
ONLINE COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY, PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
(Theory & Practice)
CPD certificate course and an introduction to study at the PA. Students who complete the course can apply to both the Diploma in Community and Psychotherapy and the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training.
The pandemic has exposed and intensified the existing inequalities of an already profoundly unfair society. Many people who were precarious and isolated before the coronavirus struck now feel even more marginalised. We are living through a social transformation whose outcome is uncertain: it is doubtful whether the “new normal” will actually improve the conditions of ordinary life. One thing is clear, however: more of our time is going to be spent online. Sociologists have even begun to speak of the Internet as our “home”, though for some this means the boredom and blurred boundaries of work-from-home. Psychotherapists and other practitioners who have moved their practice onto digital platforms such as Zoom may never fully return to face-to-face work, and this is just as big a shift for those who use their services as it is for the practitioners themselves.
Online communication has the power to create new forms of dialogue and debate. People who might otherwise never meet can now talk via Zoom and other platforms. Do virtual platforms offer the opportunity for meaningful connection through online conversation? This is a question to be explored in both theory and practice by this new course which includes seminars on a variety of psychotherapeutic, philosophical and social questions.
As part of the PA’s study programme, this online course has been developed to meet the demand for those interested in the PA’s work (and our continuing enquiry into the assumptions we carry about ourselves and others) who aren’t able to attend our established in-person courses in London.
The course will comprise of three terms of seven Wednesday evenings (seminar and experiential group) plus one weekend per term (full programme below).
APPLICATION AND FEES
Application is by interview. The course costs £640 plus a £50 interview fee. There are a limited number of bursaries available for students surviving on low income.
Interviews for 2022/23 start in April. Click here to apply.
PROGRAMME
Course Coordinators:
Andrea Heath & Lucy King
Experiential Group Facilitators:
Jeremy Cutler & Emma Stroker
Administration: Sophia Raja
TERM 1
Wednesday Evenings
EXPERIENTIAL GROUP 6—7.30pm
SEMINARS 8—9.30pm
19, 26 October 2022
Theory in Psychotherapy — Use and misuse
Lucy King
2, 9 November
What is Community?
Jake Osborne
16, 23 November
Ethics and Character in Psychotherapy
Elie Jesner
30 November
Working Relationally
Andy Metcalf
Weekend 1
Saturday 10 December
11—12.30 & 1.30—3pm
How far has psychotherapy been an enabler of neoliberal values like individualism, social inequality and the centrality of the market?
How far has it been a force for positive social and cultural change as well as individual development?
Can psychotherapy undermine and transcend the dominion of money and social injustice?
Nicola Saunders
Paul Atkinson
Sunday 11 December
11—12.30
Psychotherapy and the Decentred Subject
Del Loewenthal
1.30—3pm
Experiential Group
TERM 2
Wednesday Evenings
EXPERIENTIAL GROUP 6—7.30pm
SEMINARS 8—9.30pm
25 January 2023
Asylums - PA Houses
Andrea Heath
1 February
Sibling Rivalry: Finding their Way
Theory and Conversation
Lakis Georghiou
8 February
Anti-psychiatry
Miles Clapham
15, 22 February
Homelessness and Psychosis
Andreas Constandinos
1, 8 March
Suicide
Ben Scanlan
Weekend 2
Saturday 18 March
11—12.30
Early Relationships
Pamela Stewart
1.30 - 3
Trauma
Salma Bhatti
Sunday 19 March
11—12.30
The Organisation as a Source of Individual Purpose
Dan Sofer
1.30—3pm
Experiential Group
TERM 3
Wednesday Evenings
EXPERIENTIAL GROUP 6—7.30pm
SEMINARS 8—9.30pm
26 April, 3 May
Class & Psychotherapy
Paul Gurney
10 & 17 May
Power of Relations
Alia Butt
24, 31 May
Friendship, Beauty and Justice: On Being Fair
Robbie Lockwood
7 June
Course Reflection
Andrea Heath & Lucy King
Weekend 3
Saturday 17 June
11—12.30 & 1.30—3pm
Transgenerational Hauntings
Paul Zeal
Sunday 18 June 2022
11—12.30
On Endings
Mark Elmer
1.30—3pm
Experiential Group