Course Handbook: Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

This training draws primarily on psychoanalytic theory, including the unique couple psychoanalytic concepts developed over 80 years in the field of couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy, as well as other influences, such as mentalization based therapy. The training aims to help trainees learn to use their own selves as receivers of emotional communications from the couple and their minds as a place where these can be thought about. It is our experience that this is an enriching and unique learning opportunity, both professionally and personally.

The training intends to provide trainees with new skills in understanding and working with couples, but we find that it also tends to deepen and contextualize clinical work with individuals as well as families.

The unique features of this training are that it provides a focus on the following:

• A contemporary psychoanalytic approach, theory and practice relevant to today’s complex world.
• The conscious and unconscious impact of difference and discrimination on the couple relationship as well as between partners within relationships, e.g. homophobia, racism, ageism, class, ableism etc.

The main focus of this training is the impact of the unconscious on the inner world of the relationship and how this manifests in the difficulties couples present with. However, as outlined above, we also foreground the social and political realities, discrimination and diversity, because these aspects interact with and become internalized in the couple’s shared unconscious world, and are part of their lived experience which impacts them individually and as a couple. In addition, since the impact of culture is a central part of human development, the course also considers a developmental focus, looking at the capacity to form a couple relationship, transition to parenthood where this applies, divorce and separation, transition to later life, diverse couple relationships and so on. The course covers a wide-ranging exploration of specific couple psychoanalytic theories and concepts developed over the last 80 years, e.g. unconscious phantasy and beliefs, Oedipus and the couple, narcissistic relating, couple state of mind.

The training involves the following key elements:

• Clinical experience of weekly therapy with two couples, each seen for one year.
• Theoretical and clinical seminars, weekly during term time.
• Individual clinical supervision for each case, with two different supervisors.
• Working with your tutor regularly to support your development.
• Personal therapy.

The aim is that all these elements interact with and inform each other to promote learning and development as a couple psychotherapist. The training and curriculum are under regular review, with the best interests of trainees, prospective couple psychotherapists and their patients in mind. The bpf reserves the right to make any changes considered necessary during the course of the training.

The Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy training programme is administered by a dedicated Course Administrator, who serves as the primary point of contact for all student enquiries.

Overall responsibility for the programme rests with the Course Director, Leezah Hertzmann, who oversees its delivery, with an External Examiner, Mrs. Orna Hadary, providing independent oversight of the qualification process. Students will also regularly interact with Helen Sett Wong, the Head of Couple Therapy Clinic, supporting their work with training couples.

Teaching Staff

Teaching within the Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy training programme is provided by experienced couple psychoanalytic psychotherapists affiliated with the British Psychotherapy Foundation, complemented by input from external clinicians and published authors. This ensures that students receive a comprehensive and diverse perspective on both theoretical and clinical practice with couples.

Course Structure Overview

As part of the bpf’s more flexible approach to training, some students undertake the theory component as a stand-alone before beginning the clinical component of the course. For others, the two overlap: students start with a year of theory and then begin the clinical component alongside the second year of the theory seminar.

The Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training is a postgraduate clinical training for qualified psychotherapists and psychoanalysts. Applicants must have completed a recognised training in psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy (adult, child, or group) and hold current professional registration with the BPC, UKCP or ACP. Applications are also welcomed from suitably qualified psychodynamic psychotherapists working with adults. Decisions regarding eligibility will take account of previous clinical training, professional experience, personal therapy, and overall readiness for specialist training in couple psychotherapy.

Prospective applicants are required to discuss the training with a Couple Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (CPP) Adviser before submitting an application. This informal discussion provides an opportunity to consider readiness for training and to ask questions about the programme.

Applications should include:

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend two selection interviews. Offers of a training place are made following consideration of the application and interview process.

Applicants who accept an offer of a place will receive information about registration, enrolment, payment of fees, and the arrangements for beginning the programme. Students are required to complete all enrolment procedures before the start of teaching.

