Psychotherapy Training

Deciding to train to be a psychotherapist or counsellor (please see our counselling courses too) is often a big life decision. This decision can feel all the more daunting because of the range of different approaches from which to choose. At the Metanoia Institute, we run regular open evenings/ mornings to offer you the opportunity to come and find out a little bit more about our courses and whether counselling or psychotherapy is the right career path for you. To book onto one of these open evenings, please click here.

Before you can join one of our psychotherapy or counselling courses, you will need to attend our Certificate in Therapeutic Skills and Studies. This course will help you to begin to develop some of the skills that you will need as a psychotherapist as well as help you to decide with approach might suit you best. The course has several different start dates; please click here for a course leaflet and details of how to book a place. If you have taken a similar course elsewhere, please contact the course administrator to discuss whether the course you have taken can count as equivalence.

Our psychotherapy programmes are UKCP accredited as fully approved five-year psychotherapy qualifications.. Students on our psychotherapy courses can, after successful completion of the first two years of the psychotherapy training, opt to take an MSc in psychotherapy alongside their psychotherapy qualification. Both routes cover the same content and have the same requirements in terms of written work, personal therapy, clinical work and supervision, however, an additional fee is required to be paid  to cover the administrative processes concerning the academic award, as illustrated in the course fees.

Click the links below, to view the course description and leaflets:

* Diploma and optional MSc in Contemporary Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Application

* Diploma and optional MSc in Gestalt Psychotherapy

* Diploma and optional MSc in Humanistic Psychotherapy

* Diploma and optional MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy

* Diploma and optional MSc in Transactional Analysis Psychotherapy

Please note that while the psychotherapy programmes can be taken without the MSc, these leaflets outline the course as it is most often followed, which includes the MSc. Students who do not wish to take the MSc can still use these leaflets for information about course structure and design.

INTRODUCTORY WORKSHOPS - Once you have decided which programme you feel is right for you, you will need to book onto and attend an introductory workshop. Details of workshops can be found in the relevant course online leaflet or via the link to ‘Introductory Workshops’ on the Metanoia Institute's website. You can submit a full application for the course at the time of booking for the workshop, or you can submit your application afterward. Please be advised, though, that our courses fill up quickly and applications are processed in the order we receive them, so it is advisable not to wait to submit your application unless you wish to use the workshop experience to check whether this is the right course for you.

The introductory workshop serves as an opportunity to find out more about the course, the approach, and the way that we train at the Metanoia Institute. It also serves as the first part of the interview process, in that we are interested to see how you relate to the theory, how you interact with others, and how able you are to explore your process non-defensively.

INTERVIEW – Following a successful introductory workshop, you will be invited for an interview. Interviews are held in small groups or individually (depending on when you apply) and are conducted by a different tutor from the one who ran the introductory workshop. You will be asked to complete some forms in advance and to bring these with you, and much of the interview will revolve around questions arising from these. The interview is also an opportunity for you to ask any questions you may have. Wherever possible we inform you whether you have been successful or not in the week following your interview. If you are unsuccessful, we will give you detailed feedback about what you might need to do if you wish to reapply at some later stage.

ASSESSMENT OF PRIOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING (APL)

Individuals who wish to enter the psychotherapy programme midway through the programme without attending previous years may be able to do so, if they can evidence through the Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) process, that they have already gained

equivalent educational experience and or life experience. Please click here for details of this.

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC COUNSELLING DIPLOMA – All students on our psychotherapy courses are also eligible to take an optional psychotherapeutic counselling diploma, once they have completed 60 days of psychotherapy training and all its associated components. This course, which is taken alongside the psychotherapy programme, leads to full qualification as a counsellor and requires students to evidence their capacity to work coherently and sensitively at a senior level of practice, through the submission of an 8,000-word written exam and oral exam.