The members of the Philadelphia Association were thanked for their hospitality and openness and congratulated on continuing to provide a stimulating training of a very high standard that continued to attract committed trainees of a very high calibre attracted to the psychoanalytic project of the Association. The Association continues to be a valued Organisational Member of the CPJA [Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis], distinctive in their approach and thinking, and important in their critique of dominant therapeutic cultures.
U.K. COUNCIL FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY (UKCP)
PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY
The Philadelphia Association was founded in 1965 by R. D. Laing and others, and one of its charitable aims since the beginning has been the training of psychotherapists. Its core charitable aim is the alleviation of ‘mental distress’ and, after some debate as to the nature and purpose of such a programme, a psychotherapy training programme was developed initially under the guidance of John Heaton.
The training was and is aimed both at training therapists and challenging the concepts of mental illness, their perception in psychiatry and the wider world, and how such distress should be aided. The Training encourages a critical inquiry into what psychotherapy is, rather than being an initiation into particular theories and methods.
The Psychotherapy training is a minimum of four years, thought of as analogous to an apprenticeship, the length being open until the trainee feels ready to practice independently. It is accredited by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) - Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis. Students who successfully complete the Training are eligible both to become members of the Philadelphia Association and to register with the UKCP. The Training falls within the psychoanalytic psychotherapy grouping of the UKCP while retaining a critical and sceptical stance toward theory.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Deadline for training application is May 2024 for October 2024 intake.
Students on the Study Programme can begin the process of applying to train during the second term of the course. (Each student is assigned a tutor who is available to answer questions about applying.) Applicants are expected to submit a personal statement and a book review in preparation for a panel interview. They must also demonstrate some experience of helping people in distress, either professionally or as a volunteer, and have been, for a year before commencement of the Training, in twice-a-week therapy with a UKCP-registered therapist who has at least five years’ post-qualification experience.
This personal therapy continues throughout the Training, and trainees are also responsible for organizing their own supervision as soon as they start seeing clients, which may be quite soon after starting the programme.
Graduates of the Introductory Course in Philosophy and Psychotherapy, the online course:in Introduction to Community, Philosophy and Psychotherapy (Theory & Practice) and the Courses in Community and Psychotherapy can apply at any later date, since successful applicants are able to join the training at any time of the year.
COSTS
Application fee £150
Termly fee £450 (plus the cost of personal therapy and supervision)
The training group benefits from students from diverse backgrounds and we are committed to providing inclusive services. The Philadelphia Association is committed to keeping its fees as low as possible and can assist trainees to find affordable therapy and supervision.
TRAINING SEMINARS 2023/2024
AUTUMN TERM
3, 10 & 17 October
The importance of boredom
Jake Osborne
24 & 31 October & 7 November
Against and for phenomenology, existentialism and psychoanalysis:: some implications for practice
Del Loewenthal
14 & 21 November
What is it helpful for a therapist to know and what should we not think we know ?
Barbara Latham
28 November
Clinical Workshop
Marie Laure Davenport
5 December
Seven stages of emotional development in therapy, Carl Rogers, A process conception of psychotherapy
On Becoming A Person.
Elie Jesner
TRAINING WEEKEND
4 November
Silence in Therapy and in Life - An experiential encounter
Elie Jesner
The Building Blocks of Practicing as a Therapist
Nick Mercer
SPRING TERM
16 & 23 January 2024
Wittgenstein, Fate and History
Miles Clapham
30 January, 6 & 13 February
The “F” word and “The Rat Man” "group.
Pamela Stewart
20 February
Clinical Workshop
Marie Laure Davenport
27 February & 5 March
What Happens in Groups?
Alison Davies
12 & 19 March
The Psychoanalytic Concept of Transference
Jeremy Cutler
WEEKEND
23 & 24 March
Tango
Onel Brooks
SUMMER TERM
30 April, 7 May, 14 May
Biography, theory and psychotherapy/ Wittgenstein and psychotherapy and Winnicott
Onel Brooks
21 May
Clinical Workshop
Marie Laure Davenport
28 May, 4 & 11 June
Mortality, as thought about in the phenomenological-existential tradition.
Paul Gurney
18 June
Learning how to read again (and again), or teaching how to curse: counter-
colonial conversations (can reading poetry help us to listen? Does writing help us to read?
Ans what of responding in kind with kindness?)
Robbie Lockwood
25 June & 2 July
Adam Philips 'On giving up'
James Mann
WEEKEND
22 June
The clinical diary of Sandor Ferenczi
Writing about the experience of being with another
Emma Stroker
23 June
TBC
Fliss Cadbury