Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy
About the Course
- Available Study Modes
- Intensive Study, Online, Saturday Weekly or Wednesday - Weekly
Course Description
The Existential Academy collaborates with the New School to create a full clinical training, the Existential Psychotherapy Training (EPT). This exciting training combines two courses: the MSc in Psychotherapy Studies, and the Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy (DEP).
Successful completion of the New School’s flagship MSc in Psychotherapy Studies and the Academy’s ‘Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy’ (DEP), is the full Existential Psychotherapy Training (EPT) programme, the clinical pathway to becoming a fully qualified practitioner. Upon successful completion of the EPT you will be eligible for full clinical registration with UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) as an Existential Psychotherapist. A helpful formula to understand the course is: MSc+DEP=EPT
This course is all unit-based (modules) and designed to be very flexible in the sense that it can be done in-person and online. This means you can complete the training in the most manageable way and alongside other responsibilities in your life. The theoretical components of the course are studied online with seminars; so you can complete the much of the study where you live or work, rather than having to travel continuously to London. There are three practice modules, each over 5 intensive days, which are completed in-person in London at the Existential Academy (EA). Every summer students will also attend an in-person creative module over 2 intensive days in which you will consolidate the years’ learning. These in-person modules will be an excellent opportunity to meet and connect with your fellow trainees.
The DEP can only be completed in conjunction with the MSc in Psychotherapy Studies on which you will also be enrolled. The MSc in Psychotherapy Studies has been validated by Middlesex University and provides a comprehensive theoretical training drawing from philosophy, psychology, sociology and anthropology.
In addition to the MSc modules, the DEP comprises of five additional theoretical units and clinical training. The clinical aspects of the training involve completing 450 hours of supervised practice with clients in placements, and having weekly personal psychotherapy. Clinical group supervision, beginning in the second year of the programme, can be provided entirely online through video conferencing.
This rich programme will train you to apply the principles of existential philosophy to human suffering. Existential philosophy encourages us to engage with the big questions of life, and an existential psychotherapist attends to a person grappling with the predicaments of their life, and to make sense and meaning of it. Existential psychotherapy eschews the medical categorising and labelling of distress, and instead views people as unique, autonomous individuals with the potential to overcome their problems and dilemmas.
This programme is designed to take four years but can be extended up to eight years.
The DEP/EPT course leader is Dr Neil Gibson [email protected]
Programme of Study
Year 1
- Existential Theory
This module will introduce you to the existential approach to psychotherapy, bringing to focus the relevant philosophy and how this links to therapy. Students will be exposed to the various philosophers and practitioners on whose work existential therapy is based
Summative assessment: 2000-word essay
- Psychoanalytic Theory
The aim of the theory is to provide a grounding in psychoanalytic theory through a critical examination of key concepts conceptualised by the main schools and traditions of psychoanalysis. This module will also evaluate the epistemological basis of psychoanalysis and considered modern developments.
Summative assessment: 2000-word essay
- CBT Theory
The theory element of this module aims to enable students to achieve a grounding in the fundamentals of CBT, from its philosophical and scientific origins to the current 3rd wave approaches.
Summative assessment: 2000-word essay
- Existential Practice Skills 1
Students will learn basic counselling skills and be introduced to the theory of phenomenology and its relevance to practice. You will learn how to develop a phenomenological attitude, and approach to listening, and apply existential ideas into practice. There will be group work and triad skills practice throughout, as well as a personal and professional development group session at the end of each day.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflection on the week
- Existential Practice Skills 2
Students will learn about the existential frame, boundaries and confidentiality. You will learn the significance of working meaning, and purpose, and how to understand and approach emotions such as anger, anxiety, and depression. There will be group work and triad skills practice throughout, as well as a personal and professional development group session at the end of each day.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflection on the week
- Existential Practice Skills 3
Students develop the existential attitude when working with dreams and narratives. Themes such as trauma, bereavement, suicide, and self-harm will be approached. You will also learn about working with difference and ‘otherness’. There will be group work and triad skills practice throughout, as well as a personal and professional development group session at the end of each day.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflection on the week
Year 2
- Clinical Placement & Supervision 1 (three terms)
Students start working in a Clinical Placement. The aim of this module is to enable students to develop their therapeutic skills in a variety of placement settings under clinical supervision. This allows students to demonstrate their developing professional competence, though practice and clinical supervision.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflective piece for first two terms of year.
5000-word case study for the last term of the year.
- Creative Consolidation Module 1 (two intensive days)
Students will learn about the significance of creativity in psychotherapy. The aim of this experiential module is to consolidate their learning from the previous year of training, using different methods and media.
Year 3
- Clinical Placement & Supervision 2 (three terms)
The aim of this module is to enable students to develop their therapeutic skills in a variety of placement settings under clinical supervision, building on the work in year two. This allows students to demonstrate their developing professional competence, linking theory to practice and understanding and working with risk.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflective piece for first two terms of year.