An induction programme is held prior to the start of the academic year – usually at 1.30pm on the Thursday of the previous week before the academic year starts in September . This introduces trainees to the structure of the training, curriculum, assessment requirements, clinical expectations, and relevant policies and procedures. Trainees also have the opportunity to meet their fellow students.

Applications are invited throughout the year as the course intakes in September and January. Applicants should refer to the training webpage for current application deadlines, interview dates, and the commencement of the academic year. The application deadline and associated documentation requirements will be published in advance of each admissions cycle.

For students undertaking the theory only, the entry point is September and there is no January entry for the theory only option. 

Course Objectives

On successful completion of the training, graduates will be able to:

The training places equal emphasis on professional and personal development. Throughout the programme, trainees are expected to develop the capacity to:

As part of the bpf’s more flexible approach to training, some students undertake the theory component as a stand-alone before beginning the clinical component of the course. For others, the two overlap: students start with a year of theory and then begin the clinical component alongside the second year of the theory seminar.

Indicative Course Timetable

Seminars are held on Thursdays, indicatively between 1.30pm and 5.15pm, though exact start and finish times can vary slightly by term according to staff availability; the Course Director circulates the specific seminar schedule ahead of the start of each academic year.

• Theory seminar: approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Break.
• Clinical seminar: approximately 1 hour 30 minutes.

The bpf does its best to ensure that trainees can arrange their clinical practice and individual supervision to fit within their usually busy professional lives, but some flexibility is often required, both around this timetable and in order to accommodate training couple cases. Term dates, and dates for staff and student meetings, are circulated by the Course Administrator ahead of each academic year, dates and Zoom links for Student Feedback Meetings are available on Moodle.

The training is delivered through a hybrid model. Most theoretical and clinical seminars are held online, with designated in-person teaching days each term; students are notified of these dates well in advance and are expected to attend in person, as these sessions are not available online.

The programme seeks to provide trainees with teaching from experienced clinicians and subject specialists. On occasion, specialist teaching may be delivered online, including during scheduled in-person weeks, where this best supports the curriculum and ensures access to appropriate expertise.

Clinical supervision may take place online, although trainees are encouraged to meet with supervisors in person where possible. The Training Committee reserves the right to require in-person meetings with supervisors or tutors where this is considered important for a trainee’s clinical and professional development.

While seminars, tutorials, and supervision may be delivered in a hybrid format, all clinical work with couples must be undertaken in person. Online therapy sessions are not permitted, including when couples are unable to attend a scheduled session face to face.

Personal Therapy

Personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis is a core component of the training and supports trainees’ personal and professional development. Throughout the programme, trainees are required to remain in individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy or psychoanalysis at a minimum frequency of twice weekly (and preferably more) with a British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) registered psychoanalyst or psychoanalytic psychotherapist who has been qualified for at least 5 years. Psychodynamic psychotherapists who are not psychoanalytic psychotherapists are not eligible to act as training therapists.

Personal therapy must continue until all training requirements have been completed and the trainee has qualified. The cost of personal therapy is met by the trainee and is separate from the course fees. Training therapists must have a minimum of five years’ post-qualification experience.

In exceptional circumstances, BPC-registered psychoanalytic psychotherapists undertaking the training may apply to the Course Director for exemption from the personal therapy requirement. Where an exemption is approved, trainees are required to undertake regular therapeutic consultation with a suitably qualified BPC-registered psychoanalyst or psychoanalytic psychotherapist with a minimum of five years’ post-qualification experience, at an agreed frequency.

Trainees must notify the Course Director of the name of their psychoanalyst or psychoanalytic psychotherapist and the frequency of their ongoing therapy or therapeutic consultation.

Tutorials

Trainees are expected to contact their tutor to arrange a tutorial of an hour once a term. Tutorials are used to discuss and monitor the student’s progress on the course and to offer information and guidance about their development. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they meet with their tutor regularly and keep in touch with them at frequent intervals. The hour once a term can be divided up over the term, for example, in two half hour slot if this is felt to be helpful. It is crucial that students make sure their tutor gets to know them well so that they can best support the student’s development.  

