Train as a Psychotherapist

Training Structure: 10 weekends/140 hours of core training a year for four years. 520 total core training hours. Additional hours of tutorials, supervision, CPD and therapy are also required.

We also run a further fifth year + to support your Professional Development and working towards your Certification as a Transactional Analyst.

Course Description: This training is intended for students who plan to pursue a professional career as counsellors or psychotherapists practicing TA. This course enables trainees to work safely and ethically in private practice or the statutory/voluntary sectors.

Successful completion of the four year training leads to an assessment process and the option to apply for inclusion in the National Register of Psychotherapists published by the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

In their third year, students may also achieve their UKATA Diploma on submission of satisfactory Diploma assessments. They may then choose to apply for BACP Accreditation as a counsellor subject to having completed the required practice hours.

Students may also continue their training for the Certification as a Transactional Analyst - this is a qualification recognised by the European Association for TA and the International Association for TA.

After completion of training, an exam group supports trainees to prepare for their final exam.

PDE Course Description: This course is an opportunity to process your four years training and consolidate your professional practice. For some people this means client work, developing your identity and collegiate relationships. For others this will mean writing their UKCP registration case study or CTA exam in the context of a supportive group. A tutor runs this professional day by contracting with group for what they want at the beginning of each session. There are options for personal and professional process, client case studies, practice for oral exams, practice for presentations that you are preparing for a conference, developing and analysing theory.

​Next four year psychotherapy training Begins:​ September 2024

Applications Open: November 4th 2023

Applications Close: 31st May 2024

Application Process: Written application followed by interview.

Second interview date: TBA

Please see below for more details:

Training costs for psychotherapy training per year: £2,100.

(Training costs can be spread out over the year.)

Professional Development and Exam Group costs per year: This is run over 9 Sundays and currently costs £1000

Everything you need to know to train as a psychotherapist...

If you'd like to train as a psychotherapist, via our psychotherapy qualification, you are in the right place.

Please see below all the relevant information with regards to training as a psychotherapist at our stunning location in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Train as a Psychotherapist

Training in transactional analysis psychotherapy is a life changing experience that will transform your clinical practice. Applications can be from qualified counsellors and individuals who have a passion for transforming lives through mental health.

Sample of four year curriculum

Year 1 - Self

  1. Introduction. Philosophy and history of TA.

  2. Classical School Structural and Functional ego states, Transactions, Games and Drama Triangle.

  3. Cathexis SchoolSymbiosis, Discounting, Passivity, Reparenting. Self-reparenting.

  4. Classical School: Theory of motivation, Strokes, Hungers, Time Structuring. Life script. Unpacking the family.

  5. Redecision SchoolImpasses, 2 chair work, Gestalt theories

  6. Theories of Cure. Autonomy or Homogeny?

  7. Relational School and Co-creative school. The beginnings of Transference

  8. Integrative School. Richard Erskine and Relational Needs.

  9. Professional Practice, Ethics, Self-reflection. Using therapy and supervision to support clinical practice.

Year 2 - Others

  1. Diagnosis and Assessment using DSMV. Who should we work with (or not)?

  2. Treatment planning. Contracting.

  3. Personality Adaptations

  4. Anxiety

  5. Depression

  6. Eating Disorders

  7. Abuse and Trauma. Poly Vagal therapy

  8. Narcissistic and Borderline presentations

  9. The therapeutic relationship, ethics, professional practice and transference.

Year 4 - Professional Practice

  1. Therapeutic Identity

  2. Working with groups. Introduction to Constellations.

  3. Working with suicide and high risk clients

  4. Working with Intersectionality, culture and difference in the therapy room.

  5. Parent Ego State. Working with 'more than one' in the room. Family constellations in individual therapy..

  6. Developing a practice outside walls

  7. Trauma, Neurobiology, polyvagal therapy and how this relates to TA

  8. Co-creative weekend. Looking at research as part of therapeutic practice.

  9. Rupture, shame and forgiveness - working with deep archaic processes in therapy and supervision.

Year 3 - Clinical Practice

  1. Adult Ego State - constructivism

  2. Working with couples (1)

  3. Child ego state deepened

  4. Working with Addiction.

  5. Research - writing a literary review, thinking critically. Working with the Parent ego state.

  6. Working with couples (2)

  7. Mental Health Familiarisation. Diagnosis and Case Studies.

  8. Organisational Scripts. Review Research.

  9. Menopause, being an elder, grief, loss and dying - a cross cultural perspective.

The tenth weekend every year invites all four training years to a celebration. This includes presentations, completion certificates and rituals to mark the end of a successful year.

Application process below

If you would like to train as a psychotherapist with us, we have a rigorous application process for admission to the first year of training in Transactional Analysis psychotherapy.

These are the steps you will need to take:
  • Written application (please see attachment below)
  • Completion of a TA 101 (we suggest that you attend a TA101 either with one of the staff at TAC, as this will give you a better sense of how we train, and mean that we can get to know you during your application process.)
  • Interview with an open house visit and discussion with tutors at TAC.

Please note: The interview day will include all successful applicants. We are interested in your honesty, vulnerability and how you experience yourself as an individual and as part of a group.
Written application must be received by 4/11/23

Please note: Applications are now for intake September 2024 - 2025.

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