The Client-Centred Psychotherapy

We do not plan opening of the new training programme.

•  The training programme in Client-Centred Psychotherapy seeks to embody those values described as client/person centred, or those of the person centred approach (also known as Rogerian psychotherapy), as proposed initially by the psychologist Carl Rogers, often referred to as one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology.  Briefly described, Rogers hypothesised the concept of the formative tendency, whereby, all living organisms strive toward meaningful growth. Within the human organism this is described as the actualising tendency.  This tendency is an unfolding process that can be facilitated within a relationship characterised by trust in the uniqueness of the person, their ability to take risks in, and give meaning to, their life.  In such relationships, human beings move toward being pro-social, collaborative and challenge seeking – not looking for the ‘easy life’ but rather, an ‘ethical life’.

   These values are those which underpin client-centred theory of interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning and, of course, Client-Centred Psychotherapy.  Thus, within the training, we seek to exemplify in concrete form, and throughout all stages, a psychological environment whereby participants can develop:

• trust in their uniqueness and the uniqueness of others;
• develop and experience their relationships-in the-world;
• whereby collaboration is a key element between participant and participant, participant and staff, participant (psychotherapist) and client/patient;
• whereby the primary directional force for development (both cognitive and affective) comes from the participant themselves

If the appropriate learning environment can be provided, participants access resources within themselves to develop in the direction most appropriate to their needs. In concrete terms this means an emphasis is put on the development of a learning community, composed of the staff and participants, working within the programmes aims. Each participant brings their experience and understanding to these processes – including the staff whose experiences and understandings include the requirements of a professional and ethical, psychotherapeutic training. 

During the training participants will have mental health placement, where  psychotherapy is practiced. Participant participates directly or by other means (e.g. audio/video, minutes, communications, etc.) on psychotherapeutic process, has the opportunity to watch it, discuss it, and also teaches management documentation.

The Training programme is accredited as a Complex Educational Programme in Psychotherapy for health care by the Česká psychoterapeutická společnost České lékařské společnosti JEP.

Content of training programme: Client-Centred Psychotherapy (‘Rogerian psychotherapy’)

To successfully complete the CCP training it is necessary to complete four parts: self- development, theory, supervision and practice.

The programme of complex education in Client-Centred Psychotherapy seeks to embody those values described as client/person centred, or those of the person centred approach (also known as Rogerian psychotherapy), as proposed initially by the psychologist Carl Rogers, often referred to as one of the founders of Humanistic Psychology.  Briefly described, Rogers hypothesised the concept of the formative tendency, whereby, all living organisms strive toward meaningful growth. Within the human organism this is described as the actualising tendency. This tendency is an unfolding process that can be facilitated within a relationship characterised by trust in the uniqueness of the person, and their ability to take risks in, and give meaning to, their life.  In such relationships, human beings move toward being pro-social, collaborative and challenge seeking – not looking for the ‘easy life’ but rather, an ‘ethical life’.

 These values are those which underpin client-centred theory of interpersonal relationships, teaching and learning and, of course, Client-Centred Psychotherapy.  Thus, within the training, we seek to exemplify in concrete form, and throughout all stages, a psychological environment whereby participants can develop:

• trust in their uniqueness and the uniqueness of others;
• develop and experience their relationships-in the-world;
• whereby collaboration is a key element between participant and participant, participant and staff, participant (psychotherapist) and client/patient;
• whereby the primary directional force for development (both cognitive and affective) comes from the participant themselves

If the appropriate learning environment can be provided, participants access resources within themselves to develop in the direction most appropriate to their needs. In concrete terms this means an emphasis is put on the development of a learning community, composed of the staff and participants, working within the programmes aims. Each participant brings their experience and understanding to these processes – including the staff whose experiences and understandings include the requirements of a professional and ethical, psychotherapeutic training.                                     

During the training participants will have a mental health placement, where psychotherapy is practiced. Participants, directly or by other means  (e.g. audio/video, minutes, communications, etc.), participate in the psychotherapeutic process, have the opportunity to watch the process, discuss it, and also learn management documentation.

