This is composed of two parts, live supervision in clinical teams and work based clinical practice.
Live Clinical Supervision:
Learners work as members of a team with a Registered Supervisor. Family therapy training has evolved a distinctive method known as “live supervision”. By this is meant that the trainee is guided, as he or she is conducting therapy, by a supervisor who is observing using a one-way mirror and/or video system. This provides an intensive learning experience with the opportunity for detailed feedback and commentary afterwards. Trainees are gradually introduced to this format during the first year and begin clinical practice under direct supervision during the second year. In the third year the trainees move towards more autonomous practice although all sessions continue to be ‘live’ supervised, and in the fourth year there is a shift to retrospectively supervised team work.
In general trainees remain with their assigned groups throughout the year. While one trainee works with the client(s) face-to-face, the other members of the group observe with the supervisor. Trainees are also involved in case discussion, planning, reviewing the session and feedback to the trainee therapist. In some cases the whole group may work as a team with more active participation in the therapy process.
Cases are selected and assigned in so far as is practicable to give the trainees a range of clinical experience. Where clients give permission, sessions are recorded on disk. The recordings are subsequently reviewed by the trainee and discussed with the supervisor and group. Attention is given to theoretical issues, the development of therapeutic techniques and the individual skills and style of the trainee. Trainees are encouraged to address their personal and emotional resonances to the stories of the clients both in the supervision group and the Personal and Professional Development group (see below for more details of this group).
In the first year the trainees consider the influences of relationships and personal history on their development as a therapist. Trainees present and explore their family genogram and its impact in the therapeutic domain is reviewed. It is felt that trainees will develop a better understanding of and compassion for issues and problems in families together with reflexivity in relation to their own positioning, if they have undertaken an exploration of their own family of origin. In the fourth year trainees move from live supervision in the presence of the supervisor to working as a peer based clinical practice team with retrospective team supervision.
Work Based Clinical Practice
Learners gain experience of working systemically outside the confines of the programme, with this work available for discussion and consultation as a part of the training programme. Learners are required to complete a minimum of 200 hours of external systemic practice. This will usually be in a trainee’s workplace but, occasionally, it may be necessary for learners to complete additional work on a placement basis. Learners bring to the facilitated supervision sessions audio & videotapes of therapy consultations in which they are engaged so as to allow them the opportunity to reflect on their practice and to benefit from the reflections and input of others in the supervision group.
Work based clinical practice occurs in year 4; however the construction of an appropriate context for learning and practice is addressed early in the Training Programme. An aappropriate working relationship with the learners’ workplace, covering issues such as accountability and confidentiality, is required. Training is of mutual benefit to the learner, the workplace and the profession as a whole and this agreement is intended to maximize benefit for all concerned.
Academic Programme
The academic programme is planned and reviewed by the Programme Committee with the aim of providing a sense of coherence by identifying some over-arching themes which provide continuity and integration. These include:
a) Viewing meaning, interactional patterns, structure and communication as inter-related dimensions of human experience and behaviour;
b) Attending to both the person and the context so that neither is invalidated;
c) Giving particular attention to an anti-discriminatory position gender, race, religion, ability, age, culture, class, ethnicity and sex.
Guided by these considerations, a curriculum has developed which attends to the person of the client but also to that of the trainee therapist and sees both as embedded in multiple layers of context or meaning and emotional experiencing which can best be understood and treated through the careful application of a systemic approach.
The curriculum comprises:
1) Theoretical foundations of psychotherapy and systemic practice
This module provides students with a detailed and critical overview of the principal philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of systemic practice as well as the postmodern influences on systemic therapy:
Systemic thinking
Cybernetics
Constructivism
Social constructionism
Postmodernism and psychotherapy
2) Clinical Applications of Models of Family Therapy The module links theoretical perspectives with the practice of therapy. Each section consists of (a) theoretical descriptions of the model (b) descriptions of practice (c) explorations of the links between theory and practice (d) critiques of the model and (e) an experiential component where participants experiment with utilizing the model.
History of family therapy
Structural family therapy
Strategic therapy
Solution-focused therapy
Multigenerational approaches
Milan systemic family therapy
Post-Milan developments
Reflecting processes
Narrative therapy
A diverse range of problem presentations and contexts where systemic practice is undertaken are explored. The relevant research findings are presented and critiqued.
