2017/18 Taught Postgraduate Programme Catalogue

MSc Systemic Family Therapy

Total credits: 180

Entry requirements:

Practitioners who have successfully completed introductory training. The normal requirements are for professional training (normally graduate or at graduate equivalent level) appropriate to seeing clients and successful completion of approved introductory and intermediate level courses
However, it is realised that a variety of backgrounds may be appropriate and each application will, therefore, be considered on its merits. Participants on the course will need to be employed in situations where they can apply their clinical training ie have some family cases.

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

Institute of Health Sciences and Public Health Research, School of Medicine

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

School of Medicine Postgraduate Exam Board

Programme specification:

The programme has been running since 1996. It is accredited by the professional body, The Association for Family Therapy. The MSc programme is preceded by the Foundation and the Intermediate level courses, so that people can have prior experience to determine whether the systemic approach suits them and their area of work.

The MSc is a part time course and has one or two day long teaching sessions per month, designed to reduce the disruption to work and enable people to travel from some distances. There are supervision clinics located in various parts of mid England; Leeds, Bradford, Nottingham, Bradford, Leicester and Liverpool. Students are thus able to do the most significant amount of work closer to their own locale. The course is appropriate for a wide range of mental health professionals; psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, teachers and counsellors. It is closely linked with the student's work based practice and management support is important. The York and Humber Workforce Confederation support local NHS staff in participating in the training. The use of systemic family therapy for treatment of psychological difficulties is increasingly represented in NICE Guidelines and this is attended to in the course. It is designed for people who wish to work in the NHS as well as for people who seek employment in other agencies or independent practice.

PROGRAMME AIMS
The student who has gained a qualification as a systemic family therapist should be able to have a level of responsibility as an independent practioner in the NHS, Social Services or other mental health agencies. They will have a depth of knowledge of systems theory, cybernetics, constructivism, and social constructionism. They will have an understanding of therapeutic models contained in the systemic field (Structural, Milan, Solution Focused, Narrative, Collaborative Dialogic) and the skills associated with them. They will have a wide range of approaches to draw upon and will work with client preferences and strengths. The graduate should be able to work with individuals and groups of people (and families) who hold different perspectives and may be drawn to different actions. The family therapist should have the skills to work with more severe emotional / behavioural/ situational presentations and with cases that contain multi agency complexity. The family therapist will have experience of working with difference; racial, cultural, ability and presenting problems.

They will have an appreciation of individual psychological development and family life cycle and the way in which these stages impact upon and are influenced by significant others. People and their difficulties should be seen in the context of interpersonal relationships and wider institutional and cultural discourses. The family therapist will have a working knowledge of other psychological and psychotherapeutic theories (psychodynamic, attachment, cognitive behavioural) such that they may be incorporated in the systemic work or posed as an alternative.

Family therapists are able to work with teams and other professionals in a collaborative and coordinated manner. The student will have an appreciation of the code of ethics and practice within the profession and an awareness of the large scale and smaller operations of power and attend to these in practice. They will be responsive to issues of risk and safety for clients. The family therapist will have developed a capacity for self reflexive practice and see it as part of ongoing professional discipline.

The graduate should be aware of professional journals in the field and be able to critique current research in family therapy. They should have a high level of ability in articulating theory and practice in relation to case material. They will have skills in teaching others systemic ideas and some basic experience in supervision. Written material will also be of an appropriately sophisticated level.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Year2 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Last updated: 24/11/2016

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