Content of Complex Learning Programme 
a) Theory of Client-Centred Psychotherapy  250 hours
b) Self-experience  350 hours
c) Skills practice  100 hours
d) Client work  400 hours
e) Supervision  150 hours
f) Mental Health Placement 40 hours

In addition to the hours above, participants as students of PVŠPS or PPF may have at least 1,000 hours of theory, 600 hours of self-experience (in the course of BA and MA studies), 150 hours of Mental Health Placement. All these activities are aimed at psychotherapeutic education.

A. DELIVERY OF THEORY

The theoretical part of the programme is offered in a number of different ways:
1. Provided by programmes of PVŠPS in full-time and combined studies of BA & MA studies.
2. Provided at Prague Psychotherapeutic Faculty
3. Special workshops, training and seminars organised by PVŠPS
4. Provided in the Complex program of Learning and is characterised in the part  ‘Special psychotherapy’ described below.

A.1. General Theory (600 hours)
As part of education in a helping profession -  the basics of psychological assessment/diagnostic, personality psychology, psychopathology of adults, children and youth, social pathology,    developmental psychology, special education, basic psychopharmacology, health and illness (+ first aid)
A.2. Special complementary theory (200 hours)
Philosophy, sociology, care for the soul, religion, education, cultural and social, anthropology, ethics.
A.3. General psychotherapy (200 hours)
Schools, directions, methods, forms of psychotherapy, counselling, interview.
A.4. Special psychotherapy (250 hours) – provided by CCP Training
Client-centred workshops, training and seminars will cover the basics of post-modernism, phenomenology, humanistic psychology, procedures and attitudes in psychotherapy from a client-centred perspective. In the seminar on comparative psychotherapy, different psychotherapeutic approaches and methods will be interpreted phenomenologically, in order that they can be understood from within CCP framework. Client-centred ‘diagnosis’ will be compared with psychiatric based diagnosis, clinical psychology, counselling and social work. 

Topics:
Philosophical Foundations of Client-Centred theory and Practice
This will cover: historical antecedents; modernism and post-modernism; comparison with previous psychologies; the work of Buber; recent developments in Client-Centred theory – configurations of self, relational depth, dialogical therapy.
Theory of Client-Centred Practice
This will cover: classical client-centred practice; emotion-focussed therapy/experiential psychotherapy; exploration of the attitudes of empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard and the conditions of contact and perception; non-directivity in context.
Client-Centred Theory and Practice and Psychopathology
This will cover: Client-Centred theory to mental health and psychopathology; pre-therapy with people diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychosis; working with difficult process (fragile, psychotic and dissociated); work with depressive patients/clients.
Working with Difference and Diversity.
This will cover: exploration and integration of issues of gender, age, ethnicity, disability. 
Research
This will cover: exploring research in relation to psychotherapy generally and to client-centred psychotherapy specifically; exploration of quantitative  and qualitative psychotherapeutic research.  

Special Psychotherapy, provided by CCP training, finishes with a dialogical exam with the course participants and training facilitators. This will be assessed pass/fail.

Lecturers are:
Doc. PhDr. Jiří Růžička, Ph.D., Doc. PhDr. Vladimír Hlavenka, CSc., Sheila Haugh, M.A., Doc. Mgr. Ladislav Timulák, PhD., MUDr. Eva Růžičková, MUDr. Lucie Provazníková, Mgr. Martin Miler, Mgr. Barbora Kohoutová, PhDr.Gabriela Langošová, PhDr. Hana Smitková, PhD., Andrea Uphoff, M.A., Dagmar Edwards, M.Sc. 

Required literature
Czech
Buber, M. (2005, 3.vydání): Já a Ty. Praha, Kalich.
Prouty, G., van Werde, D., Pörtner, M. (2005) Preterapie: navázání a udržení kontaktu s obtížně komunikujícími klienty. Praha: Portál.
Rogers, C. R. (1998) Způsob bytí. Praha: Portál.
Rogers, C. R. (2000) Klientom centrovaná terapia. Modra: Persona.
Rogers, C. R. (1959) Teória terapie, osobnosti a interpersonálnych vzťahov. In Koch, S. (Ed.) Psychology: A Study of Science. Study 1. Conceptual and    Systematic. Vol 3 Formulation of the Person and Social Context.), McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959, s. 184 – 256 (přeložili V. Hlavenka, I. Valkovič) interní materiál tréninkového programu
Vymětal, J., & Rezková, V. (2001) Rogersovský přístup k dospělým a dětem. Praha: Portál.   

