This module will enable students to achieve an overall grasp of the profession, and to begin to build an identity as a counselling psychologist or psychotherapist in order to establish a solid foundation on which to build for the rest of the training.
The module aims is to enable students to critically appraise a range of group psychotherapy approaches and demonstrate links to existential psychotherapy. To apply the work of existential philosophers to develop an existential practice of group psychotherapy and be able to run groups along these lines in a competent and responsible manner.
This module aims to enable students to acquire and apply a substantial body of knowledge for assessment, formulation and practice in counselling psychology with a range of clients. It will enable students to communicate to their clients, carers, parents, and colleagues with clarity the evidence basis for the decisions being taken in the programme of this practice.
This module will develop and expand students’ familiarity with the existential approach through continuous questioning of the relevance of philosophy to the practice of psychotherapy and counselling psychology. Students will be exposed to the various philosophers and practitioners on whose work existential therapy is based and consider their pertinence to current day clinical practice, with an emphasis on identifying particular human dilemmas and life issues and learning to work with these creatively.
The theory element of this module aims to enable students to achieve a grounding in the fundamentals of CBT, from its philosophical and scientific origins, to the current 3rd wave approaches.
The practice element provides an opportunity for students to achieve a basic aptitude for applying CBT interventions in a range of conditions.
The aim of the theory element of the module is to enable students to gain a fundamental grounding of theories of existential philosophy and phenomenology that underpin existential psychotherapy and existential counselling psychology.
The aim of the practice element is for students to achieve an initial aptitude in applying the principles of phenomenological practice and familiarise them with their roots and links in existential philosophy.
This module will provide students with a focused approach to existential thinking and practice, covering the ideas of existential thinkers. The application of philosophical ideas to the practice of coaching will also be addressed, with particular focus on leadership issues.
The aim of the theoretical module is to help students gain a fundamental grounding in theories of existential philosophy and phenomenology that underpin existential psychotherapy. Each week students will explore an existential theme from a variety of perspectives. Every other week two or three students will present a key paper highlighting some of the themes explored over the two weeks (more details can be found below). In the practice module in December, students will begin to apply the theory to practice and develop skills as existential therapists.
- Manager: Neil Gibson
The module is run over 3 terms, lasting for one full academic year. This will include empathic listening, responding, identifying issues, values and beliefs, working with silence, reflecting back, paraphrasing, summarising, clarifying, and challenging. Some theoretical learning is included to ground your practitioner skills, examining different existential and humanist theoretical frameworks and key philosophers.
Students will have the opportunity to give and receive feedback from both their fellow students and the tutors. These skills will be reviewed each term, with different emphasis, affording trainees the means to develop their proficiency.
Students will be asked to work with their own material in the course of these exercises, and the depth and nature of these disclosures will be the responsibility of each individual. Issues of confidentiality will be clarified at the initial class meeting.