Post Graduate Training Course in Systemic Family Therapy

2018 Course Information: Mid Year Intake

 Foundation Year

 This is the introductory level of the AAFT ( Australian Association of Family Therapy ) accredited 2-year post-graduate course in systemic family therapy. It is for therapists working in a wide range of human service contexts and it will initiate them into systemic thinking and family therapy practice.

Selection Criteria

Applicants for the 2-year Post Graduate Course in Systemic Therapy must have already established knowledge and skills bases in the social and health sciences (social work, psychology, nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, education, counseling). The course will build on these already acquired skills and extend them into competence with systemic therapy. This means that applicants should have bachelor's degree qualification in the social and health sciences, or an equivalent qualification. Applicants are required to be currently working as counselors.

 

At the discretion of the Director, applicants with different qualifications or equivalent qualifications in an unrelated topic may be admitted to the course. They must be able to satisfy the Director that they have sufficient work experience and training and are able to demonstrate a sufficient level of ability in developing therapeutic relationships. This level of ability would normally be established through an interview and through references.

Duration of Training.

This course runs over 2 years, each year of the course has duration of 40 weeks, 5 hours per week. The total hours per year are 200 hours. To complete AAFT accreditation, there is a requirement for post qualifying supervision. Details are available from the AAFT website: http://www.aaft.asn.au/

The course will accept a maximum of 8 trainees per year.

Fees:

$4,245.00 per year (GST included)

Training Venue:

2/141 Stirling Highway, Nedlands, WA 6009

Times for 2018:

 Foundation level:  every Thursday, commencing Thursday, 19th July 1.00pm to 6.00pm.

 

Curriculum:

Bringing together systemic and social constructionist principles

This course has been designed to provide theoretical knowledge and clinical practice in the principles of systemic (Post-Milan model) and social constructionist practice (narrative therapy,  solution focused therapy and Open Dialogue).

The main components of the course are:

• The centrality of relationships
• The importance of how meanings are constructed
• The influence of different contexts and
• The role of language

 The theoretical material for the course draws on the work of Bateson, Watzlawick, Keeney and their influence on the Milan associates. The ideas of Constructivism (Maturana, Humberto), the Co-ordinated Mananagement of Meaning (Cronen, Vernon and Pearce, Barnett), Social Constructionism  (Kenneth Gergen, John Shotter) are studied and applied to practice.

Throughout the course, theory and practice are continually connected with one another, so that when theory is being discussed, clinical examples are elicited.

Theoretical Foundations and Content:

Foundation Level

• Context
• The systems focus
• Circularity
• Connections and Patterns over time
• Constructions of Meanings: Coordinated Management of Meaning
• The process of change
• The influence of the feminist perspective on systemic ideas and practice
• The Post Milan approach
• Constructivism
• Introduction to Social Constructionism
• Cultural context
• Power
• Co-constructed Therapy
• Self Reflexivity
• Strengths and Solutions

These systemic and social constructionist ideas are divided into levels of complexity with the systems theories and cybernetic ideas of circularity, connectedness, context, constraints and therapist self-reflexivity forming the learning areas during the foundation year.

Interested in more details? Check out course format  courseformat/