Person-Centred Approach to Therapy: An Introduction

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

To inspire an interest in one of the most profound shifts in therapeutic thinking in the 20th century.

Course objectives:

• To provide a summary of the context, significance, and key components of the person-centred approach.
• To enable participants to appreciate the profound philosophical model underlying PCA and how it differs so radically from most other therapeutic traditions.
• For students to appreciate the wider implications of the humanistic school, and PCA especially, for addressing large scale issues.

Using a virtual learning environment (Canvas), background notes will be provided shortly before each session so that you can read up on the week's theme in advance if you wish.  I try to make sessions interactive and dynamic - you won't find me hiding behind a lectern.  Classroom activities will be varied, involve a range of discussions and creative tasks, in both the full group and small groups.

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

• appreciate the historical context in which the humanistic, and especially the person-centred, approaches evolved;
• have a clear understanding of the theories of the mind and of human emotional development proposed by Rogers;
• relate Rogers' approach to modern understanding of emotional communication;
• consider the relevance of Rogerian theory to larger scale interventions;
• have experimented with the use of the person-centred approach in counselling, teaching, and large-group problem solving.

At the end of the course, participants will be encouraged to prepare a 1500 word summary of those aspects of PCA that have most inspired them.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work the required standard.

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

The Department's Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, i.e. first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £30 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online. Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.