Key Information
Start date: January 2021
Course length: 2 years
Fees: £5,900
Venue: Central London (but to be delivered online using Zoom teleconferencing app/web platform while restrictions last).
Course code: T3
(Face-to-face delivery will resume when government guidelines allow us to do so in a safe and practical approach that is suitable for all staff and students.)
Application deadline is 16 November 2020
"Loving the course; it’s the right balance for me in terms of content, delivery methods and work involved between weekends including reading"
Current Student
Overview
This course is designed to provide knowledge, skills and opportunities for clinical practice in the area of psychosexual therapy. It qualifies graduates to practice as psychosexual therapists in statutory and voluntary sectors as well as in private practice.
- 2-year course leading to qualification as a Psychosexual Therapist
- Open to qualified therapists and counsellors who are accredited with BACP/BPC/UKCP
- Weekend teaching modules
- This course has been approved by COSRT
Course Content
The Diploma offers a clinical, professional training in the theory and practice of Psychosexual Therapy.
Theory and Practice
The course includes:
- seminars on psychosexual and relationship issues
- opportunities to develop critical thinking by means of written assignments, reading, discussion
- group work and role play
- monthly case discussion/supervision group
- monthly self-reflective group
- support from a personal tutor throughout the course
- overseeing student’s progress in fulfilling COSRT clinical and supervision requirements.
Clinical Work
Students are required to complete 200 hours of face-to-face clinical work. They must see a minimum of 10 cases, five of which must be with couples.
We provide some opportunities to undertake clinical work at an external placement to broaden experience.
Supervision
In accordance with COSRT guidelines, supervision must be undertaken at the supervision ratio of one hour per six hours of clinical work. Supervisors should be experienced COSRT-accredited psychosexual therapists.
Students working in private practice may charge their psychosexual training clients but must inform clients about their trainee status. Private work must be supervised by a Tavistock Relationships-approved supervisor.
Payment for private supervision is not included in course fees.
Who The Course Is For
The two-year course is suitable for qualified therapists who wish to develop expertise in working with psychosexual issues and to gain a professional qualification in this field.
Entry Criteria
Minimum Entry Requirements
Applicants will need:
- A clinical qualification in psychotherapy, counselling or counselling psychology from a nationally accredited training or
- A clinical qualification in psychotherapy, counselling or counselling psychology plus subsequent accreditation
- Two hundred hours of supervised face-to-face clinical work with individuals or couples
- Appropriate personal qualities (a high degree of self-awareness, capacity to make and maintain close personal relationships, ability to reflect on personal experience
NB Successful applicants who have had less than one hundred hours of personal individual therapy will be expected to complete this requirement during the training
Entry with Advanced Standing
Applicants to the programme may apply for admission with advanced standing where they can produce evidence of prior learning that demonstrates that the learning outcomes of the identified components within the programme have been fulfilled.
Exceptional Entry:
Applicants with other qualifications, or assessed prior (experiential) learning, may be considered for exceptional entry on their merits if the selection panel and the Assessment Board can be satisfied of their clinical and academic competence.
Clinical Competence: evidence of a supervised, clinical caseload seeing adults (couple and/or individual) in talking therapy, with at least a total of 200 hours.
Academic Competence: studied on a relevant postgraduate degree or diploma, or masters level specialist training.
We would require a completed application form, plus a portfolio demonstrating relevant prior learning and clinical experience. Referees stated on the application form must be able to confirm the applicant’s clinical and academic attainment.
Access:
Our trainings take place on upper floors, accessible by lifts with the following specification: Type 1 provides only limited accessibility for persons using a manual wheelchair as described in EN 12183:2014 or an electrically powered wheelchair of class A described in EN 12184:2014. This car accommodates one wheelchair user without an accompanying person.
Assessment
Assessment is by: case studies; training log; theory papers; seminar review papers; oral presentation; project work; end-of-course written and verbal examination; ongoing assessment by supervisors, seminar leaders, self-reflective group conductors, and tutors; and a minimum of 200 hours of clinical practice under supervision. (See below.)
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Clinical Requirements (may be modified according to professional body or Tavistock Relationships requirements) |
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Syllabus
The structure of the course is modular but issues around assessment, treatment planning, diversity and relationships will be threaded through all modules on the course. All set reading material, apart from chapters in prescribed text books, will be supplied but students are expected to read and research widely around the topics.
