Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy DPsych

Entry requirements

In order to undertake this course, we ask that you:

• have completed our Perinatal, child, adolescent and family work: a psychoanalytic observational approach (M7) course or equivalent. Completion must be to at least Postgraduate Diploma level or to Master’s level if you do not already hold a UK honours degree. For overseas qualifications, equivalence of academic level to a UK honours degree can be confirmed by NARIC. An ‘equivalent’ programme will deliver comparable learning outcomes e.g. two years of psychoanalytic baby observation, at least one year of work discussion seminars, psychoanalytic theory lectures and seminars, etc;
• have substantial experience of working with children and young people;
• are strong in personal suitability.

Personal suitability criteria include:

• both sensitivity and resilience to meet the emotional demands of the training
• sustained interest in infants, children and adolescents and the ability to engage and build relationships with them
• awareness of the impact you have on others and the impact of others on you
• respect for others’ difference, identity and individuality
• the ability to keep personal and professional boundaries
• the ability to ask for and use help
• the ability to keep thinking under pressure
• excellent written and spoken communications skills.

Further requirements: personal psychotherapy and psychoanalysis

Personal psychoanalysis (usually four or five sessions per week) is an essential component of the child and adolescent psychotherapy training. It is at the heart of supporting your personal and professional development and strongly contributes towards your continuing development after training.

You are strongly encouraged to begin personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis (for six months or one year) before you apply to the training as this is an important developmental opportunity. In some circumstances this might be in the form of once or twice weekly therapy and might be accessed remotely through online technologies.

Personal tutors and/or potential training schools will be able to think with you about your options including advice about suitably accredited analysts and psychotherapists and help for people with limited funds to access some financial support.

We are committed to widening access to the training and building on the diversity of our training groups. We understand that some applicants will not have the opportunity to start personal therapy, for financial, geographical and other reasons, and we do not want this to be a barrier to making an application.

If you have not started in personal therapy, then you should, as a minimum, have an understanding about the importance of personal psychoanalysis for undertaking psychoanalytic work. This includes thinking about yourself and your own readiness for what this might entail, in terms of the exploration of ​your own conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings.

This can feel quite challenging; thinking about managing your own anxiety or other responses is often a part of the process for all applicants. It is a challenging part of psychoanalytic working as you have to think about and manage your own responses and anxieties. If needed, we encourage you to contact us, so we can help with thinking about this.

We will need to assess candidates’ suitability for training, on the basis that you can demonstrate that you have the requirements for clinical training, which includes being ready to take part in and learn from personal psychoanalysis. This will be explored as part of the recruitment and selection process for new trainees.

If you are accepted, you need to be in a position to start your personal analysis at the beginning of your training (the start of the autumn term at latest) or you will not be able to take up your place.

There is an accredited list of analysts who are experienced at working with our trainees. We have a separate process to help identify a suitable analytic vacancy. This can take several months, so it is important to contact us early on in relation to starting before training or to be ready to start at the beginning of the course.

Months of entry

September

Course content

This internationally renowned course comprises four years of NHS clinical training in child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Upon completion, you will qualify as a child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist with eligibility for membership of the Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP), which is the registering and accrediting body for the profession. The course is validated by the University of Essex, leading to the award of a professional doctorate in child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapy (DPsych).

We seek to recruit a diverse group of people who have a lively interest in, and aptitude for, working psychoanalytically in mental health services for children and young people (ages from 0-25) and their families.