Throughout the three years of training, each year of the course will consider the following areas of study in increasing levels of complexity:

• the somatic basis of experience
• somatic process
• development of human personality and motivation
• construction of subjective reality ie the development of consciousness
• emotions in personality development (affect theory)
• professional ethics
• theories of the therapeutic relationship and the psychotherapeutic process: Freudian, Object Relations, Self Psychology, Intersubjectivity, Existential Phenomenology, Humanistic, Somatic (including contemporary approaches) & Narrative
• the philosophical bases of psychotherapy theory and practice
• post-modern and post-structural analyses of psychotherapy theory and practice
• human neurophysiology and neuroendocrinology and their relationship to personality development, stress states, trauma and illness
• the integration of somatic and verbal skills in the therapeutic relationship using an integrated theoretical framework
• group process

The course integrates this material as outlined below:

Units of Study

1. Psychotherapy Theory and Practice: History and Philosophy

This unit is an introduction to, and post modern critical evaluation of the major theories which have dominated the field of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and somatic psychotherapy. It also will also assist you in understanding the underlying values and the beliefs about human development, human learning and functioning, the place of emotion in the theory and the implicit and explicit reliance on power and authority to effect change. The turning points in theory development will be examined to illustrate the way psychotherapy theory and practice has evolved, often through the creative work of dissident individuals who had to fight the conservative and frequently hostile orthodoxy of their profession. The major theories covered will be Freud, Object Relations, Self Psychology, Intersubjectivity, Existential Phenomenology, Humanistic orientations (Rogers and Maslow), Somatic models (Reich, Lowen, Boyesen, Boadella, Keleman), including contemporary understandings of Somatic Psychotherapy, and the relationship between Somatic Psychotherapy and spirituality.

2. Somatic Psychotherapy Skill Development (Somatic and Verbal)

This unit will focus on the learning of specific verbal and somatic skills in a micro teaching format to gradually build each student's skill profile. This will commence with basic counselling and somatic skills, developing these into more complex configurations as the course progresses and as you master each level of skill development. You will come to understand the use of psychotherapeutic touch, working with the breath and with psycho-organic body process (emphasising both containment and expression in Self development), will be covered. You will also develop an understanding of when this isn’t appropriate. The acquisition of verbal and somatic skills will be placed within a theoretical context creating congruence between theory and practice, and this model will be critically evaluated. Your own ethics and values and the way these impinge on the psychotherapy relationship will be explored.

3. Central Issues in Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy

This unit addresses the body/mind question; affect theory; feminist analyses of the body and the social construction of gender; power, authority and compliance in psychotherapy theory and practice; sexuality, the body and the Self; passion, the erotic, and ecstatic experiences; regression/progression; prevailing social norms and values regarding emotions; the meaning of embodied authenticity for therapist and client; psychosomatics and neuroendicronology; contraindications in the use of specific verbal and somatic skills.

4. Human Development and Affect Theory

All psychotherapy theories are based on assumptions about human development and the place of affects and emotion in their understandings about the psychotherapeutic relationship and process. This Unit will present you with recent profound theories and research in human development including attachment theory, trauma theory and affect theory and relate these to the various theories of psychotherapy that are covered in the course.

5. Group Process

Each training group establishes its own process, which evolves through time. Students have to communicate with each other and with a range of trainers, and the development of effective communication and interpersonal skills is an essential requirement for each student, not only for the development of a safe and stimulating learning environment, but also for the value of these skills in the psychotherapeutic relationship. It is important to note that this is an experiential unit and you will not receive training in the theory and practice of leading groups.