School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme summary for MSc Clinical and Theoretical Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

About

The Programme offers an innovative learning experience through the use ‘live’ seminars with psychoanalysts physically present as teachers, and through the use of advanced videoconferencing techniques to allow students access to some of the most influential psychoanalytic teachers in Europe, US and Latin America. It would be impossible to access this level of teaching in a traditional classroom environment.

Weekly clinical seminars which are peer led is a further innovative teaching experience created by the Centre to develop ideas, thinking and practical skills among students. Presentations of work with patients are discussed in a non-supervisory way in order to explore multiple perspectives on unconscious mental life.

As the programme takes place within the parameters of the NHS, students on this programme will find that patients are readily available to allow the undertaking of clinical work, which can be carried out and supervised on-site.

Students successfully completing the course will be eligible to apply for membership, at inceptor level of the The Northern Ireland Institute of Human Relations.

Structure

This programme is a 3-year part-time programme, two years for the PGDip. The programme is offered on a semester basis. Students will study one module per semester, which is worth 30 credits with the exception of the dissertation, which is worth 60 credits.

The modules are as follows;

Module 1: Freud and the Foundational Principles of Psychoanalysis
Module 2: Post-Classical Psychoanalysis
Module 3: Clinical Concepts and Techniques
Module 4: Applications of Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Issues
Module 5: Dissertation

Please note that this programme is only offered on a part-time basis and has one intake of 15 students every two years.

Career

It is difficult to be precise regarding progression opportunities, as employment prospects for Psychotherapists vary around Northern Ireland. There is however, however, always a demand within the NHS for improved psychodynamic knowledge and for practitioners in psychotherapy. It is to be hoped that many of the people who undertake the programme will return to work in the NHS and thereby help to progress their own careers and their clinical output. There is, alongside the NHS, a growing private sector in psychotherapy and it is likely that a number of participants on the programme will follow this route. We would hope that some students on the programme will go on to undertake further research and to undertake PhD theses. The Centre for Psychotherapy has links with a range of psychiatric and psychotherapy modalities including forensic work, group psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, arts and music therapy that provide a ready avenue for such research.

The modular construction of the programme will allow for a number of options for students to study auxiliary subjects (art therapy, music therapy, CBT, group therapy etc) thereby facilitating potential career development in these areas.

Support

Each student will attend an induction event to introduce them to the Centres staff and to the programme.

All students are allocated a personal tutor from the outset who will be responsible for supporting them throughout the programme and for addressing learning queries or any other problems they might be experiencing that could inhibit their progress.

There is an extremely well stocked library at the Centre for Psychotherapy which includes books, journals and offprints. In addition the Centre holds an Institutional PEP Licence, which allows students to have access to PEP Archives – the largest archive of full text psychoanalytic articles in the world.

The UEL Athens Account is also available to all students on the programme. This means students can access UEL’s Electronic Library which benefits from e-journals and university subscribed databases.

All lectures will be accompanied b y handouts and recommended reading lists which will be made available in advance of the lecture. In addition the majority of lectures will be recorded which will provide an archive of DVD’s for loan to students for revision purposes.

Students are allocated a dissertation supervisor who will meet regularly with them to offer advice and guidance on producing a high quality dissertation.

Admission

Applicants should possess an undergraduate degree and suitable clinical experience or demonstrate a serious interest in the practise of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. In exceptional cases, students who do not possess an undergraduate degree but who have extensive clinical experience treating disturbed patients may be considered.

An appropriate level of proficiency in the English language is required for students whose first language is not English.

Two references must be supplied to support any application.

Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults

Applicants should be aware that the programme will comply with the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (NI) Order 2003 (POCVA) and therefore all successful applicants will undergo POCVA checks which must have satisfactory outcomes before commencing training and placement work with clients. The Belfast Health & Social care Trust, which the Centre for Psychotherapy is a department of, is registered with the DHSSPS to undertake such checks. Entrance requirements also include compliance with the terms of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, 1974, and mental health legislation for clinical placement and employability in the NHS, local authority social services departments (LASSDs), working with children, and other similarly sensitive areas of employment. Satisfying the Centre of fitness to train in this respect is not a guarantee that a potential employer will take the same view relating to fitness to work. Procedures would be in accordance with University requirements.

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