The tutor’s role is one of a learning support and study advisor and is the person who brings together, has oversight of and holds all the various aspects of the students’ training and development. The tutor has in mind all the different elements for each student and plays a key role in their training. The tutor should be the ‘go to’ person for all aspects of training although there will inevitably be some overlap with supervision and other staff.  

The arrangements for tutorial support have been organised to reflect the needs of our predominantly professional, part-time and mature student group.   

Each trainee will be allocated a personal tutor who meets with them as above, to discuss their progress. The tutors will explore the student’s response to the varied elements of the course, provide informed feedback on their progress and discuss any difficulties. Tutorials will also allow for space to explore the impact of this complex and sometimes stirring training on the trainee’s professional and personal life, including their relationship with the training and becoming a student again.  

As described above, this course has a requirement for students to engage in personal therapy as a place which can provide space to process the feelings associated with being on the training amongst other things. However, it is expected that students will turn to their tutor for support due to the demanding nature of the clinical work and the course content, in order that students are able to integrate the emotional pulls of this training with their development as a couple psychotherapist. Please note that the training committee reserves the right to request students to meet in person with their tutor where this is felt to be important for their development. 

After meeting with the tutor, they will briefly fill in a record to give an overview of what was discussed and any action needed this form is available on Moodle. This will be shared with the student. 

Theory Seminars

The theory component provides the academic foundation for specialist practice in couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Building on trainees’ previous psychoanalytic or psychodynamic training, the seminars deepen theoretical understanding of unconscious processes within couple relationships and support the integration of theory with clinical practice. Emphasis is placed on the development of a contemporary psychoanalytic understanding of couple dynamics, including the impact of diversity, difference, and discrimination on both the couple relationship and the therapeutic process. Progress in the theory component is reviewed throughout the training through ongoing discussion between seminar leaders, tutors, and the Training Committee.

Function, Aims and Learning Outcomes of the Theory Component

There is no written reporting of the theory seminar, and students’ progression is discussed with their tutors and seminar leaders. Feedback on each student’s development of theoretical understanding, including application of theory to clinical work, is provided by staff to the Training Committee once a term and to the Progression Board in the summer.

In Years 1 and 2 trainees attend weekly theoretical seminars focusing on the application of psychoanalytic thinking as it applies to the understanding of unconscious aspects of the couple relationship. The course covers psychoanalytic concepts, including the unique couple psychoanalytic concepts and theories developed over the last 80 years. These are essential for understanding unconscious couple interaction. Alongside this, there is an emphasis on a contemporary psychoanalytic approach, theory and practice relevant to today’s complex world. This includes attending to the conscious and unconscious impact of difference and discrimination on the couple relationship as well as between partners within relationships e.g. homophobia, racism, ageism, class, ableism etc. 

The theory seminars are structured in a two-year arc and new students on the full clinical training can join at two entry points, either in September or January of each year. This means that students enter on a rolling programme and the design of the curriculum takes this in to account, including the fact that all students entering the course will have completed previous psychoanalytic/psychodynamic trainings and be qualified practising practitioners.  For students undertaking the theory only, the entry point is September and there is no January entry for the theory only option.

Whilst not an exhaustive list the curriculum will cover many of the following concepts:  

The creative couple, couple state of mind, projective identification, shared unconscious phantasy, shared defences, oedipal conflicts, falling in love, marriage as a container, intimacy vs separateness, narcissism, borderline states, adhesive identification, psychotic states, couple development across the life cycle, transference, countertransference, sexuality, masculinity and femininity, intersectionality, race and other matters of diversity and discrimination (although the aim is that matters of diversity are taught throughout the seminars and woven into the teaching). In the second year, the theory seminar continues to study psychoanalytic concepts as they are applied to couples and specific psychoanalytic couple concepts, focussing on more demanding and complex areas as well as areas of social significance. These include the following: couples as parents, intersectionality, reproductive technologies, the ethics of countertransference and the analyst’s subjective states, the violent couple, suicidal states, safeguarding, perversion, perversion of truth, loss and mourning, sexuality, sex and gender, assessment, endings, infidelity, mentalization, death and illness, intergenerational transmission, the couple superego and so on.  

