Programme aims
- To provide a basic psychoanalytic vocabulary and understanding of the unconscious dimension of relationships, communication and emotional containment
- To introduce students to the context and experience of employment ready for psychodynamic practice within the therapeutic and caring professions
- To provide a psychodynamic perspective on child, adolescent and adult development and difficulties
- To develop an understanding of physical and psychological violence, trauma and recovery, and psychodynamic approaches to addressing these
- To develop students’ understanding of the principles of psychodynamic observation as a way of understanding individuals, groups and institutions
- To understand the role of emotions in learning, behaviour, and social development
- To understand the psychodynamics of working in groups and institutions, including the therapeutic and anti-therapeutic processes
- To develop a psychodynamic understanding of the effect of disruptive behaviour and psychological disturbance on the institution and the therapeutic potential of psychodynamic management of the institution
- To recognise concerns around safeguarding of clients
- To understand and work with emerging factors related to class, race and gender which exclusion, injustice and marginalisation may be in play
- To provide a space and process by which students can explore and reflect upon the intersection between their academic, personal and professional selves
- To develop the students' understanding of reflective practice and what is required to become a reflective practitioner
- To put in practice students’ psychodynamic understanding via placements direct work and to learn counselling skills in therapeutic work.
- This programme aims to provide students with an experiential, work-based and theoretical understanding of the problems faced by individuals who find themselves in need of mental health support, care and containment within our society. It provides a firm foundation for a career in psychodynamic practice and the aligned caring professions, whether education, health or social care (e.g. work with troubled infants in nurseries, children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in schools or children’s homes, adults in social care and mental health settings, the elderly or those with learning difficulties). It also provides a solid basis in psychodynamic thinking, child, adolescent and adult development, and the dynamics of therapeutic interventions in groups and organisations as well as developing some basic counselling skills and a range of therapeutic skills and interventions.
- Overall, the programme offers a 'psycho-social' approach to therapeutic practice and care, underpinned by a long tradition in psychoanalysis, whereby the distorted communication between the clients, between clients and carers, and between carers and other professionals - all of this occurring within a familial and institutional frameworks - can be understood and adapted toward a therapeutic process.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: Knowledge of psychoanalytic vocabulary and capacity to describe the unconscious dimensions of relationships, communication and emotional containment.
A2: Knowledge and understanding of the unconscious factors in group structuring and functioning.
A3: Grasp of the impact of an institution on an individual and of an individual on an instituion.
A4: Psychodynamic understanding of the emotional factors that affect learning, relationships and behaviour.
A5: Knowledge of the psychodynamics of human development and disturbance
A6: Knowledge of the psychodynamic understanding of trauma and its influence on individuals and organisations
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical seminars (A1, A4), lectures, practice orientated seminars (A2, A5, A6), work-based practice (A2, A3, A4, A6), the experience of reflective groups and psychodynamic group observation (A2, A3, A6).
Assessment methods
Essays, presentation, take home test, case study, reflective report, work-based learning report, observation summary
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: To define and use specific psychoanalytic concepts describing relationships and communication, including transference, counter-transference, projection, introjection, etc
B2: To describe psychoanalytically the unconscious factors in group structuring and functioning, such as anxiety, defences against anxiety, authority and leadership.
B3: To describe in psychoanalytic terms the impact of an institution on an individual and of an individual on an institution.
B4: To describe the emotional factors that affect learning, relationships and behaviour.
B5: To describe psychoanalytically therapeutic and anti-therapeutic factors in relationships and organisations, the family and community.
B6: To discern unconscious dynamics in wider society, politics and culture (e.g. in relation to gender, race, disability, etc.).
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical seminars (B1, B4), lectures, practice orientated seminars (B2, B5, B6), work-based practice (B4, B6), the experience of reflective groups and psychodynamic group observation (B2. B3, B6). In addition, students learn how to carry out psychodynamically informed social observations, and through work-based practice, focus their theoretical understanding on specific settings and situations.
Assessment methods
Formal assessment is by essay, observation summaries and clinical case studies. The formal assessment is aided by formative assessment by work-based supervisors, to guide students’ work and the integration of theory and practice. The case studies assess the students’ work with respect to their knowledge of specific concepts and clinical strategies, and more particularly, a range of skills, which emerge as foci of the theoretical and experiential learning
C: Practical skills
C1: Capacity for psychodynamic observation.
C2: Capacity to recognize and describe situations and interactions in institutions in psychodynamic terms.
C3: Capacity to recognise and describe behaviour, including learning behaviour, in rleation to emotional dynamics.
C4: Capacity to analyse difficulties of individuals in terms of problems of relationships and of institutional factors.
C5: To carry out a piece of sustained work focussed on one individual.
C6: Capacity for use of self in reflective approach to practice.
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical seminars (C1), clinically orientated seminars (C2, C3), work-based clinical practice (C4), the experience of group relations and psychodynamic group observation. In addition, students learn how to carry out psychodynamically informed social observations (C2, C3), and through work-place supervised practice (C1, C2, C3, C4, C5) and performative assessment, focus their theoretical understanding on specific settings and situations. Their supervised practice provides the main setting for the development of specific skills.
Assessment methods
Formal assessment is by essay, observation summaries and clinical case studies. The formal assessment is aided by formative assessment by work-based supervisors, to guide students’ work and the integration of theory and practice. The case studies assess the students’ work with respect to their knowledge of specific concepts and clinical strategies, and more particularly, a range of skills, which emerge as foci of the theoretical and experiential learning
D: Key skills
D1: To communicate effectively with colleagues and with clients.
D2: To use e-mail, Moodle and electronic submission of assessed work.
D3: Knowledge of the range of available research approaches and an understanding of how this knowledge relates to their chosen area of research
D4: To develop a capacity to make a formulation based on psychodynamic understanding and to take a view on appropriate therapeutic interventions; to decide on specific topics for essays.
D5: To work effectively in an institutional setting, in which collaboration is the basic aim as well as therapeutic process.
D6: To work independently, including through e-based learning and to learn through practice and self-reflection, to engage in independent research towards a dissertation.
Learning methods
The programme makes use of theoretical seminars (D1, B4), lectures, practice orientated seminars (D1, D5), work-based practice (D5), the experience of reflective groups and psychodynamic group observation (D1. D5). In addition, students learn how to carry out psychodynamically informed social observations, and through work-based practice, focus their theoretical understanding on specific settings and situations (D4). Students also make presentations linked to an individual research project (D1, D6)
Assessment methods
Formal assessment is by essay, observation summaries and clinical case studies. The formal assessment is aided by formative assessment by work-based supervisors, to guide students’ work and the integration of theory and practice. The case studies assess the students’ work with respect to their knowledge of specific concepts and clinical strategies, and more particularly, a range of skills, which emerge as foci of the theoretical and experiential learning