Research Centre for Therapeutic Education
The Research Centre originated at the University of Surrey and in 2004 came with its associated courses, including one of the first PhD programmes in Psychotherapy and Counselling, to the University of Roehampton.
It now involves one of the largest concentrations of the psychological therapies in the UK, with its associated programmes including the PhD in psychotherapy, PsychD in Counselling Psychology (BPS), PsychD in Psychotherapy and Counselling (UKCP), Masters programmes for counsellors and psychotherapists, BSc in Integrative Counselling and more recently Masters programmes and doctoral students, within the arts and play therapies.
In 2009 the RCTE (through Loewenthal) was in receipt of over £300,000 in external research and enterprise funding, involving 33 academic staff, nine research assistants (of which six were full time and externally funded) and, by the end of 2009, 60 doctoral students. See our Annual Reports for more information.
Aims
Our main aim is the development, nationally and internationally of the Research Centre for Therapeutic Education’s inter-disciplinary approach, with a focus on psychology (integrating the cultural/historical with the empirical), together with anthropology, art, art history, counselling, dance, drama, education, health sciences, management, music, philosophy, photography, psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and sociology. In addition to this, our future strategy is to continue as a cross-departmental research centre and to further develop university-wide research.
We are currently interested in the inter-disciplinary exploration of the training of psychological therapists, interrelationships between developmental psychology and the psychological therapies, education, and methodological issues in relation to practice and research, with particular reference to continental philosophy.
Specific projects include: the development of post-existentialism, phototherapy, IAPT and BME populations, psychology of children's well-being and a therapeutic ethos, embodiment in dance therapy, psychotherapeutic training and the unknown, improvisational music therapy, the transformative conditions of psychotherapeutic training, developing case study method, meaning and significance of personal therapy and critically engaging CBT
Research Environment
The Research Centre for Therapeutic Education is involved with a number of national and international research projects, including for such organisations as the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the International Association for Counselling (IAC).
Work from these projects leads to the organisation of, or taking part in, conferences and seminars both here at Roehampton and elsewhere, and the publication of books, book chapters and journal articles by RCTE members.
The research centre holds ongoing weekly meetings involving staff and doctoral students as well as general and specific seminar programmes and conferences, involving international and national researchers. Our work is regularly featured in national and international media. The European Journal for Psychotherapy and Counselling (Routledge) is also edited within the Centre.