English
Barrett-Lennard, G.T. (1998) Carl Rogers’ Helping Systems. Journey & Substance. London: Sage Publications.
Cooper, M., Watson, J., Hölldampf, D. (2010) Person-Centred and Experiential Therapies work. A review of the research on counselling, psychotherapy and related practices.Ross-on-Wye, PCCS Books.
Cooper, M., O’Hara, M., Schmid, P.F., Bohart, A.C. (2013): The Handbook of Person-Centred Psychotherapy and Counselling. Hampshire, Palgreave MacMillan. 
Haugh, S. & Paul, S. (2008) (Eds.)The Therapeutic Relationship: Perspectives and Themes. Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.
Joseph, S., Worsley, R. (2005) (Eds.) Person-Centred Psychopathology.  Ross-on-Wye: PCCS Books.
Sanders, P., Hill, A. (2014)  Counselling for Depression. London: Sage Publications.

B. SELF/EXPERIENCE PART OF TRAINING PROGRAMME

Team of lecturers
Doc. PhDr. Jiří Růžička, Ph.D., Doc. PhDr. Vladimír Hlavenka, CSc., Sheila Haugh, M.A., Doc. Mgr. Ladislav Timulák, PhD.,MUDr. Eva Růžičková, MUDr. Lucie Provazníková, Mgr. Martin Miler, Mgr. Barbora Kohoutová, PhDr. Gabriela Langošová, PhDr. Hana Smitková, PhD., Andrea Uphoff, M.A., Dagmar Edwards, MSc.
In self-experience part of learning programme facilitators usually work in couples.

Duration of individual self-experience part
Self-experience contains 430 hours made up as follows:

• 350 hours in the form of community/group experience;
• 80 hours in the form of personal training therapy (participant is in the position of client). Before start of personal training therapy will be given to participants list of recommended CCP therapists. Training therapist is not facilitator of participant’s training group neither his/her supervisor.   

Community and group experience work
 Provision of personal experience is in the form of a community group which will meet during the year at designated times. These meetings will be residential (the group will be accommodated in one place together) and will run over a number of days. In this way, participants and training facilitators will create a learning community. 
Self-experience groups offer the opportunity for participants to develop a greater awareness of the way in which thought and feeling continually flow and change (self-development), and the ways in which this process may be shared with other people (self-in-relationship-with-others). This is sometimes referred to as the process of immediacy and the skill of emotional literacy. Self-experience groups also bring the opportunity for developing a greater level of understanding, tolerance and respect for difference.
The development of a learning community group in the second stage of the training is intended to create an environment whereby students are able to actively engage in their learning process, identifying their own needs and requirements to practice as competent and ethical client-centred psychotherapists. With the identification and attainment of their own personal goals, participants draw on self-discipline and accept responsibility for their learning. Through active participation in the learning community, staff share responsibility for the learning process within the parameters of professional and course requirements as detailed in this application. 
The programme provides a number of ways of facilitating personal experience and development of participants. Throughout the BA and MA levels students have a self development group. This group meets 3 times per year for 4 days, meaning for a student of BA, 360 hours self-experience work and for a MA student 600 hours of self-experience work. These hours can be included in the complex learning program in CCP on the bases of recommendation and individual consideration by lecturers/facilitators of these groups. These groups need to be facilitated by a CCP facilitator.

 C. ACQUIRING THERAPEUTIC SKILLS

The opportunity to develop therapeutic skills is offered in a number of ways:
Skills practice.   
Skills practice (100 hours) allows participants the opportunity to practice and develop the skill of communicating the attitudes and conditions that Rogers hypothesized as necessary and sufficient for the therapeutic process. Specifically it means working in: empathy labs; therapeutic labs; labs of congruence; demonstration interviews.

D. CONTACT THERAPEUTIC PRAXIS

Participants are required to undertake a minimum of 400 supervised client/patient contact hours. Supervision for the course, individual or group, will be with supervisors trained in client-centred psychotherapy, thus ensuring that the development of client-centred therapeutic skills will include both the micro – specific interventions with clients/patient, and the macro – e.g. the management of assessment (diagnosis) and general case management.