Couples therapy
Sexuality
Psychosexual therapy
Marital separation
Children and separation
Introduction to mediation
Family law
Systemic work with individuals
Reconstituted family forms
Working with children & adolescents
Bereavement and loss
Addictions
Systemic approaches to sexual abuse
Treatment of abusers
Violence in relationships
HIV and families
Eating disorders
Family welfare conferences
Systemic consultation
The application of systemic social constructionism within organisational contexts
Mental health and family therapy
3) Ethics, justice and professional practice
This module highlights ethics as a central aspect of therapeutic practice, and explores links between ethics, justice and professional practice. Emphasis is placed on incorporating ethical principles within everyday practice and on understanding and utilizing ethical codes and principles. Different frameworks of understanding ethics – in particular legal, spiritual and social justice frameworks – are presented and explored.
Ethics and professional practice
Gender
Justice and inequality
Working with marginalized groups
Social justice perspectives
Child protection guidelines
The adversarial system
Therapy and spirituality
4) Research Particular emphasis is placed within on understanding the place of research in therapy. Introductory components provide the opportunity for students to explore the relationship between research and practice, to read research papers critically, and explore different epistemological foundations of research methods. The practice component focuses on carrying out research projects, with particular emphasis on research methods, research design, data collection, data analysis and presentation of results.
Introduction to research methods
Quantitative research
Qualitative research
Dissertation proposal
Dissertation supervision
Case study design
5)Reflexivity
This is a continuing process through the four year training Programme. Reflexive engagement with the practice of psychotherapy is both an ethical requirement and a guiding principle of competent, effective psychotherapeutic practice. Learners are given the opportunity to reflect on their theoretical, clinical, organisational and personal positionings in ways that enhance and promote critical self-reflexivity. This subject is composed of two parts, teaching input that occurs principally in Clinical Groups and Personal and Professional Development groups. Reflexivity This theoretical component aims to equip learners with the necessary skills to assess personal value, knowledge, skills and competencies; to identify strategies for professional and personal development; to balance personal and professional commitments; to develop personally appropriate coping strategies; and reflexive engagement in multiple relationships at a therapeutic, research, professional and organizational level. It supports theoretical and clinical learning in this regard through its emphasis on self-awareness of personal, professional, institutional and organisational limits, strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, and an ability to respond to such awareness in ways that address these strengths and limitations. This includes awareness of the limits of personal and professional knowledge and a respectful positioning towards other models and frameworks of knowledge, as well as an awareness of the place of the self in therapeutic processes.
Personal and Professional Development (PPD) The PPD groups occur in each of the four years of the programme. These groups promote participation in a group process and, through the use of exercises and tasks, greater self- reflexivity. Participation in these groups facilitates the development of increased perception of the complexity of the process of change in oneself and in others, and thereby makes a difference to competence in practice.
A strong emphasis on the personal story and emerging professional identity of the trainee therapist is a major focus of these groups. This follows from the theoretical perspectives of the programme where the therapist is seen as a co-creator of the therapeutic story or ‘reality’ and as in a relationship with the client(s). In this regard it is considered as essential that the trainee therapist develop an ability to reflect on their own history and current experience and a willingness to examine how these may be influencing their practice.
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Programme Structure
Clinical Practice
This is composed of two parts, live supervision in clinical teams and work based clinical practice.
Live Clinical Supervision:
Learners work as members of a team with a Registered Supervisor. Family therapy training has evolved a distinctive method known as “live supervision”. By this is meant that the trainee is guided, as he or she is conducting therapy, by a supervisor who is observing using a one-way mirror and/or video system. This provides an intensive learning experience with the opportunity for detailed feedback and commentary afterwards. Trainees are gradually introduced to this format during the first year and begin clinical practice under direct supervision during the second year. In the third year the trainees move towards more autonomous practice although all sessions continue to be ‘live’ supervised, and in the fourth year there is a shift to retrospectively supervised team work.
In general trainees remain with their assigned groups throughout the year. While one trainee works with the client(s) face-to-face, the other members of the group observe with the supervisor. Trainees are also involved in case discussion, planning, reviewing the session and feedback to the trainee therapist. In some cases the whole group may work as a team with more active participation in the therapy process.
Cases are selected and assigned in so far as is practicable to give the trainees a range of clinical experience. Where clients give permission, sessions are recorded on disk. The recordings are subsequently reviewed by the trainee and discussed with the supervisor and group. Attention is given to theoretical issues, the development of therapeutic techniques and the individual skills and style of the trainee. Trainees are encouraged to address their personal and emotional resonances to the stories of the clients both in the supervision group and the Personal and Professional Development group (see below for more details of this group).
In the first year the trainees consider the influences of relationships and personal history on their development as a therapist. Trainees present and explore their family genogram and its impact in the therapeutic domain is reviewed. It is felt that trainees will develop a better understanding of and compassion for issues and problems in families together with reflexivity in relation to their own positioning, if they have undertaken an exploration of their own family of origin. In the fourth year trainees move from live supervision in the presence of the supervisor to working as a peer based clinical practice team with retrospective team supervision.
Work Based Clinical Practice
Learners gain experience of working systemically outside the confines of the programme, with this work available for discussion and consultation as a part of the training programme. Learners are required to complete a minimum of 200 hours of external systemic practice. This will usually be in a trainee’s workplace but, occasionally, it may be necessary for learners to complete additional work on a placement basis. Learners bring to the facilitated supervision sessions audio & videotapes of therapy consultations in which they are engaged so as to allow them the opportunity to reflect on their practice and to benefit from the reflections and input of others in the supervision group.
Work based clinical practice occurs in year 4; however the construction of an appropriate context for learning and practice is addressed early in the Training Programme. An aappropriate working relationship with the learners’ workplace, covering issues such as accountability and confidentiality, is required. Training is of mutual benefit to the learner, the workplace and the profession as a whole and this agreement is intended to maximize benefit for all concerned.
Academic Programme
The academic programme is planned and reviewed by the Programme Committee with the aim of providing a sense of coherence by identifying some over-arching themes which provide continuity and integration. These include:
a) Viewing meaning, interactional patterns, structure and communication as inter-related dimensions of human experience and behaviour;
b) Attending to both the person and the context so that neither is invalidated;
c) Giving particular attention to an anti-discriminatory position gender, race, religion, ability, age, culture, class, ethnicity and sex.
Guided by these considerations, a curriculum has developed which attends to the person of the client but also to that of the trainee therapist and sees both as embedded in multiple layers of context or meaning and emotional experiencing which can best be understood and treated through the careful application of a systemic approach.
The curriculum comprises:
1) Theoretical foundations of psychotherapy and systemic practice
This module provides students with a detailed and critical overview of the principal philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of systemic practice as well as the postmodern influences on systemic therapy:
2) Clinical Applications of Models of Family Therapy
The module links theoretical perspectives with the practice of therapy. Each section consists of (a) theoretical descriptions of the model (b) descriptions of practice (c) explorations of the links between theory and practice (d) critiques of the model and (e) an experiential component where participants experiment with utilizing the model.
A diverse range of problem presentations and contexts where systemic practice is undertaken are explored. The relevant research findings are presented and critiqued.
3) Ethics, justice and professional practice
This module highlights ethics as a central aspect of therapeutic practice, and explores links between ethics, justice and professional practice. Emphasis is placed on incorporating ethical principles within everyday practice and on understanding and utilizing ethical codes and principles. Different frameworks of understanding ethics – in particular legal, spiritual and social justice frameworks – are presented and explored.
4) Research
Particular emphasis is placed within on understanding the place of research in therapy. Introductory components provide the opportunity for students to explore the relationship between research and practice, to read research papers critically, and explore different epistemological foundations of research methods. The practice component focuses on carrying out research projects, with particular emphasis on research methods, research design, data collection, data analysis and presentation of results.
5)Reflexivity
This is a continuing process through the four year training Programme. Reflexive engagement with the practice of psychotherapy is both an ethical requirement and a guiding principle of competent, effective psychotherapeutic practice. Learners are given the opportunity to reflect on their theoretical, clinical, organisational and personal positionings in ways that enhance and promote critical self-reflexivity. This subject is composed of two parts, teaching input that occurs principally in Clinical Groups and Personal and Professional Development groups.
Reflexivity
This theoretical component aims to equip learners with the necessary skills to assess personal value, knowledge, skills and competencies; to identify strategies for professional and personal development; to balance personal and professional commitments; to develop personally appropriate coping strategies; and reflexive engagement in multiple relationships at a therapeutic, research, professional and organizational level. It supports theoretical and clinical learning in this regard through its emphasis on self-awareness of personal, professional, institutional and organisational limits, strengths, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, and an ability to respond to such awareness in ways that address these strengths and limitations. This includes awareness of the limits of personal and professional knowledge and a respectful positioning towards other models and frameworks of knowledge, as well as an awareness of the place of the self in therapeutic processes.
Personal and Professional Development (PPD)
The PPD groups occur in each of the four years of the programme. These groups promote participation in a group process and, through the use of exercises and tasks, greater self- reflexivity. Participation in these groups facilitates the development of increased perception of the complexity of the process of change in oneself and in others, and thereby makes a difference to competence in practice.
A strong emphasis on the personal story and emerging professional identity of the trainee therapist is a major focus of these groups. This follows from the theoretical perspectives of the programme where the therapist is seen as a co-creator of the therapeutic story or ‘reality’ and as in a relationship with the client(s). In this regard it is considered as essential that the trainee therapist develop an ability to reflect on their own history and current experience and a willingness to examine how these may be influencing their practice.
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