Psychoanalytic psychotherapy training

Duration

The training lasts a minimum of four years; three years as a curricular trainee (when you attend theoretical seminars) and at least one year as post-curricular trainee. The number of years you will have as a post-curricular trainee will depend, in part, on how long it takes you to complete all elements of the training including accruing sufficient hours of supervised clinical work.

Assessment

The training committee monitors the progress of trainees through a process of regular reports and reviews in addition to the assessment of your written work.

Time commitment

Training starts in September. Check here for term dates.

• Personal therapy – 3 (therapy) hours
• Supervision – 1 (therapy) hour for each training patient (and time for additional patients)  
• Clinical work – 3 (therapy) hours for each training patient (and time for additional patients)
• Theory and clinical seminars – 3 hours (term-time only) on a Thursday afternoon & evening

This weekly estimate is provided as a rough guide and depends in part on how many training patients you are seeing concurrently. Naturally you would also need to factor in time for reading, writing clinical notes papers, and travel for example.

What next?

Training in psychodynamic psychotherapy enables you to become a member of SIP and registered with the BPC. You can work in private practice or in an agency setting offering up to twice weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy either short or long term. As a member of SIP you can get involved by becoming a SIP committee member.

Venue

All of our courses and trainings are delivered in central Bristol. However, as a training institute for the South West our membership is drawn from across the region and both training therapy and supervision is available in Bristol and beyond.

Entry requirements

• Pre-clinical training – you should have completed pre-clinical training in Classical Freudian Theory, Work Discussion and two years of Infant Observation either at SIP or another BPC training institute. Equivalent learning will be considered. You should have completed a written paper for both Work Discussion and Infant Observation.
• Personal therapy – you should have been in thrice weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a SIP approved training therapist for at least 18 months prior to the start of the training.
• Experience of working in a psychiatric setting. If you have not worked in a psychiatric setting you will need to find a suitable placement ideally during the pre-clinical stage of your training. We have a Placement Co-ordinator for trainees currently enrolled with us.
• Relevant professional experience and a professional or academic qualification, or equivalent.

Modified entry scheme

Qualified Child Psychotherapists who wish to train to work with adults; experienced psychoanalysts who wish to register with the BPC; and BPC registered psychodynamic psychotherapists who wish to train as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist should contact the Training Co-ordinator. It is possible to join our clinical training at curricular or post-curricular stage depending on your prior learning and experience. You would need to meet the entry requirements above or evidence equivalence and have a minimum of 2 years clinical experience since qualification. Please contact us to discuss prior to application.

Training fees

• Training Application Fee: £165.00
• Curricular: £3,570.00 per annum
• Post-Curricular: £410.00 per term

In addition to training fees you should budget for such things as training therapy, supervision, books, stationery and travel.

Please ensure you read over our payment terms here.

How to apply

We encourage you to make contact prior to application by, for example, attending our Open Day normally in March each year.

Application closing date: 31st March to start the following September

Please contact us if you are considering applying after the closing date.

Application forms and guidance: