IAPT High Intensity Psychotherapeutic Counselling in Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy
Postgraduate degree
Suspended for 2023 entry
This programme provides the education for trainee Psychotherapeutic Counsellors to become qualified High Intensity IAPT Practitioners.
Duration:
3 years (Trainees will be studying part-time while being employed full-time in their IAPT service).
Degree Type:
PGDip
Number of credits:
120 credits
School:
Entry Requirements
Specific entry requirements
This is a Health Education England (HEE) (NHS) funded psychological professions training programme.
The entry requirements are:
- All candidates entering the programme should hold evidence of academic credit or equivalence allowing entry to the Level 7 programme. A degree at 2:2 or above in any relevant subject, or equivalent, should be considered the minimum requirement for entry. Candidates without a degree at 2:2 or above may be able to secure a place by demonstrating competency via a portfolio of evidence, which meets specified academic equivalence requirements.
- All candidates should have completed a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills, which ordinarily involves a minimum of 10 days or 60 hours of face-to-face tuition at level 2 or level 3. Online courses are not acceptable. Please note: L2 Award, Helping Skills and Introductory courses are not accepted.
- Candidates should show proficiency in reading, writing and spoken English of a standard necessary to support academic study and professional practice at Level 7 - IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each element.
- Training providers will be encouraged to apply contextual recruitment and to support the equivalence framework to widen participation.
Potential trainees will also be assessed for the following attributes or the potential for developing them in their interview by the IAPT service providers:
- Warmth, kindness, compassion, empathy
- Authenticity, self-awareness, maturity and stability
- Ability to listen, be present and attentive
- Ability to come alongside people experiencing emotional and psychological distress
- Capacity for reflexivity
- Ability to be vulnerable and make use of and reflect upon own life experience
- Capacity to cope with the emotional demands of the course
- Ability to cope with the intellectual and academic requirement
- Ability to be self-critical and use both positive and negative feedback
- Awareness of and ability to explore issues of difference and equality and the nature of prejudice and oppression
- Ability to recognise the need for personal and professional support and self-care
Postgraduate, Master's and Doctoral On-Campus Open Evening
Wednesday 1 November 2023, 5–7.30pm
Why this course
Online led blended delivery, with on-campus lessons delivered in block sessions to allow you to study around existing commitments.
Roehampton has an international reputation for counselling and therapeutic training.
Graduate as a High Intensity IAPT Practitioner.
Course and Module Details
Overview
This programme is funded by Health Education England (HEE) (NHS) and offers a new training pathway that provides trainee Psychotherapeutic Counsellors with advanced conceptual understanding and skills in the practical application of psychotherapeutic counselling and a defined standard of competency in Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) for depression.
You will train to work as psychotherapeutic counsellor delivering Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) for adults with depression in NHS IAPT services. During training, you will be employed by an IAPT service in England and you will be expected to carry out an average of two to three days per week of clinical practice in the IAPT service. The 20-Day Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy training component will be provided by the Anna Freud Centre in years 2 and 3 of the PGDip.
Trainees will develop the qualities and skills to engage in and sustain strong therapeutic relationships and work effectively with IAPT service users with depression.
This includes developing core psychotherapeutic counselling practitioner competencies and the integration of Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT), in line with the needs of service users, families and carers.
The training will also promote personal and professional development and self-awareness essential to successful psychotherapeutic counselling.
In the first year, trainees are expected to:
- Study topics including initiating, maintaining, and developing the therapeutic relationship, the nature of depression and its impact on wellbeing, the range of counselling and psychotherapy modalities, safeguarding, and developing personal resilience.
- Complete three non-credit bearing modules covering the fundamental principles and practice of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapeutic counselling and an overview of the principles and practice of the IAPT modality (DIT) they will be training in.
- Undertake a minimum of 30 hours of skills practice in assessment and therapy, before being assessed individually for readiness to work with service users.
- Following sign off, trainees will undertake a minimum of 100 supervised client hours working with adults with mild to moderate depression in an IAPT service.
In the second year, trainees are expected to:
- Build their knowledge and understanding of their chosen theoretical base and develop ways of working with simple and more complex presentations of human distress and depression.
- Complete three 20 credit modules, aiming to extend and refine the application of psychotherapeutic counselling theories to gain a deeper understanding of the therapeutic process.
- Continue the development of the skills required to provide a therapeutic service to service users with depression within IAPT services.
- Gain critical knowledge and understanding of the theories and principles underpinning Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT).
- Undertake a minimum of 150 supervised client hours working within the selected modality with service users with depression in an IAPT setting in line with the IAPT Manual.
In the third year, trainees are expected to:
- Complete another three 20 credit modules to prepare to work as High Intensity Therapists working in IAPT services delivering Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT).
- Complete the teaching and learning hours, required period of supervised clinical work, supervision requirements and assessment of competence in line with the national curriculum for Brief Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy. This will include a minimum of 200 supervised client hours, thereby achieving a minimum of 450 hours over the three years.
Modules
These modules are those we currently offer and may be subject to change each year.
Teaching
Teaching is online-lead blended learning, with on-campus teaching delivered in block weeks. This may include clinical simulation in small groups, viewing and discussing video recordings of therapy delivered by experts, supervised practice with service users in the workplace, lectures, seminars, discussion groups, feedback, guided reading, independent study, experiential processes in large and small group settings, peer feedback and personal therapy.
Career Options
At the end of the three-year training, graduates will be High Intensity IAPT Practitioners.
You can find out more information at: