PHILOSOPHY
The PA offers therapy to individuals, couples and groups. Therapy opens up a space for thinking that is helpful when things go wrong in our lives. The therapeutic relationship unfolds new, creative and liberating perspectives on difficulties outside.
Ther are two PA therapeutic houses in North London. People who are suffering and need space away from the pressures and demands of modern day life can live with others in these houses for extended periods, using the time spent with each other to reflect on their experiences. More fulfilling lives become possible as a consequence.
The Philadelphia Association (PA) Study Programme includes the Introductory Course in Philosophy and Psychotherapy, an Online Introductory Course in Community, Philosophy and Psychotherapy, Diploma Course in Community and Psychotherapy and a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training.
The PA is a member of the Council for Psychoanalysis and Jungian Analysis College (CPJA) of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
We organise events including discussions, film screenings and publish a newsletter.
ACTIVITIES
The PA favours a creative approach to therapy that involves being ready to question the social norms that often contribute to someone's unhappiness.
An engagement with philosophy and other fields, including anthropology, spirituality and the practice of art, is a fundamental part of our approach. So is a belief in the value of ordinary ways of living and being together. Community and inclusive conversation have the power to alleviate what disturbs people.
Once conversation begins, paths open up that lead away from isolation and despair towards dignity and greater freedom.
THE PHILADELPHIA ASSOCIATION was founded in 1965 by R. D. Laing and colleagues in order to challenge established ways of thinking about and responding to distress. For more than fifty years we have offered an open-minded alternative approach to psychotherapy that is unique in Britain.
PA NOTICE BOARD
PA STUDY PROGRAMME
There are still places on the PA Diploma in Community & Psychotherapy Course Beginning October 2026. This course serves as both a stand alone course and an introduction to the PA (including the PA communities) Students may apply to the PA Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy training after completing this course.
For Further information see HERE
PA COMMUNITY HOUSEHOLDS
See HERE for further information
There are current Vacancies in our houses
For further information contact
Sophia Raja at sophia@philadelphia-association.org.uk
FEMINIST LISTENING LABORATORY
This is a feminist space that has been born out of a frustration for what does not get to be heard and listened to properly in the clinic. Feminist ears wish to challenge psychoanalysis’ formulaic listening that wishes to confirm theoretical constructions that still serve phallocentric discourses.
Psychoanalytic listening often turns a deaf ear to what falls outside its axioms, to what exposes violence and domination, to what disturbs current systems of power.
We start from Spivak’s position that "who will listen" is more crucial than "who shall speak," and advocate for an ethical, imaginative engagement of feminist ears that listen through a critical and intersectional feminist lens.
We meet monthly to share texts, thoughts and experiences within and outside the clinic; to offer support to each other and create a community.
This is an open space for people who think psychoanalysis is not just a neutral tool or or neutral intervention and who do not wish to “cure” symptoms but start from the understanding that individual change and collective/social change are intertwined.
Meetings take place in the PA library 2 - 4
Sunday 18th October
Sunday 22nd November
Sunday 13th December
Sunday 10th January
For further information contact Laura Lauberte via the PA Office
