The trainee will spend 3 years in Medical Psychotherapy and 2 years in General Psychiatry / Forensic Psychiatry. The order of the training in either of the specialties would depend on the availability of training resources at each given time and also the preference of the trainee. For example, the trainee might spend 2 years in Medical Psychotherapy followed by 2 years in General Psychiatry / Forensic Psychiatry before returning to Medical Psychotherapy for the final year. In the final year of training, the trainee can be expected to gain further experience in working with patients with complex needs or who have a diagnosis of Personality Disorder.
Clinical Supervision is available locally and there are three experienced Consultants in Medical Psychotherapy in the region who are able to provide supervision in a range of modalities. Clinical Supervision is also available from allied disciplines who can provide supervision for Compassion-Focused Therapy, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Group Analytic Psychotherapy.
The academic portion of the training programme is a 3 year running programme and is held jointly with the Thames Valley Deanery School of Psychiatry. It occurs on a weekly basis in term time on a Wednesday afternoon at the Warneford Hospital in Oxford. The West Midlands trainee would join the Medical Psychotherapy higher trainees from the Thames Valley Deanery and the academic programme will include an Experiential Group facilitated by a Group Analyst followed by 2 theory seminars facilitated by an experienced psychotherapist. The theory seminars would cover papers from the Freudian, Kleinian and Independent schools of psychoanalysis as well as cover topics such as brief psychotherapies, psychosomatic disorders and personality disorders.
A personal psychoanalytic training therapy is a requirement of the post and there are therapists available locally to meet these requirements. The trainee is encouraged to pursue up to twice-weekly personal therapy which is funded through the deanery. The frequency and nature of the personal therapy can be tailored to the trainee’s needs depending on discussions with their Educational Supervisor and the TPD.