Basic Clinical and Observational Skills (Children and Adolescents)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Assessment: a 2500-word take-away examination (100%)

On this module you will learn about emotional  development in the first year of life, and develop an observational attitude which introduces you to basic listening and reflecting skills. You will also be introduced to the basic principles of psychodynamic practice, clinical skills and techniques, and to the ethics of professional and clinical practice.

indicative module Syllabus

• Linking and integrating observations of early emotional development to psychoanalytic theory
• Emotional foundations of healthy emotional development and introduction to early disturbances
• Observations in the workplace in order to learn how to take up the role of observer; how to understand interaction on both a conscious and unconscious level; application of this learning to the development of clinical skills
• Introduction to the basic professional principles of psychodynamic counselling (with reference to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy standards)

By the end of this module, you will:

• have the capacity to understand psychoanalytic and psychodynamic principles to understand personality development
• understand the foundations for healthy emotional growth and the genesis of development disorders through disturbances in the early mother-infant relationship
• have skills in thinking psychodynamically about counselling/therapy issues
• understand the specific familial and organisational contexts in which observations and counselling take place.