Psychotherapy Training: What it’s Really Like to Study Psychotherapy

As we come to the end of another academic year,  the Iron Mill TA team took some time to reflect and to consider the high points, as well as the challenges,  for our students in training.   

Let’s start with some context.   

Awareness about the importance of Mental Health is growing and is a matter for society, institutions and families across the world. In the UK some figures indicate that 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year and that at any given time 1 in 6 working adults have symptoms associated with mental ill health. These include common suffering such as living with anxiety and depression, though other examples include Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, bi-Polar and schizophrenia.  As a team, we’ve noticed that even in times of hardship, such as recessions and our current cost of living crisis, the need for mental health support from counselling and psychotherapy remains high. Many of our students have come into training because of their own counselling and psychotherapy which has given them insight and awareness about why mental health support really matters and can change lives for the better. 

The TA psychotherapy training at the Iron Mill offers an integrative, relational, experiential, practical and theoretical education that supports people to become effective relational psychotherapists. This opens the opportunity for our students to have successful and fulfilling careers as counsellors and psychotherapists, delivering work that is socially relevant and that matters to them deeply. 

So, what are the highlights for our psychotherapy students? Myself and our tutors -  

Jane Kibblewhite, Paula Dishman and Rosie Harris reflect on different aspects of the student experience 

  

Experience of the course: 

“Many were saying that they are really going to miss the course. I think the diversity of the students doing the course gives them a chance to have meaningful relationships with people they might not get to meet otherwise. I think this is an important benefit for people to know about when they sign up for the course. “ 

“I think that’s really important and the regular contact we provide is very holding for students” 

“So, the way we teach psychotherapy here helps people to really put themselves in another’s shoes – including with those who may have had very different lives”. 

  

Training Quality and Focus: 

“Our students learn about our understanding of the differences between counselling and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy considers how our histories and context shape our mind and how we work with the depth of those influences. Students learn how to work with patterns that can feel entrenched, that start from birth and can be very challenging to undo.” 

“Our TA training is distinct, how psychotherapy works with attachment and trauma and how mental health diagnoses indicate deep deficits in a sense of self.” 

“There is an emphasis on the relational and working with transference. There is a focus on working at depth with the intensity of relational dynamics” 

“The depth of our psychotherapy training is important – and how we help students learn about unconscious and primitive processes. How working with transference or with dreams really helps uncover these dynamics, heal trauma and empower people to know themselves in very intimate ways.” 

  

What students leave with: 

“This is a robust and comprehensive training. And, we don’t just mean about academic ability but about personal competence and capacity to work in groups.” 

“I agree, Trainees finish with an understanding of the complexity of psychotherapy clients” 

“I am reminded about the competencies needed in becoming a psychotherapist – the sort that come with exposure to experience.” 

“Trainees finish with a depth and capacity to be really curious about their clinical work” 

“TA psychotherapy works with unconscious processes, offers a robust training, personal skills and is practical as well as academic. Life experience is considered extremely important.” 

  

What surprises trainees about the course: 

“That there is such a strong European and International Community in TA.” 

“The feedback we get is that what surprises students is the relationships they make” 

“The level of personal awareness and change from the course. They get to know themselves in a way that wouldn’t happen normally or in ways that they could not predict at the start.” 

“Psychotherapy trainees grow and become more able to be in relationship in a non-judgemental way, to be curious and to explore where there are misunderstandings.” 

  

Connection and Community: 

“It is a way of meeting and engaging with people from different walks of life. We meet people we might never have expected to meet and connect with.” 

“All walks of life come into psychotherapy training, with experience of life from both home and work.” 

 

Career Investment: 

“We must acknowledge the investment in psychotherapy training – it is a lot of money and a big investment of time, emotions and money. But psychotherapy leads to such a fulfilling career and life” 

  

As I reflect on the team’s conversation, a number of thoughts spring to mind 

• Making the most from the Training comes from engaging with a holistic and transformational experience of engaging in personal therapy, starting to see clients, (in the advanced psychotherapy training) and having a meaningful relationship with your supervisor, trainers and peers.
• Learning to become a psychotherapist is much more than learning about a new profession. It is about learning about yourself, your humanity, the meaning of your work and making long lasting friends and colleagues who enrich your life.
• Challenges are that we sometimes look at parts of our self that we may not like. However, this is also healing and helps us to have a better relationship with ourselves and others.
• Favourite parts of the training are getting to know the students, working with them and seeing them flourish
• We love teaching psychotherapy because it is fun, it is stimulating, and we care very much about improving mental health in our community.

 

If you want to learn more, please reach out to us at enquiries@ironmill.co.uk.  We’d love to hear from you  

Karen Minikin, Course Lead on TA Psychotherapy Courses
and the TA Teaching Team

Written August 2024

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