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DIPLOMA IN COMMUNITY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

Phenomenology is a discipline which brings into view the phenomena of the world rather than explaining things by some particular schema. Social phenomenology addresses itself to the basic phenomena of ordinary living. The phenomena of ordinary living and community situations has been an enquiry of the PA since its early days. After the Kingsley Hall experiment the PA has fostered some 19 therapeutic community households which have offered refuge and asylum to those who sought it, exploring communal solutions to personal crises to work through situations together in a collective manner. 

 

But it isn’t as easy as saying that community is good and marginalisation is bad. It is possible to feel at home in prison and in prison at home. Thinking about community must also involve thinking about how one group impacts, threatens, ignores, deprives another. Community presupposes conflict. 

In the current economic and political climate of austerity which is ushering in the model of computerised quick-fix therapy, community solutions have all but disappeared. Day centres, youth clubs, libraries and other shared spaces have closed down. What is left is a fragmented and afflicted society in what can feel like a hostile environment. Community as a therapeutic ideal remains as elusive as ever yet the need for it is more and more urgent.

 

Held at the PA premises in Hampstead, north London, the course takes place over six weekends spread out over the academic year. You will encounter various group experiences and seminars discussing Towards a phenomenology of Community, Madness in the Family, Politics and Community, Psychiatry and Institutions, personal journeys.

 

This course serves as both a stand alone course and an introduction to the PA (including the PA communities) Students may apply to the Psychotherapy training after completing this course. 

 

REQUIREMENTS

Students are required to bring their own experience of group or community work to reflective practice

i.e. a facilitated group which invites exploration about crucial issues necessary to understand the nature of organisations, groups and communities.  

Outside of the course weekends students will be offered one tutorial per term and invited to a reading group.

 

Students can also use the course to devise and set up community groups and take advantage of a range of advice provided by experienced community practitioners as part of the course.

 

(b) Completion of a satisfactory 4000-word essay reflecting an experience of community work will lead to a Diploma certificate but students can also attend the course without fulfilling this requirement. 

 

APPLICATION AND FEES

Application is by interview, there is a £50 interview fee.

The course costs £840

 

A limited number of bursaries are available for students surviving on low income.

 

Interviews begin in late April 2023 to apply Click here for the application form or contact the course coordinators for further information

courses@philadelphia-association.org.uk

In addition to the regular meetings of each individual course, students from all the courses will be invited to attend a series of Saturday morning online seminars. 

Weekend 4​

Interaction. Intersection: the poetics of relation 

 

March 1

10.30—11 Arrivals 

 

11 — 12.30

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

1.30-3pm 

Wittgenstein/Augustine

Robbie Lockwood

 

3.30-5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

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March 2 2025

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11—12.30 Seminar 

The World Comes First 

Paul Gurney

 

12.30—1.30 Lunch

 

1.30—3

Consciousness - raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3—3.30 Break

 

3.30—5

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

Weekend 5 ​

Migration and Movement or Home and Exile

 

Saturday 12 April,

 

10.30—11 Arrivals 

 

11 - 12.30

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

1.30 - 3pm 

Violence and the need to belong (Maalouf/Kotek) 

Alia Butt

 

3.30 - 5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

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Sunday 13 April

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11—12.30 

Home and Exile

Tarun Pamneja 

 

12.30—1.30 Lunch

 

1.30—3

Consciousness-raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3—3.30 Break

 

3.30—5

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

 

Weekend  6     

Liberatory models of Community & Humanity 

 

Saturday 24 May

 

10.30—11 Arrivals 

 

11 —12.30

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

1.30 - 3pm 

Psychiatric Discussions 

Vincenzo Passante 

 

3.30-5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

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Sunday 25 May 

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11—12.30

A Serious Conversation

Nick Mercer 

 

12.30—1.30 Lunch

 

1.30—3

Consciousness-raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3—3.30 Break

 

3.30—5

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

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​​Saturday Morning Online Seminars 

10 - 11.30am

In addition to the regular meetings of each individual course, students from all the courses are welcome to attend the the PA Saturday morning online seminars.

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December 15 2024

Training to be a Psychotherapist

Jake Osborne

Philadelphia Association Training Committee

January 11th 2025

Boarding School Syndrome

Nick Duffell

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January 25 2025

Hell is other people: existential approach to anorexia.

Kevin Ball

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1 & 8 February 2025​

The therapeutic use of photographs: phototherapy & therapeutic photography. 

Del Loewenthal

22 & 29 March 2025

Psychological Responses and Reactions to Climate Crisis

Paul Zeal

April 2025

Freud & Freud

Is this the way you see me ? 

Portraits 

Andrea Heath & Fiona Fawkes

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Course Coordinators: 

Andrea Heath, Lucy King

Study Programme Administrator

Nefeli Tsakona

Weekend 1 

Phenomenology of Community

 

Saturday 26 October 2024

 

10.30—11 Arrivals 

 

11 - 12.30 Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

The experiential group has no agenda apart from attending to how this particular group forms and develops, the contribution each person makes, and whether we can learn from the experience to understand what a group is.

 

1.30-3pm Seminar  

On Community

Jake Osborne

 

3.30-5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

 

Sunday 27 October 

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11 - 12.30 

Communities and Politics of Legitimacy 

Laura Lauberte & James Mann

12.30 - 1.30 Lunch

 

1.30 - 3pm

Consciousness-raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3 - 3.30 Break

 

3.30 - 5 Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

Weekend 2

Inherited Narratives: memory, imagination, voice

 

Saturday 7 December

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals 

 

11 - 12.30 Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

1.30-3pm 

Narratives and Personal Journeys

Emma Stroker

 

3.30-5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

Sunday 8 December

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11 - 12.30 

The Story Tells You

Kay Holmes

 

12.30—1.30 Lunch

 

1.30—3

Consciousness-raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3—3.30 Break

 

3.30—5

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

Weekend 3

Political Bodies

Saturday 18 January 

 

10.30—11 Arrivals 

 

11 —12.30

Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

1.30-3pm

Scapegoating: Laing and Levinas

Del Loewenthal

 

3.30 - 5pm

Reflective Practice

Andreas Constandinos

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Sunday 19 January 

 

10.30 - 11 Arrivals

 

11 - 12.30

Psychoanalysis and Gender 

Kit Zinovieff

 

12.30 - 1.30 Lunch

 

1.30 - 3pm

Consciousness - raising Group

Paul Atkinson

 

3—3.30 Break

 

3.30 - 5 Experiential Group

Lucy King & Andrea Heath

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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