DIPLOMA IN COMMUNITY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

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The Philadelphia Association Diploma in Community and Psychotherapy is a one-year practice-oriented block course, which offers students the opportunity to develop therapeutic work in community settings. Like the Experiential Course, the Diploma is based on the idea that therapy is an important form of social engagement

at a time when community cohesion is under attack.

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OVERVIEW

One-to-one psychotherapy is very valuable in helping people come to terms with painful experiences and emotions. But it is inevitably removed from a social context. The two people meeting together during a psychotherapy session build a secure space that is to some degree sealed off from the world and out of time. The approach of the Philadelphia Association has, though, always combined one-to-one therapy with a commitment to working within communities, especially the households which the PA has run for more than fifty years. Beginning at Kingsley Hall, the PA households were set up in order to explore communal solutions to personal crises, to work through trouble and conflict in a collective manner. This is still the aim and the hope, and for some people it succeeds where nothing else does. That this can be so demonstrates the value and healing potential of group dialogue. 

In the current economic and political climate of austerity, which is ushering in the model of computerised quick-fix therapy, community solutions have all but disappeared. Day centres, youth clubs, libraries and other shared spaces have closed down. What is left is a fragmented and afflicted society in what can feel like a hostile environment.

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The aim of this course is to develop the idea of community through therapeutic practice. Such work needs resilience and practicality as well as compassion and hope, but it also needs a rigorous and affordable framework of study which this course offers.    

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The Diploma course is designed to provide both continuing professional development and pathways into community engagement. 

REQUIREMENTS

This is a practice-oriented course. It is expected that students will fall into one of the following categories:

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(a) People who have completed the PA Introductory Course or Experiential Course.

(b) Qualified therapists who wish to develop community perspectives and insights,

(c) Healthcare, charity and other workers in community settings who wish to explore psychotherapeutic ideas and approaches,

(d) Activists and community organisers.

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It is possible to attend the course informally, without a qualification at the end of it, but in order to obtain the Diploma, students need to meet the following requirements:

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(a) To undertake group or community work for at least three months on a regular basis during the course period. A main component of the Diploma course is work reflection  i.e. discussing ongoing work with other course members and seminar leaders during the six course weekends. Some students will already be undertaking community work, in which case the course is an opportunity to present work and gain feedback. Other students can use the course to devise and set up a community group, take the advantage of placement opportunities, the community room at Marty’s Yard and a range of advice provided by experienced community practitioners as part of the course.

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(b) Completion of a satisfactory 4000-word essay which describes the community work undertaken during the course and reflects on it against the background of the course itself. Support and advice on essay-writing will be available as part of the course.

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APPLICATION AND FEES

​Application is by interview. There is no interview fee for applicants who have already completed (or be about to complete) either the Introductory Course or the Experiential Course. For others there is a £50 interview fee, 

There are a limited number of bursaries available for students surviving on low income.

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To set up an interview, email office@philadelphia-association.org.uk.

Interviews begin in April 2021