INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN PHILOSOPHY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
The Introductory Course is both a stand alone certificate course and an introduction to study at the PA. Students who complete the IC can apply to the one year Diploma in Community and Psychotherapy and the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training.
OVERVIEW
The course will take place on Thursday evenings from October at our premises in Hampstead, north London, and consists of a weekly seminar and an experiential group. Each student will be allocated a personal tutor. You will be invited to study past and current psychological theories and treatments of human suffering taught in conjunction with philosophy, in particular phenomenology as well as ideas drawn from art, literature, the politics of psychiatry, power and lived experience.
REQUIREMENTS
The PA has never prized academic qualifications over other skills and experience. Sometimes people who never intended to become psychotherapists find that the Introductory Course inspires them to follow this path after all.
Being a student at the PA means you will have access to our small library and you will also be invited to attend regular PA events and contribute to the PA newsletter.
APPLICATION AND FEES
Application is by interview. Course costs £890
There are a limited number of bursaries available for students surviving on low income.
Interviews for 2026/2027 begin March 2026
PROGRAMME 2026/2027
Course Coordinators
Andrea Heath, Kit Zinovieff, Lucy King
PA Office
Josh Foyster
Experiential Group 6.15 - 7.45
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.
Facilitators:
Seminars: Thursdays 8 - 9.30pm
Term 1
15 & 22 October 2026
Why Phenomenology ?
Barbara Latham
29 October 5 November
Theory: Its Use and Misude
Lucy King
12 & 19 November
What is Therapy?
Elie Jesner
26 November & 3 December
The World Comes First: the social context of psychotherapy and its philosophical underpinnings
Paul Gurney
10 December
All Divided Selves & End of Term Gathering
PA ARTS Collective
Term 2
21 & 28 January 2027
Laing and Critical Psychiatry
Nick Mercer
4th February
On Community
Jake Osborne
11 February
An Uneasy Dwelling: PA Therapeutic Households
Alia Butt & Lily Patten
PA Study Programme Saturday Morning Online Seminars 2027
11.00 – 12.30
Saturday morning discussions exploring themes in psychotherapy, philosophy, and practice. If you are interested to attend please email the office and we will send you the zoom link closer to the time.
October 24th 2026
The Neglect of Neglect: Working with the effects of absence
Graham Music
November 28th 2026
Minimal Medication Approaches and alternative Antipsychotics
Dr John Mason
18 & 25 February
Prejudice
Kit Zinovieff
4 & 11 March
Psychosis
Andreas Constandinos
18 March
Arts & Therapy
Andrew Royle
Term 3
8 & 15 April
Nietzsche and psychotherapy: an introduction to phenomenology, scepticism and the death of God
Onel Brooks
22 April & 29 April
The Use Of Dreams
Michael Manitsaras
6 & 13 May
Making The Other:Race, Power and the Psychic Life 0f Identity
Peter Nevins
20 May & 27 May
Radical Vulnerabilty and the Enigma of the Other
Laura Lauberte
3 June
8pm Seminar
Endings
Andrea Heath & Lucy King