The above is not an exhaustive list, rather it is illustrative and not all of the above will necessarily be covered. There are 30 seminars per academic year of one and a quarter hours each week. 

At certain times, some of the seminar leaders may not be couple psychotherapists, rather they are selected to lead the theory seminar as they are subject experts or have a particular expertise in an area important for the curriculum.  

As part of the BPF’s more flexible approach to training, some students will undertake the theory component as a stand-alone before undertaking the clinical component of the course. For some, they will overlap, i.e. they will start with a year of theory and then start with the clinical component alongside the second year of the theory seminar.  

Clinical Seminars

The clinical seminar comprises students and the clinical seminar leader. Trainees take it in turns each week to present detailed clinical material from a current case, bringing password-protected process notes shared with the group and seminar leader. Through their presentations, trainees are exposed to the work of colleagues and are enabled to study a range of clinical and technical issues.

The clinical seminar provides the opportunity for concepts developed in the theory seminar to be recognized and identified in the clinical context. It also involves learning about couple formulations, clinical technique with couples, and how these bring together many aspects of the couple’s functioning. The clinical seminar complements individual supervision by providing another perspective or “third position”, and offers an opportunity for trainees to discuss theory and practice in a collegial setting, as well as to think about group processes in relation to couples and the parallel process.

As in individual supervision, trainees will be required to engage with and explore clinical and technical issues as they manifest in the consulting room. However, the clinical seminar is not just concerned with a student’s presentation and the quality of the clinical work — it also focusses on the student’s general capacity to participate, contribute and offer their minds to the clinical seminar leader as well as the group in an open, non-defensive way which contributes to the whole group’s learning. This will be assessed as an integral part of their development.

When students are waiting to be allocated a couple, either for a first or second case, or where a case might have dropped out for example, they will bring other clinical work they are currently undertaking, provided that it is work they are undertaking on their own with an individual, parents or couple, and not a case seen in co-therapy of any kind or work in another modality.

Learning Outcomes of the Clinical Seminar Component

The Clinical Seminar Leader provides regular feedback on each trainee’s progress to the Training Committee, helping students to think about psychopathology in psychoanalytic terms, using material from the sessions to understand the couple’s object relationships, the nature of their defences and anxieties, the impact of these on their developmental difficulties, shared unconscious phantasy and defences, and the impact of conscious and unconscious aspects of discrimination and diversity on both individual partners and the couple’s relationship.

Function, Aims and Learning Outcomes of Individual Clinical Supervision

Individual supervision provides support for the trainee’s clinical work and an opportunity to explore the material in greater depth, reflecting on both the experience of the couple and the trainee therapist. It focuses on the student’s use of self in relation to the experience of the couple, thinking about how this informs psychodynamic technique with couples. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding unconscious communications — including those which involve conscious and unconscious aspects of discrimination — the emerging transference both between the partners in the couple and between the couple and the therapist, and countertransference manifestation.

Learning Outcomes of the Clinical Supervision Component

All students are expected to write detailed process recordings on both couples (where two couples are seen concurrently), sent to the supervisor, password protected, prior to the supervision session. Each training couple is supervised individually by a different supervisor, meaning that trainees normally work with two supervisors during the programme. Supervisors are allocated by the Course Director, taking account of availability and other practical considerations. Supervision sessions are one hour in duration, and trainees normally receive approximately 30 supervision sessions for each training couple over the academic year. Where trainees are working with two training couples concurrently, supervision may be arranged on alternate weeks for each case. Supervision fees are separate from the course fees and are paid directly to supervisors.

Training Couples & Six-Monthly Reports

Clinical work with training couples is a core component of the programme. Trainees are required to undertake once-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy with two training couples, each seen for a minimum of one year.

Before commencing work with a first training couple, trainees are allocated a clinical supervisor and are required to present anonymised process notes from their current clinical work. This enables the supervisor to assess the trainee’s readiness to begin work with a training couple and to consider any factors that may affect the timing of commencing clinical practice. Trainees may not begin work with a training couple until approval has been given by their supervisor and confirmed by the Course Director.