 E. SUPERVISION

Participants must complete a minimum of 150 hours of supervision including at least 50 hours of individual supervision. Supervision must be conducted by a supervisor recognised by the course as qualified and/or experienced in both Client-Centred psychotherapy and work within a health care setting. Supervisee will obtain confirmation about supervision. This confirmation is a pre-requisite for final process. List of acknowledged supervisors will be given to participants.

Price: the fees are 21,000 Kc per year. This covers training facilitator fees, guest facilitators and administration. Accommodation and food costs are additional.  These fees may rise dependant on the inflation rate and additional expenses associated with the training itself. 

COMPLETION OF PROGRAMME IN CLIENT-CENTRED PSYCHOTHERAPY

a) On the completion of the training the participant will prepare a written reflective learning statement covering all aspects of the course. This will be presented to the learning community (participants and staff).

b) Participant will have confirmation from supervisor (confirming supervised hours) and from therapist (confirming hours of individual training therapy). 
Participant will complete a written Supervisory Practice Report. This report will show that the participant is able to analyse and process a part of clinical work (at least 8-12 sessions) with a specific focus on how supervision inputs and context of supervision (individual, group) developed their client-centred work.
These three documents are a necessary pre-requisite for admission to Final Panel.

c) Final Panel
The final process is a panel. It consists of at least three Client-Centred therapists who will check all necessary documents have been submitted correctly. 
The panel and participant will discuss the participant’s Supervised Practice Report. The panel will also ask questions that relate to the Supervised Practice Report, the overall training and of a general professional nature.

APPLICATION for FINAL PANEL(s) – next one in OCTOBER 2023.

To apply for the Final Panel (FP) of the Client-Centred Psychotherapy programme you need to submit:

1. Copy of Certificate received when you completed the 3 year group training programme in Client-Centred Psychotherapy organized by PVŠPS.
2. Confirmation of individual work since completing the 3 year programme:

• Client contact hours                          400 hours                                                 
  Signed document confirming hours from institution or “čestné prohlášení” in the case of private practice.
• Supervision                                       150 hours
  Signed document confirming hours from supervisor(s)
• Mental Health Placement                    40 hours
  Signed document from institution confirming hours
• Individual training therapy                   80 hours
  Signed document/s from therapist/s

   3. Four weeks before the Final Panel date participant will send their Supervised Practice Report to members of the Final Panel.

For October 2023, this means members of Final Panel must receive your Supervised Practice Report by 15th September.
The next Final Panel is planned for April 2024. The Supervised Practice Report should be submitted by beginning March 2024.
Final Panels will take place twice a year in April and October.

There is a full description of the program, including the Final Panel, on the web page of PVŠPS. If you cannot find the relevant information on this page, please contact Vlado Hlavenka ([javascript protected email]).  

On successful completion at the Final Panel, PVŠPS-PPF will award the Certificate in Complex Educational Programme in Client-Centred Psychotherapy.  
The fee for the Final Panel is 2.500.- CZK. This fee will be paid by the participant to the PVŠPS account.

We do not plan opening of the new training programme. 

Long-life professional development

Certified Client-Centred participants are committed to long-life professional development in psychotherapy and related fields. If the participant wants to be registered in the list of certified participants of Client-Centred Psychotherapy training at PVŠPS-PPF, they are required to attend at least;
- 4 professional psychotherapeutic lectures or seminar per year
- 10 hours of supervision per year.
These professional activities are registered into the Index of long-life professional development that is scrutinised and accredited every 5 years, controlled by PVŠPS-PPF. Participants of the training programme will obtain Index when they evidence activities undertaken. Non-registered activities will be not accepted For Czech participants working in Czech Republic:

K samostatnému vykonávání psychoterapie je nutné mít kromě psychoterapeutického vzdělání vysokoškolské vzdělání v některé pomáhající profesi (medicína, psychologie, sociální práce apod.).

Pro práci ve zdravotnictví (kde je psychoterapie hrazena pojišťovnou) je kromě psychoterapeutického vzdělání podmínkou následující vzdělání:
-    medicína + atestace z psychiatrie (výjimečně z jiného oboru) + funkční specializace z psychoterapie,
-    psychologie + atestace z klinické psychologie + funkční specializace z psychoterapie.

V současné době je přihlašování do výcviku ukončeno.