Clinical Psychotherapy

Clinical Psychotherapy is the flagship annual programme of the International Psychotherapy Association (IPAS). It is designed for clinicians who already hold a core qualification in psychology, medicine, counselling or social work and who wish to deepen their understanding of the psychodynamic tradition while building a reliable, reproducible clinical technique. The curriculum has been shaped by two decades of graduate training practice in Europe and North America, and further refined through the Council of IPAS in consultation with senior supervisors working in both public and private sectors.

The programme follows the arc of an actual treatment. We begin with the first telephone contact, the setting of the frame, the preparatory interview and the working agreement; we move on to the middle phase where transference, counter-transference and resistance become the real material of the work; and we end with the often neglected but decisive phase of termination. At every step theory is grounded in casework. Participants bring their own clinical material to supervision, and each cohort observes a series of video-recorded sessions that illustrate the concepts under discussion.

The theoretical backbone is drawn from the object relations tradition — Fairbairn, Winnicott, Bion, Klein, Ogden — but we also give serious attention to attachment theory, mentalisation-based treatment, and contemporary neuroscience of affect regulation. The aim is not encyclopaedic coverage of schools but the construction of a coherent internal map that the clinician can actually use under the pressure of clinical encounter. Ethics and professional conduct are not treated as a separate module added at the end; they are woven through every unit, because clinical judgement and ethical judgement are in practice inseparable.

Teaching is delivered in a hybrid format. Core didactic units are pre-recorded and available asynchronously, so that participants in different time zones can study at their own pace. Case seminars and supervision groups are conducted live by video-conference in groups of no more than eight, ensuring that each participant presents clinical material several times during the year. Two three-day residentials — one near the start of the programme, one near the end — provide the experiential and collegial anchor of the training.

Assessment is continuous and formative. Participants submit written case formulations, process notes and reflective journals; they receive detailed written feedback from supervisors; and in the final third of the programme they present an extended case study to the cohort. Certification is contingent on attendance, supervision engagement, and the quality of the final case presentation. Graduates receive the IPAS Certificate of Achievement in Clinical Psychotherapy, signed by Robin Mackay, President of the Council, and bearing a unique verification identifier accessible at intpas.com.