Training couples are seen within the framework of the BPF Low Fee Clinic and are treated in the trainee’s consulting room. Trainees are responsible for maintaining accurate clinical records, communicating appropriately with other professionals where required, and complying with all BPF clinical governance and record-keeping policies. For international students, couples will be seen in the setting in which the therapist is working, abiding by local governance and regulatory frameworks. So, although the BPF low fee clinic cases are seen in the students’ private practices or other suitable settings, clinical responsibility, governance arrangements and requirements are those of the BPF and students are expected to abide by the BPF’s arrangements for governance, record keeping, safeguarding and so on. The clinical work of the training provides trainees with the essential skills necessary for working therapeutically with couples both in private practice as well as in the NHS and voluntary/third sector.  Clinical cases are all assessed by senior clinical staff prior to allocation to students. Students are not allowed to assess their own training cases. Supervisors and tutors are allocated by the Course Director.  

Permission to undertake work with a second training couple is considered once the first case is established and satisfactory progress has been demonstrated, based on reports from supervisors and teaching staff and the trainee meeting the published progression criteria. Therapy with each training couple continues for a minimum of twelve months. Where a training case is transferred to a trainee’s private practice with the prior approval of the Course Director and Director of Clinical Services, supervision must continue until all training requirements have been completed, and the timing of any planned ending should always be agreed with the supervisor before discussion with the couple.

UNDERTAKING THERAPY SESSIONS WITH COUPLES AND CLINICAL SUPERVISION 

In the first year, trainees will usually be given the permission to commence the treatment of a once weekly couple psychotherapy case after presenting some recent clinical work to their supervisor using password protected process notes (see below point 4). This may be a couple case or where the student isn’t yet working with couples, it could be an individual case or perhaps a case where parents are seen as part of child/family psychotherapy. Whilst it is unusual for students not to be granted permission to start clinical work, it is an important part of the preparation prior to seeing a first training couple case. It is important students’ new supervisor has a chance to hear about how one works and where students are at in their own development as a psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapist. In addition, it provides the opportunity to take in to account any other matters, for example, life events, which may impact on the timing of taking on a new case.  

Please look at the process for taking on a couple and starting clinical work as laid on in the flow chart and governance information on Moodle. 

1. Students are required to treat two couples in once weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy for twelve months.  

2. Prior to starting clinical work, students will be allocated to a supervisor by the Course Director. Students will need to liaise with the supervisor about times and days to meet for supervision and hopefully a suitable time can be agreed.  

3. Where it is not possible to find a time, then it might be that another supervisor will need to be allocated.  

4. At the first meeting with the supervisor, students will need to present some current clinical work (which students have undertaken on their own), by presenting process notes of a recent session. Please either print out and bring a copy for the supervisor, or send to the supervisor prior to the supervision but please ensure it is password protected and completely anonymised.  

5. When students present current clinical work from a recent session and if they are already seeing couples, then it is best to present a couple rather than in individual. But if students do not have a couple to bring, then they could also bring either work with an individual patient, perhaps who has brought a relationship difficulty, or work with parents if you see parents as part of the work with children /families.  

6. After hearing the student’s presentation and the discussion in supervision, the supervisor will then say that the students is ready (or not) to start clinical work with a couple. Students cannot start work with a couple until your supervisor has heard you present your work and given you this go ahead to start.  

7. Students will then receive a confirmation letter from the Course Director to say that they are ready to take on a first couple, and this will be copied to the Head of the Couple Therapy Clinic Helen Sett-Wong and the Director of Clinical Services, Angela Marsh, so they know when students are ready to take on a case.  

8. Students are strongly advised to treat more than one couple at a time as this is helpful to their own professional development unless course staff advise otherwise.   

9. Clinical supervision sessions are 60 mins in length, undertaken individually with each student. 

10. Clinical sessions with the couple are also 60 minutes.  

11. Clinical supervision costs are not included in the course fee and the rate is set by the BPF, usually £80 per session. Students pay their supervisors directly. Supervision fees may rise each year or bi-annually, and students will be informed where this is the case. 