Students will be expected to keep a self-reflective journal throughout the course and to compile a folder of resource material.
Module 1: Thinking About and Working with Relationships
- Why relationship focus?
- Relationship diversity
- Psychodynamic aspects of the couple relationship
- Attachment theories
- Genogram
- Working with individual clients on relationships issues
- Key skills in working with the couple
- Working with violence, aggression and vulnerability
- Protection issues relating to children and vulnerable adults
Module 2: Psychosexual Assessment and Treatment
- Introduction to psychosexual therapy
- Psychosexual assessment
- Psychosexual dysfunctions
- Desire disorders
- Anatomy and physiology of sexual response.
- History taking
- Treatment planning
- Behavioural and education work
- Time-limited work
Module 3: Working with Diversity and with Different Clinical Groups
- COSRT ethical framework
- Sexual minorities, gay and lesbian, bisexuality, asexuality, polyamory
- Transvestism, transgender and intersex
- Working with different cultural groups
- Feminist and eastern thinking and practice
- Sexual compulsivity
- Working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse
Module 4: Sex Through the Life Span
- Sexual development
- Contraception, abortion, infertility
- Sex after illness, childbirth/becoming a parent, menopause
- Sex in later life
- STIs, HIV
Module 5: Ethics and Revision of Competencies
- Erotic transference
- Ethics and ethical considerations
- Pharmacology and its impact on sexual and emotional function
- Review of assessment, formulation, treatment planning
- Practice management
- Non-pharmaceutical resources
Module 6: Good Enough Sex
- Desire
- Mourning and acceptance
- Endings in relationships and in therapy
- What is meant by good enough sex?
Clinical Hours and Case Requirements
In order to complete the Diploma and conform to COSRT requirements, trainees must complete 200 hours of face-to-face psychosexual therapy with clients. Trainees must work with a minimum of ten psychosexual cases of which at least five should be couples. Trainees may achieve these hours on placement, in their organisation, in their private practice or in a combination of these.
We encourage those in private practice to seek a placement in an NHS psychosexual clinic, for at least some of the required hours, because of the experience and support this gives.
Trainees may charge their psychosexual training clients but must inform clients that they are in training. Private work must be supervised by a Tavistock Relationships-approved psychosexual supervisor.
NB In accordance with COSRT guidelines, trainees with less than 200 hours’ prior experience of face-to-face clinical work are not permitted to see training clients in their private practice. They must seek a suitable placement.
Course Leader and Teachers (click to reveal)
Programme Heads
Marian O’Connor is a UKCP- and COSRT-accredited psychosexual and relationship therapist with nearly thirty years’ clinical experience working with individuals and couples. Formerly the Programme Leader of the MSc in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy at Tavistock Relationships, she has presented on psychosexual issues in conferences both home and abroad, and frequently writes for or advises the media on psychosexual and relationship issues, most recently (2018) in Huffington Post, Telegraph and Mental Health Today. She is co-author of the chapter ‘Psychodynamic Aspects of Psychosexual Therapy’ for the European–wide syllabus of clinical sexology published by the European Society of Sexual Medicine and contributed a chapter 'Let's talk about Sex' to Tavistock Relationships new publication, 'Engaging Couples: New Directions in Therapeutic Work with Families' (Routledge,2018)..
She supervises and teaches on the Diploma.
Bridget Wilkins is a couple and individual psychodynamic and psychosexual therapist and faculty staff member at Tavistock Relationships. She has responsibility for programming the centre’s Psychosexual Studies Certificate and for the Psychosexual Diploma. A former BBC producer, she retrained at Tavistock Relationships, completing their diploma in Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Psychotherapy before training as a Psychosexual Therapist. She has a particular interest in the impact of emotional experience on both the body and the mind.
She teaches on the Diploma.
Marian and Bridget are supported by an excellent teaching team comprised of qualified psychosexual therapists with several years’ experience of teaching/supervising/tutoring in the field.
Teaching Team
- Linsey Blair MSc (Psychology), PGDip Psychodynamic Cpl Cllg, Dip Psychosexual Th, MBACP Accred, COSRT Accred, UKCP Reg, BSCPC (FM)
Research/teaching interests: gender issues, female sexual dysfunction. - Dr Karl Hollows Dip Psychosexual Th, PgDip MedEd, DipGUM (Diploma in Genitourinary Medicine), COSRT Accred, FECSM (Fellowship of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine), MFSRH (Membership of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare), BASHH (Secretary)
Specialist in: Sexual Health Medicine, Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. - Judith Jamieson MSc Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy, PGDip Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy, BSCPC (FM), MBACP General Member, COSRT Accred, UKCP Registered
Special interests: risk assessment, diversity.
