FdA Therapeutic Communication and Therapeutic Organisations

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How can you support the people who need your service most effectively?

How can you work more collaboratively with your colleagues?

What counts as therapeutic support for children, young people, or older adults?

Our Foundation Degree, comprising of one afternoon of teaching a week, offers a theoretical understanding and the practical tools for emotionally grounded therapeutic work with children, adolescents, and adults, whatever your role.

Using a psychodynamic framework, the course will help you develop a thorough understanding of the human processes within and around the people who use your service and the people who are trying to help them. We also equip you with an awareness of the wider dimension of organisational dynamics. Put together, these both will contribute to your development as an effective and perceptive practitioner.

You study:

• Psychodynamic theory
• Child and adult development
• Issues of trauma and violence
• The dynamics of therapeutic interventions in organisations

You also have the opportunity to develop your insight as a reflective thinker through reflective observation workshops.

We connect the workshops on campus with elements of work-place learning, to ensure that you can make the connection between the course and your practice.

After finishing this Foundation Degree, you are able to take a further one year course to gain a BA Honours Degree. The course is accredited by APPCIOS (The Association of Psychodynamic Practice and Counselling in Organisational Settings).

Professional accreditation

Accredited by the Association for Psychodynamic Practice and Counselling in Organisational Settings (APPCIOS).

Our expert staff

What sets our teaching team apart is that each one blends clinical experience and expertise in their field with the academic rigour for which the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies has such a reputation. You will be taught by lecturers who have years of experience working directly with troubled individuals and groups in specialist settings. This means they can draw upon not only the enduring academic tradition and the latest research in the field of psychoanalytic studies but also upon years of clinical experience as teachers, psychotherapists, and therapeutic community practitioners.

Mr Chris Tanner, Fd.A Course Director, brings many years of experience in special education and therapeutic communities, having held a number of leaderships and directorships roles in such organisations. He also works as an organisational consultant working across diverse sectors in the UK. He is a Specialist Member of the Ministry of Justice Health, Education and Social Care Tribunal. He has postgraduate qualifications in special education, psychoanalytic studies, and organisational consultancy.

Mrs Arianna Pulsoni is a child and adolescent psychoanalytic psychotherapist. Arianna has worked in NHS and in schools. She is the lead on the wellbeing and counselling service in an international school. She has also worked with mother and baby refugees and she is doing a research on intergenerational family difficulties and parent work at the Tavistock Clinic. Arianna also works as a clinical supervisor and specialist consultant.

Dr Chris Nicholson has some 15 years experience working in residential childcare and therapeutic communities. His PhD thesis concerned the effects of war trauma upon the literary works of Robert Graves. He is the primary author and editor of Children and Adolescents in Trauma: Creative Therapeutic Approaches published in 2010. Chris sits on the Advisory Board for Children and Young People at the Royal College of Psychiatrists' Therapeutic Communities section. He speaks at both national and international conferences and teaches here as well as in Greece.

Specialist facilities

You will experience a lively, informal environment with many possibilities to pursue your own interests:

• You will have access to the Albert Sloman Library, which houses a strong collection of books, journals, electronic resources and major archives
• The Department has its own dedicated library of specialist texts which inform and influence our research
• Free evening Open Seminars on topics relevant to psychoanalysis which are open to students, staff and members of the public.

Your future

In undertaking this course you'll study a range of psychoanalytic concepts - applying them to individuals, relationships and organisations, which will provide you with a unique perspective of why we are the way we are, on understanding others and knowing how to relate to them, which will make you suited for further clinical training, postgraduate study in different fields, or employment.

Key areas of employment for people with these skills include marketing, advertising, human resources, management, the media, care work, teaching or health care. Our recent graduates have gone on to work in a wide range of careers, including:

• Psychoanalytic therapy
• Clinical psychology
• NHS Mental Health work
• Management Consultancy
• Country Director (Afghanistan) with the Danish Refugee Council
• Therapeutic Consultancy

We also work with the University's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

“I never expected to develop such enthusiasm and passion for my chosen subject. I have acquired and built on a range of different skills, and by the end of my first year I had obtained paid employment within two separate organisations: a community interest company in Essex and a registered charity in Suffolk.”

David Bloomfield, FdA Therapeutic Communication and Therapeutic Organisation.

UK entry requirements

Our applicants must demonstrate capacity to study for Foundation Degree as evidenced by NVQ, A-level and access courses or other evidence, perhaps including evidence of relevant experience and ability from the workplace.

We accept a wide range of other qualifications from applicants studying in the UK, EU and other countries. For further details about the qualifications that we accept, please e-mail us with information about the high school qualifications you have already completed or are currently taking.

We welcome applications from mature students and students wishing to defer entry.

Additional requirements

You must also have a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) - both of these are organised by the University. Please contact our DBS team if you have any questions relating to this.

A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS Check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more.

English language requirements

English language requirements for applicants whose first language is not English: IELTS 6.0 overall, or specified score in another equivalent test that we accept.

Details of English language requirements, including UK Visas and Immigration minimum component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here

If we accept the English component of an international qualification then it will be included in the information given about the academic levels listed above for the relevant countries.

Please note that date restrictions may apply to some English language qualifications.

If you are an international student requiring a Student visa to study in the UK please see our immigration webpages for the latest Home Office guidance on English language qualifications.

What if my IELTS does not meet your requirements?

If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.

Do I need to have achieved an acceptable English language qualification before I apply?

You don’t need to achieve the required level before making your application, but it will be one of the conditions of your offer.

What if the English language qualification I hold, or am taking, is not listed?

If you cannot find the qualification that you have achieved or are pending, then please contact Admissions on ugquery@essex.ac.uk for advice.

What are the requirements for second and final year entry?

Different requirements apply for second and final year entry, and specified component grades are also required for applicants who require a visa to study in the UK. Details of English language requirements, including UK Visas and Immigration minimum component scores, and the tests we accept for applicants who require a Student visa (excluding Nationals of Majority English Speaking Countries) can be found here

Additional Notes

If you’re an international student, but do not meet the English language or academic requirements for direct admission to this degree, you could prepare and gain entry through a pathway course. Find out more about opportunities available to you at the University of Essex International College

Course structure

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.

Please note that in both years, you choose between two modules - Theory, Practice and Responsibility (Child and Adolescent) and Theory, Practice and Responsibility (Adult) - depending on your preferred route.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• Undergraduate students in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies typically attend a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar for each module per week. There are some variations in place depending on the module.
• Teaching takes place in relatively small seminars and fora, with a focus on group discussion
• Discussion in seminars includes both discussing other peoples' work and discussing your own experiences in the workplace
• You also undertake supervised clinical practice, participate in skills based workshops, and teach others through presentation of theoretical readings and clinical cases

Assessment

• Your grade is made up entirely of coursework marks, including essays and reflective reports