For training cases, each 60-minute clinical session with the couple will be undertaken within the framework of the BPF’s low fee clinic and takes place in the student’s own consulting room. For international students, this will be in their own setting.  Trainees will be responsible for keeping clinical records up to date and to communicate with other professionals when necessary and in discussion with their supervisor(s). They will also be responsible for complying with the BPF record keeping and governance systems and keeping records up to date accordingly. For international students they will need to comply with their local governance arrangements.  

Trainees will receive individual supervision for each of their two training couple cases. This means that each trainee will have two supervisors, one for each couple.  

   Process for taking on a second training couple case 

Permission to see a second couple may be sought when the first case is well established in treatment, and the trainee’s supervisors and members of the teaching staff are satisfied about the trainee’s progress and capacity. The criteria for taking on a second couple are below. When progression to taking on a second couple is agreed by the supervisor, students will then receive a confirmation letter from the Course Director to say that they are ready to take on their second couple, and this will be copied to the Head of the Couple Therapy Clinic Helen Sett-Wong and Director of Clinical Services, Angela Marsh, so they know the student is ready to take on a second case. A second supervisor for the second training couple will be allocated by the Course Director with thought given to the right match, availability, times and so on. 

Second year trainees will continue offering weekly therapy to two couples who each must have been seen for a minimum of one full calendar year. Supervisions on each couple continue until the end of each couple’s twelve months’ therapy but where a student is seeing the couple in private practice (see section above for further details on supervision arrangements), they must continue in supervision until all of the requirements for the training have been met.  A date for the end of the therapy must be negotiated with the supervisor prior to discussion with the couple and also informing the Head of the Couple Therapy Clinic Helen Sett-Wong and the Director of Clinical Services, Angela Marsh.  

Trainees receive approx. 30 supervision sessions per couple over the course of the academic year. If more supervisions are required this can be arranged on an individual basis at an additional fee paid directly to the supervisor. Some trainees find that their clinical requirements take them into a third year and the student will need to bear the cost of this.  

Where the student is seeing two couples concurrently, it is possible for the student to have alternate fortnightly supervision on each couple. It is expected that the overall minimum number of hours of supervision when holding two cases is somewhere between 35 – 42 and the exact number will be determined by the student’s individual circumstances, taking factors such as development as a couple psychotherapist, the couple’s trajectory of treatment, the supervisor’s judgment and the Training Committee’s consideration of the best way to support the couple in treatment as well as the student’s development. Supervision costs are not included in the course fee and fees are paid directly to the supervisor.  Students joining the training in academic year 26/27 will pay their supervisors £80 per session. 

Reports should not include an extensive history of the couple, as this will already be known to the supervisor. Rather, students should summarise the history succinctly, demonstrate the ability to concisely summarise the work, and demonstrate a psychoanalytic understanding and formulation of the therapy so far.

The supervisor needs to sign off the report prior to the final draft being sent; once this has happened, it is the student’s responsibility — not the supervisor’s — to return the form to the Course Director, the Course Administrator, their supervisor(s), and their tutor.

The instrument of continuous assessment evaluates a trainee’s progress in integrating theory with clinical practice and use of self. The following criteria — intended as a guide to be used flexibly, consistent with the level and progress of the trainee — outline several issues that supervisors and seminar leaders will bear in mind in their reports.

Theory Seminars

There are no formal written assessments for the theory seminars. Trainees’ progress is reviewed through their engagement with the seminars, development of theoretical understanding, and ability to apply psychoanalytic concepts to clinical work. Seminar leaders provide regular feedback to the Training Committee, which contributes to the annual Progression Board.

Clinical Supervision

Individual supervision provides ongoing assessment of clinical practice and professional development. Supervisors submit written reports twice yearly commenting on each trainee’s clinical progress, development, and readiness to undertake increasing levels of clinical responsibility. An additional supervisory report is completed before a trainee begins work with a second training couple.

