Develop a critical appreciation of broad, social, cultural and political domains as they impinge on theory, practice and thinking, together with a commitment to best practice and anti-oppressive approaches in clinical work. Develop and demonstrate a commitment to in-depth personal and professional growth, enabling the emphasis on self-reflection and self-awareness and an increasing sensitivity to one’s own processes, the processes of the client, and the processes between oneself and the client. Training programme design
The BSc (Hons) in Reflective Therapeutic Practice is a part-time training that takes place over the course of one year.
Students will enter onto the programme via an APL process, which consists of an initial interview, followed by the compilation and satisfactory passing of an APL Portfolio, in which they reflect on their previous experience.
Candidates who satisfactorily complete the APL Portfolio will then be invited onto the Reflective Inquiry Modules, which consists of three different modules held over 8 taught units. These modules prepare the student to undertake a literature review, then to take part in a reflective inquiry into an aspect of their clinical work and additionally supports them whilst they do so and then helps them to make meaning of and present their findings through a 5000 word Reflective Inquiry Essay, a Reflective inquiry Oral Presentation and a 5000 word reflection on the Oral Presentation. The eight units will encompass the following:
Unit 1 + 2: Developing an area of inquiry
In this unit we will introduce and explore action research principles and students will be assisted to build upon these as a means of developing an initial question upon which they will begin their reflective inquiry.
Unit 3: Literature Reviews
In this unit we will discuss the importance and use of literature searches as a means of assisting the student to locate their chosen areas of study into the wider field and explore how to conduct such a search and then how to critically review and present the findings.
Unit 4: Locating the area of inquiry into a wider context
In this unit students will be assisted to plan the initial stages and organisation of their Reflective Inquiry Project. Students will be assisted to locate their chosen areas of study into the wider counselling and psychotherapy field and explore possible ethical and professional practice issues, along with their management, that the inquiry may raise.
Unit 5: Exploring the initial findings
In this unit students will be assisted to reflect upon the initial findings that have come out of their reflective inquiry and to identify both how these findings give rise to further reflective enquiries and how to plan these further enquiries.
Unit 6: Making sense of the findings
In this unit students will be assisted to make sense of the findings that have come out of their reflective inquiry and to look at ways in which they can present the various inquiry cycles that they have undertaken.
Unit 7 + 8: Student presentations
In these units, students will present their findings, via an oral presentation and be assessed on this. Each presentation will last 30 minutes with 15 minutes for questions, followed by a 15 minute assessment by the assessment panel.
Successful completion of each part of the course will, subject to ratification, result in the award of a BSc (Hons) in Reflective Therapeutic Practice.
On completion of the programme, successful candidates will be able to:
Conduct independent enquiries into their clinical work, which leads to enhanced clinical practice.
Operate reflexively in both personal and professional arenas, enabling a professional awareness and willingness to communicate with other professionals in the field.
Critically assess the complex nature of clinical work and demonstrate the ability to work effectively and ethically with such processes.
Develop and demonstrate a knowledge of and application of theory and inquiry into ethical, effective practice.
Locate professional clinical practice in the broader domains of social, cultural and political dynamics in a way which fosters anti-oppressive practice and inclusion.
Appreciate the importance of personal development in the context of professional practice and understand the importance of on-going support and collaboration in this work.
Course dates
2009: 5th/6th September, 9th October, 6th November
2010: 12th February, 12th March, 8th/9th May
Course Requirements
Supervised Client Contact
Students on this course will need to be seeing clients throughout the entire programme. As students on the course will be experienced and qualified practitioners it is anticipated that they will be a position to regulate their own client load.With this in mind we do not suggest a maximum number of clients, but state a minimum of three clients per week.
Supervision
Regular supervision is an integral part of training.As above we expect most of the students to be negotiating this with their supervisors and whilst this is not a formally assessed part of the course, it is a requirement of the course that students are receiving appropriate levels of supervisory support.
Personal Therapy
Whilst personal therapy is not a requirement for qualified students on the course, we strongly recommend it as a useful addition.
Self, Peer, Trainer and Supervisor Assessment
It is expected that students will keep an on-going log of their training and professional development process over the duration of the course; it is also expected that this will contain on-going self assessment, peer evaluation and feedback from trainers and supervisors.
Accumulation and Recording of Hours
Students are responsible for keeping an accurate log of all their training related hours throughout the training. The BSc (Hons) in Reflective Therapeutic Practice takes place over eight 7-hour training days.It is a requirement of the course that students attend all days. In exceptional circumstances one of these training days can be missed without the student needing to repeat the course, but the student will then need to show either through the submission of a piece of written work or attendance at an extra tutorial, that they have met the learning outcomes for the training unit they have missed.