5000-word case study for the last term of the year.
- Creative Consolidation Module 2 (two intensive days)
Students will return to creativity in psychotherapy. The aim of this experiential module is to consolidate their learning from the previous year of training, using different methods and media. They will discuss and reflect upon the connections between their, for example artwork, and the theoretical concepts learned over the past year.
Discuss the use of creativity in understanding clinical material with their clients
Year 4
- Families and Systems Therapy
The aims of this module are to provide a thorough grounding in the family and systems perspective on therapy and to show the development of this approach from its inception to the present day. It will enable students to think of individual problems as located in the nexus of the family and to apply this way of looking at issues to their own clinical work.
Summative assessment: 2000-word essay
- Critical Psychopathology
The aim of this module is to enable students to recognise the principal diagnostic categories used in mental health settings, their characteristics, and the major critiques of those criteria or, where relevant, of the value of making any diagnosis at all.
Summative assessment: 2000-word essay
- Clinical Placement & Supervision 3 (three terms)
The aim of this module is to enable students to develop their advanced therapeutic skills, where they can show integration of theoretical approaches and critically appraise their practice. Students will demonstrate competent, ethical practice and show how they work with complex client presentation.
Summative assessment: 2000-word reflective piece for first two terms of year.
5000-word case study for the last term of the year.
- Creative Consolidation Module 3 (two intensive days)
Students will return to creativity in psychotherapy. The aim of this experiential module is to consolidate their learning from the previous year of training, using different methods and media. They will discuss and reflect upon the connections between their, for example artwork, and the theoretical concepts learned over the past year.
Discuss the use of creativity in understanding clinical material with their clients.
What to Expect
This programme is designed as a hybrid model of teaching, which means you can Alongside the MSc online modules, you will be embark upon the full clinical training as follows:
Year one
In this year you will be introduced and critically examine the existential, psychoanalytic, and CBT theory. You will be given skills training, in three intensive blocks, in the first year which allows you to apply theory to practice using an existential approach.
The theory introduces the key concepts of existential philosophy and existential psychotherapy. It will provide you with opportunities to start building practitioner skills in a supportive environment. Skills are developed in triads consisting of other students and sessions are led by a qualified existential psychotherapist. You must complete the following 5 modules before you can progress to a clinical placement:
Year two
From year two the MSc online modules run alongside the DEP modules. The MSc modules are moodle based with online seminars. They are intellectually stimulating and varied modules, aimed at challenging how you see the world and encouraging the development of critical thinking. Information on the MSc can be found here
In this second year of the EPT you will begin in clinical placement, and attend weekly clinical supervision either at the school in London, or online via Zoom (you choose!) The supervision is run as groups of up to 5 students. All our clinical supervisors have many years’ experience and are registered with the UKCP or BPS. The purpose of supervision is to have an experienced practitioner, and fellow colleagues, oversee your clinical work from an existential perspective and support you through the placement experience. The clinical work and supervision is the bedrock of your training and the most challenging personally and professionally. You will be responsible for finding your own placement but will be given direction and support by the clinical coordinator.
Years three & four
In year three you will complete the MSc, and continue in the rest of your training with your clinical placement and supervision. The clinical work and supervision is the focus on your final year, accompanied by three additional DEP modules: Critical Psychopathology, and Family and Systems. Successful completion of DEP and MSc modules will mean you are put forward to the UKCP national register and will be able to practice independently as a bona fide Existential Psychotherapist.
Personal psychotherapy: Throughout your training you must be in weekly personal psychotherapy with a UKCP registered existential psychotherapist. This is a clinical requirement of the UKCP and the Existential Academy. This is at arranged at your own expense.
Fees 2023-24
| DEP (Diploma in Existential Psychotherapy) modules to be completed * | Fee payable per year (if no modules have to be repeated) |
1 | 6 modules | £6408 (£890 + VAT = £1068 per module) |
2 | 3 modules | £3204 (£890 + VAT = £1068 per module) |
1 module (2 days end-of-year)
| £480 (£400 + VAT = £480) | |
3 | 3 modules | £3204 (£890 + VAT = £1068 per module) |
1 module (2 days end-of-year)
| £480 (£400 + VAT = £480) | |
4 | 5 modules | £5340 (£890 + VAT = £1068 per module)
|
1 module (2 days end-of-year)
| £480 (£400 + VAT = £480) | |
APEL | Per submission | £200
|
|
TOTAL : £19,596
(excluding any APEL)
| |
*Students are required, at their own expense, to be in personal psychotherapy with a UKCP registered Existential Psychotherapist for the duration of their studies.
Fees above do not include those required for the additional MSc in Psychotherapy Studies element. You can find details of this course on the NSPC website at this link.