North London CAT Practitioner Training - cancelled
3rd October 2017 to 31st August 2019


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2017-2019 North London CAT Practitioner Training CANCELLED
October 2017-August 2019

There are a few places left - the application deadline has been extended to 23rd June 2017

The course is run by the Haringey Complex Care Team at Halliwick, St Ann’s Hospital which is part of Barnet, Enfield & Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust.  The course is accredited by the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy, (ACAT).

CAT Practitioner Training

CAT Practitioner Training is a two-year course leading to ACAT Accreditation.  With this accreditation you are eligible for full membership of the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT) and eligible to practice CAT from within your core profession.  Course graduates will also be eligible to apply to do a further two years’ Psychotherapy Training in CAT, leading to UKCP registration. 

Course Aim & Structure

The course aims to provide a training, which enables professionals with established competence in their own field to enhance their understanding and skills in psychotherapy, by learning the theory and clinical application of Cognitive Analytic Therapy.  The taught component of the course is spread over two years and consists of training days, seminar groups, supervised clinical work and a personal therapy experience of a 16 session CAT. 

Training Days

There are 12 training days in each year, covering the following: 

•    The integrated theory of CAT and its sources 
•    The sense of Self, its development and disruption 
•    Fundamental CAT concepts and tools 
•    Basic concepts in psychotherapy practice
•    Therapeutic skills and the therapy relationship 
•    The social and professional context of CAT 
•    Personality disorders and CAT in specialist settings 
•    Evidence-based psychotherapy practice 
•    Theories of change and principles of ethical practice 

The course aims to familiarise trainees with the theory of CAT, providing an understanding of the Procedural Sequence (Object Relations) Model and Reciprocal Role Relationships, as well as introducing later developments in CAT, of activity theory and self-states.  Trainees will be helped to apply these concepts, along with the CAT reformulatory tools (prose letters, diagrams, and goodbye letters) through skills practice and supervised clinical work.

The training inputs will address the background theories which have informed the development of CAT and will also cover issues common to all psychotherapies within the CAT context:  assessment; transference & counter transference; therapeutic alliance; process of change; working with difficult patients; termination; follow up.  All the training inputs will be planned in the light of the social/political context and relevant research and evidence bases. 

The training days will take place on a Tuesday at the Halliwick Centre at St Ann’s Hospital, London N15 3TH and comprise a balance of presentations, group discussions, case presentations and experiential and group work. 

Supervised Clinical Work

Trainees will be expected to complete clinical work with a minimum of eight patients, under the supervision of an accredited ACAT supervisor.  Supervision will normally take place weekly for 1½ hrs, usually in groups of three trainees.  There will be a minimum of 40 supervision sessions per year.  Trainees are required to be in CAT supervision until completion of all their clinical work. 

Where trainees complete a placement within BEH and see BEH patients, supervision will usually be provided.  External applicants may complete placements locally, in their own Trusts, and negotiate accredited supervision.  Some placements at BEH will be offered to external applicants, and we may be able to link trainees to other placements offering accredited CAT supervision in nearby Trusts. Where supervision is not provided as part of the placement, trainees may need to pay for supervision by an ACAT-accredited CAT supervisor.

Personal Therapy 

Trainees are required to undertake a 16 session personal CAT with an ACAT accredited therapist, ideally undertaken during the first year, or at minimum, arranged by the end of year 1.  Fees are negotiated directly with the therapist. Typical costs are currently in the region of £50 or more per session. 

Ethical Practice

Trainees will become Trainee members of ACAT and will be expected to work within ACAT’s Code of Practice and Ethics for Members, as well as within their Appeals and Complaints Procedures.

Assessment

Comprises:

•    Satisfactory feed-back from supervisors and tutors and 85% attendance at all aspects of the course 
•    Two case studies, one each year 
•    Two academic essays, one each year 
•    Individual and group presentations 
•    4 satisfactory clinical appraisals throughout the 2 years

Admission Criteria

As a general guide:

•    Core professional training in one of the health-care professions (Nursing, Medicine, Clinical or Counselling Psychology, OT, Social Work) (essential)
•    Two years post-qualification experience in core profession (preferable)
•    Experience and/or training in psychotherapy at an introductory level (preferable)
•    Managerial support for the training (finance and time commitment) (essential)
•    Appropriate access to clients (essential)
•    An experience of personal therapy (preferable)

How to apply

Applicants are asked to submit a completed application form (download from the ACAT website or requests to Course Director, details below) and a current CV (two referees are required).  We also ask you to provide details of a likely source of referrals, supervision arrangements and a venue for seeing patients/clients, if you are an external applicant (i.e. not from beh-mht).  Please scroll further down this page for a downloadable application form.

In addition, applicants are asked to provide a Personal Statement, giving a brief outline of: 

•    Your current therapeutic approach and what you hope to gain from training in CAT (300 words)

•    Why it is important for clinicians to develop an understanding of their own emotional life (500 words)


Application forms along with the initial (non-returnable) application fee of £30 by cheque, are to be made payable to BEH-MHT and sent to: 

Dr. Alison Macdonald, Course Director,
Haringey Complex Care Team
Halliwick, St Ann’s Hospital, St Ann’s Road,
Tottenham, London N15 3TH

Enquiries via e-mail to:  Alison.Macdonald@beh-mht.nhs.uk
 

Short-listed applicants will then be invited for interview. If you are short-listed you will be required to pay a further £70 interview fee. The yearly course fee is £2950 per annum (£negotiable for BEH employees), which includes training, seminar groups, tutorials, and the annual ACAT Trainee membership fee (£82). It does not include the cost of course books, personal psychotherapy, and supervision. Extensions beyond the two years may incur an additional cost.

The course organisers reserve the right to increase fees in Year Two, although the intention is that they remain the same as Year One and will only increase due to unforeseen circumstances. 

Costs of supervision are also included if clinical work is undertaken at the Halliwick with BEH Trust patients.  The course fees do not include the costs of personal therapy, nor of supervision of placements that are undertaken in a setting where accredited CAT supervision is not provided. 

The deadline for applications has been extended to 23rd June 2017.

The interview date for these late applications will be 11th July 2017.  

The course is one of the regional trainings of the Association for Cognitive Analytic Therapy (ACAT):  admin@acat.me.uk, telephone 01305 263511.

 


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