Programme summary for MA Attachment, Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship

About the programme

Your fellow students will all be working with, or able to observe, adult couples in one way or another.
Teaching staff are all senior clinicians with considerable experience of working with couples.
TCCR is an international centre of excellence in the psychoanalytic understanding of the couple relationship.
The programme is manageable in conjunction with employment or private practice.
You will be able to achieve a Postgraduate Certificate in one academic year and a Postgraduate Diploma in another academic year. The MA is completed in the autumn term following the Postgraduate Diploma.
The MA dissertation is a case study based on your own work with couples or an observational study of couple interaction.
You will have access, if wished, to the Tavistock Clinic Library which is a National Specialist Psychotherapy Resource.
You will be supported by committed teaching and tutoring staff.

Programme structure

The taught programme is part-time. There are two components in each year: an Attachment and Psychoanalysis theory seminar series, and a Work Discussion Group. In addition, to gain the MA there is regular Dissertation supervision. The programme is designed so that you can achieve a PG Certificate in one year, a PG Diploma in the following year, and an MA in the following Autumn term. This MA is based on your own clinical or observational work over the past year.

Award	PG Certificate in Attachment, Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship (60 Credits M Level)
Start: Sept Year 1 End July	1 academic year. July Assessment Board. February Re-Assessment Board
60 Credit Module	Components - Attachment , Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship 1 (see below)
Award	PG Diploma in Attachment, Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship (120 credits M Level)
Start: Sept Year 2 End July	1 academic year. July Assessment Board. February Re-Assessment Board
60 Credit Module	Components - Attachment , Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship 2 (see below)
Award	MA in Attachment, Psychoanalysis and the Couple Relationship (180 credits M Level)
Start: Sept Year 3 End December	1 term. February Assessment Board. July Re-Assessment Board
60 Credit Module	Components - MA Dissertation (see below)

Career opportunities

These programmes offer professional development to those in a variety of work settings who wish to develop their work with couples. Primarily designed as an academic award, the programmes have been used by psychotherapists, social workers, couple counsellors and others to progress their work in this area. The programme does not offer a professional training or clinical practice qualification. However following successful completion of any of these programmes there is an opportunity for students to make application to The Tavistock Centre for Couple for the Professional Doctorate and clinical training in couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which leads to professional registration. Students may gain exemptions from elements of this course.

Support

We aim to provide students with a supportive and rewarding learning environment. Each Student has a personal tutor who supports them through the programme. Students also benefit from reduced fee membership of the Tavistock Clinic Library which is recognised as a Special Resource Library by the British Library with the status of Specialist National Psychotherapy Library. Students have access to the UEL libraries and to others under the SCONUL agreement.

Programme staff are Senior Couple Therapists who are engaged in clinical and practice and research activities at the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships. We give students a rewarding and supportive learning environment. For the MA, students are also given expert support in the writing of their case study dissertation.

Admission

Usually an Honours degree is required, but TCCR realises that some students on this programme may not have had a traditional academic history, so we would accept post-graduate diploma or professional qualifications recognised as equivalent to a first degree. Other qualifications or experience that demonstrate a candidate possesses comparable knowledge and skills would also be considered.

Professional training in counselling, psychotherapy, psychiatry, medicine, the law, social work, and mediation are likely to be valued for the purpose of this course. We invite prospective students to consult with the Programme Leader about these requirements.

In the case of applicants whose first language is not English, then IELTS Score 6.5 (or equivalent) is required. International qualifications will be checked for appropriate matriculation to UK Higher Education postgraduate programmes.

Students that apply to enter later stages of the programme may be admitted through normal Accreditation of Experiential Learning (AEL) or Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) processes, or through an approved articulation agreement. Therefore such applicants must be able to demonstrate and provide evidence that they have the required learning outcomes as listed in the modules for which they are seeking exemption.

Applications should be made directly to TCCR: www.tccr.org.uk