Clinical Lead at Tavistock Relationships. - Remziye Kunelaki Psychosexual Therapist and Supervisor, COSRT Accred, BPS, BASHH, Committee Member BSSM, European Certified Psycho-Sexologist (EFS and ESSM), The EFS/ESSM Psycho-Sexology Accreditation Committee Member (EPSA)
Research/teaching interests: short-term focussed work, STIs.
Lead Psychosexual Therapist, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. - Poppy Mellor MSc, PGDipDip Psychodynamic Cpl Couns, COSRT (GM)
Research/teaching interests: couple psychodynamic therapy, psychosexual therapy, doctoral student specialising in pornography and internet addiction. - Dorota Mucha MA Social Psychology, MSc Psychosexual Therapy, PGDip Psychodynamic Couple Counsellor, MBACP, COSRT
Special interests: ChemSex, same sex couples, polyamory.
Lead Psychosexual Therapist in NHS CUH (short term psychosexual interventions). - Inge Fisher MSc Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy, PGDip Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy, Msc in Career Management and Counselling MBACP, COSRT
Research/teaching interests: relationship and psychosexual issues. -
Olivia Luna MSc Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy, PGDip Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy, PGDip Psychology, BA Sociology MBACP, COSRT Accredited, UKCP Registered
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Tristan Royez-Gall PGDip Couple and Individual Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy, MBACP, COSRT (accred) Research/teaching interests: personal development, affairs, male and female psychosexual difficulties, LGBT relationships.
External Examiner
Jane Read, Psychosexual Therapist and Supervisor, COSRT Accred, psychotherapist, counsellor, trainer in women’s reproductive health issues, infertility, sexuality and relationships since 1979.
Over 10 years’ teaching/tutoring/supervisory experience.
Why Tavistock Relationships? (click to reveal)
- Highly experienced staff give you support and advice throughout the length of the course
- Opportunity for placements in NHS Psychosexual Clinics
- A chance to be part of an institution with 70 years' training and research experience
- Benefit from Tavistock Relationships’ long history as an internationally-renowned academic institution within the field of couple relationships
- This course replaces our MSc in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy. Trainers and supervisors from the MSc will continue to teach and supervise on the new Diploma
Course dates and teaching times (click to reveal)
Course Dates
2021
Saturdays 10.30am – 5.30pm
Sundays 10am – 4pm
9 and 10 January 2021
6 and 7 February 2021
13 and 14 March 2021
17 and 18 April 2021
15 and 16 May 2021
12 and 13 June 2021
10 and 11 July 2021
11 and 12 September 2021
9 and 10 October 2021
6 and 7 November 2021
4 and 5 December 2021
2022
Saturdays 10:30 – 5:30pm
15 January 2022
12 February 2022
12 March 2022
9 April 2022
14 May 2022
11 June 2022
9 July 2022
10 September 2022
15 October 2022
Teaching times
Saturdays 10.30am – 5.30pm
Sundays 10am – 4pm
Teaching hours for 2021 and 2022
2021 Saturday sessions will run from 10.30am – 5.30pm and will include:
- 45 minute self-reflective group
- 1.5 hour case discussion group from May 2021.
Sundays sessions will run from 10am – 4pm and will include:
- 30 minutes feedback/reflective group.
2022 Saturday sesssions will run from 10.30am – 5.30pm and will include:
- 30 minutes feedback/reflective group
- 1.5 hour case discussion group.
What Students Say (click to reveal)
"Loving the course; it’s the right balance for me in terms of content, delivery methods and work involved between weekends including reading
Wide range of content covered and fantastic range of experts giving lectures
Good overview of working with couples from the Tavistock model; valuable for me as an integrative therapist"
Further information (click to reveal)
For more information contact the Training Administration team on T: 020 7380 8288 and
E: training@tavistockrelationships.ac.uk
How to apply
There is an application fee of £120 (£50 non-refundable application fee + £70 interview fee).
Download the application form here:
Application deadline is Monday 16 November 2020.
For more information please contact Training@TavistockRelationships.ac.uk.