Clinical Seminars

Clinical seminars form an integral part of the assessment process. Assessment considers both the quality of trainees’ clinical thinking and their participation within the reflective learning group. Clinical Seminar Leaders submit reports, normally twice yearly, commenting on each trainee’s clinical development, capacity to integrate theory and practice, participation in the seminar, and progress towards the programme learning outcomes.

Clinical Reports

Twice yearly, trainees are required to submit a six-monthly clinical report on each training couple, irrespective of how long the couple has been in treatment. Reports must be discussed with the clinical supervisor before submission. These reports form an important part of the continuous assessment process and contribute to the overall evaluation of clinical development.

Tutorials

Personal tutors monitor trainees’ academic, clinical, and professional development throughout the programme. Tutorials provide opportunities to review progress, identify learning needs, and support progression. Tutors contribute to the Training Committee’s overall assessment of each trainee’s development.

The Training Committee reviews each trainee’s progress throughout the programme using evidence from:

• Clinical supervision reports.
• Clinical seminar reports.
• Feedback from theory seminar leaders.
• Six-monthly clinical reports.
• Tutor reports and discussions.

Qualification as a couple psychodynamic psychotherapist is achieved once all the training requirements have been successfully completed and the level of clinical work is deemed suitable. The decision about qualification is made at the Progression Board by the Training Committee and external examiner, usually once a year at the end of the summer term. The training takes a minimum of two years, although it can take longer.

Trainees who have not completed their clinical requirements or met the criteria for progression at the end of the taught two-year programme will continue their training into a third year. When this happens, the trainee is required to continue their clinical work under regular supervision, attend the clinical seminar weekly, continue to write six-monthly reports on the couples, continue to meet regularly with their tutor, and continue in therapy or therapeutic consultation until all clinical requirements have been completed. Unless the Training Committee decides otherwise, the student usually doesn’t have to attend the theory seminar in this third year, and fees are adjusted accordingly. Notice of this is given following the Progression Board and external examiner approval, usually in late July or early August.

Where students are not developing sufficiently to fulfil all the necessary progression criteria, the Training Committee may require the student to see a third couple or to have further therapy. Where a student has therapeutic consultation but returning to therapy is indicated, the Training Committee can require that the student re-enters therapy at the recommended frequency, usually at least twice weekly, in order to support their development towards qualification.

Where students have a private practice and complete twelve months’ treatment with their first couple, it is possible to take the couple into private practice, but this must be discussed with the supervisor, tutor, Head of Couple Therapy Clinic, Director of Clinical Services and Course Director prior to making any arrangement with the couple. Where continuing the treatment in private practice is agreed, students must remain in regular supervision and meet regularly with their tutor until they have fulfilled all the clinical requirements with their training cases, as well as all the other requirements of the course.

Guidelines for writing the report:

1. Reports, with all sections completed, should be sent electronically by the required deadline, copied to the supervisor, the tutor, the Course Director and the Course Administrator. This is due on the last Wednesday in May and the last Wednesday in November.
2. The report must be marked as Confidential and always be password protected, with the password sent separately to the supervisor, tutor, Course Director and Course Administrator.
3. Reports should be submitted regardless of the length of time the couple has been in treatment.
4. Reports need to be shown to supervisors at least two weeks before the submission deadline, so that they can review the report and feedback, allowing time to redraft. Supervisors should be given enough time to undertake this without rush.

Feedback Mechanisms

The training is regularly reviewed to ensure that it continues to provide a high-quality learning experience and supports trainees’ clinical and professional development. Student feedback is an important part of this process and contributes to the ongoing evaluation and enhancement of the programme.

Trainees are also invited to provide feedback through the British Psychotherapy Foundation’s formal course evaluation processes and feedback questionnaires. We value your feedback about the course and need your help to ensure you are provided with a robust training experience which supports your development as a couple psychotherapist.  We need to know what we are doing right and crucially what we might need to adjust and improve.  

In the week after the end of each term, usually during the time the course runs on Thursday afternoons, the Course Director will meet with students to discuss their experience of training and hear their thoughts about the course. This feedback will be carefully considered and where necessary, used to make appropriate changes.