Highlights

• Tavistock Relationships is the leading couple therapy centre in London. It has a long history in training, research and best practice.

• You will become part of Tavistock Relationships' alumni group, enabling you to take advantage of its CPD and conferences that will keep you up to date with recent developments in the field and further develop your clinical practice.

Careers and employability

On graduating, you can pursue the following career paths and opportunities:

• as a professional couple and individual psychoanalytic psychotherapist, qualified to work in the statutory, voluntary or private sector

• registration with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)

• a Diploma in Psychosexual Therapy and registration with the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT)

• entry into the clinical qualification in psychoanalytic couple psychotherapy which leads to registration with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)

• Tavistock Relationships and Birkbeck-run CPD courses for qualified clinicians

• progressing your studies to PhD level at Birkbeck.

Graduates from this course have gone on to work in private practice, the NHS and at the Tavistock Relationships Psychotherapy Clinic.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy