The Pre-Clinical courses
The Severnside Institute for Psychotherapy offers three Pre-clinical courses, which can be taken separately or together. They can also be taken as the first part of training to be a psychoanalytical psychotherapist. These courses are for anyone wishing to understand psychoanalytic thinking and practice.
Courses
Infant Observation
A two year course. Each year there are 3 terms of 10 weeks. Includes:
- one hour per week observing a baby and their mother in their normal environment
- a weekly 90 minute seminar in a small group, where observations are discussed with an experienced psychotherapist
You will have the opportunity of thinking, in great detail, about a mother and baby couple in the first two years of the baby's life. As you watch the baby's development within their early relationship with their mother, and maybe other family members, you will learn how the ordinary challenges and pleasures of relationships are negotiated.
This experience helps you understand about human development and psychology. It helps you become a skilled and thoughtful observer. If you work in a relevant occupation, or go on to train as a psychotherapist, it provides essential learning about how early infantile experiences and patterns of relating persist into adult life.
This course inevitably touches on your own early experiences and you are encouraged to be in your own psychoanalytic psychotherapy, at least weekly. If you intend to train as a therapist, please note the personal therapy requirements further down this page under “Further information on training as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist”.
When you apply for this course you will required to attend an interview, provide two referees, and have a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check.
Work Discussion
A one year course. There are 3 terms of 10 weeks. Includes:
- a weekly 90 minute seminar, where participants take it in turns to bring detailed observations for discussion in a group led by an experienced psychotherapist
The course is to help you explore the application of psychoanalytic thinking to your work area. You should work in a relevant setting, that is have regular, one to one contact with clients, students or patients. This contact should not be diluted by too great an administrative role. It is not necessary that you work as a counsellor or psychotherapist.
Particular attention will be paid to the feelings evoked in the presenter by the experience with the client(s), and how those feelings can be used to understand what is happening.
The aim of the course is to sharpen perceptions and the effective use of imagination, and to develop awareness of the nature and pervasiveness of unconscious processes.
Classical Theory
A one year course. There are 3 terms of 10 weeks. Includes:
- directed reading
- a weekly 90 minute seminar examining Freud's work
The course offers an opportunity to study the development of Freud’s thought as he struggled to account theoretically for the observations he was making in his clinical work. You will examine how certain of Freud's concepts have retained their centrality in modern theory, while others were jettisoned or revised. We emphasis fostering an attitude which views theorising as a means of organising, and making sense of, clinical observations and experiences. The aim is to help you grasp what Freud was trying to understand, and how that formed the basis of subsequent psychoanalytic theory and practice.
Support
You will have the opportunity of tutorial help.
The course organiser and tutors can advise you about finding a psychotherapist if you would like to have your own therapy.
Further information on training as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist
If you would like to train as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, the Pre-clinical courses are your first step. The requirements for progressing to the next stage of the training are:
- Successful completion of all three Pre-clinical courses, taken over a minimum of two years, and including written papers for the Infant Observation and Work Discussion courses.
You can also apply to the Clinical Training if you have completed equivalent courses in another BPC organisation. Please contact the SIP administrator to enquire. - Three times a week personal psychotherapy with an SIP Approved Training Therapist for at least 18 months before starting the Clinical part of the training, with therapy continuing through that training.
- Experience of working in a psychiatric setting. If you have not worked in a psychiatric setting, SIP will advise you on finding a suitable placement.
If you are thinking of training as a psychotherapist, you can approach either a tutor or the Pre-clinical course organiser.
Dates
Courses are held on a Monday. Where possible, courses are run in the evening, but we reserve the right to run seminars in the afternoon. We aim to arrange seminars so that all three courses can be completed in two years. It may or may not be possible to take Work Discussion and Classical Theory in the same year. Exact times will be available later.
The next Pre-clinical courses will start in September 2008. You are welcome to make enquiries now.
Term Dates for 2008-9 are available.
Venue
Seminars are run at 11 Orchard Street, Bristol.
Fees
Cost per course: £685.
A non-refundable deposit of £75 per course is payable with your application.
Places will be offered after the closing date, and where applicable, interviews. Acceptance of a place is a contractual commitment to pay the full fee, and fees are not normally refunded if you subsequently withdraw for any reason.
Places are limited so please apply early.
Applications
You can submit an application at any time.
Application forms can be requested from SIP's Administrator or by our on-line enquiry form.
Contact the Administrator by telephone: 0117 923 2354 or by email to administrator@sipsychotherapy.org.
— Infant observation : full
— Work Discussion: a few places left
— Classical Theory: a few places left
Important Notes
- SIP reserves the right not to run a course.
- SIP reserves the right not to accept an applicant.
- SIP reserves the right to alter its existing constitution, criteria for membership, training procedures, timetables and assessments.
- If you have particular access needs please let us know as soon as possible so that we can discuss how best to meet these.