Course summary

The Professional Doctorate in Existential Psychotherapy and Counselling is a joint programme between NSPC and Middlesex University. The DProf programme is both an academic qualification and a professional psychotherapy training. Successful completion of the doctoral programme leads to the award of a DProf degree by Middlesex University. Successful completion of the DProf also qualifies graduates for full membership of the University Psychotherapy and Counselling Association (UPCA) and thus also for the Universities Training College, which confers eligibility for UKCP accreditation as an existential psychotherapist. The programme comprises three different interconnected strands leading to a well-rounded training both academically and as practitioners. These strands comprise of academic theory, skills training with substantial period of supervised practice in placement, and a research project culminating in submitting a thesis. The philosophy of this programme is existential. It is concerned with the understanding of people’s position in the world and with the clarification of what it means to be alive in the world. The existential paradigm is committed to exploring these questions with a receptive attitude in the search for truth with an open mind and an attitude of wonder. The existential philosophy of the school provides a disciplined philosophical framework. With this framework in mind, students will focus on learning and understanding the human predicaments and attending to their clients in a philosophical way. It draws on the work of existential and phenomenological thinkers and on the practice of existential psychotherapy. Existential thinkers avoid restrictive models that categorise or label people. Instead, they look for the universals that can be observed transculturally. There is no existential personality theory which divides humanity up into types or reduces people to part components. Instead, there is a description of the different levels of experience and existence that people are inevitably confronted with. The teaching and training provided by NSPC incorporates these basic values by recognising that life experience combined with formal academic, practical professional training and alongside research together form the four foundations on which students need to build in becoming an accomplished existential psychotherapist. This programme is designed for four years but can be extended up to eight years.