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
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
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
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
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.
December 15 2024
Training to be a Psychotherapist
Jake Osborne
Philadelphia Association Training Committee
January 11th 2025
Boarding School Syndrome
Nick Duffell
January 25 2025
Hell is other people: existential approach to anorexia.
Kevin Ball
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
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
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