Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy (DIT) 20-Day training programme

This is a postgraduate certificate training and we require a Diploma level qualification in counselling (not necessarily psychodynamic) or a psychology doctorate degree (clinical, counselling, health or forensic) as the minimum entry requirement. Applicants will need to have a current, full BACP, UKCP or HCPC registration as part of their core qualification. 

There is no requirement for experience of personal psychodynamic psychotherapy although this would be preferable and we would encourage you to access this during the training.

There are fully-funded places available for those employed in an IAPT service based in England. Training and supervision places are fully funded for members of IAPT teams who meet the requirements. Applicants will need to commit to completing the pre-training, 20 days of face-to-face training and weekly supervision of 3-4 training cases. We will also ask you to complete a contract with your employer, agreeing to the terms of the training.

If you would like to apply, please speak with your service lead to check for available funded places. Please ensure that you are available to attend all the training dates. 

Applicants who meet the following criteria will be prioritised:

• Applicant will be an IAPT counsellor without an existing recognised NICE therapy training (such as IPT, CfD, CBT, CTfD, BCT or EMDR)

• Applicant will have access to appropriate cases during the training

• Applicant will be employed in the service on substantive, paid contract, at least two days per week

• Applicant will have access to local supervision in DIT within the service to embed practice during and beyond training

• Applicant is employed in a service that has at least one qualified IAPT DIT therapist already in the service for peer support and practice development

• If there isn't already at least one qualified IAPT DIT therapist in the applicant's service the applicants needs to commit to have a clear arrangement in place for join up with a neighbouring service where this is in place, for peer support and practice development.

The training fee for those not employed in IAPT services is £9,000 (incl. supervision and assessments) and will be required in full before the training commences.

We are currently accepting expressions of interest from potential trainees. If you would like to express your interest in applying, please send a statement from your supervisor to dit@annafreud.org. Please see a template here.

Please ensure that you are available to attend all the training dates. We are currently prioritising filling the IAPT-funded places and we will only be able to confirm if your application has been successful three weeks before the training commences. 

The training provides a basic introduction sufficient to enable participants to begin practicing this manualized treatment with supervision. The course includes presentation of theories and techniques, observation of live role-plays, discussion and formulation of specific cases.

This training will be delivered on Zoom. Each of the training days will be divided into four sessions; generally, each morning and afternoon will include 50% active learning time (mainly by videotaped role-plays). Thus, each didactic presentation will be practised through role-plays in which the two trainees play the patient and therapist and also watch the video-recording of the role-play. Experiential exercises in the form of role-play and responsive interaction with video content will form a core component of training in order to link teaching material to clinical context and interpersonal experience.

Some points will be best illustrated through watching a video clip, from which therapeutic techniques can be individually rated by each participant, with the ratings and observations then discussed in a larger group.

It is expected that much of the 'live' teaching will be concerned with clinical skills. The theoretical basis will be assumed on the basis of previously presented materials or prior attendance at other courses in which basic psychodynamic theory has been covered. An assessment of this component will be a part of the programme and will be a per-condition of attendance at the practical clinical element of the course.

The pre-course reading, preparation and assessment will take place prior to the training. 

Please note that Peter Fonagy, Alessandra Lemma and Mary Hepworth (formerly Mary Target) will each present a masterclass during the training.

The training will be delivered by Deborah Abrahams, with additional input provided by other DIT trainers and supervisors. Supervisors will be allocated to trainees, with attention given to available times and geographic location. Supervision will be delivered face-to-face or remotely in small groups or individually.

The training includes supervision on three training cases (24 supervision hours in total).

The supervised practice component will involve seeing three patients under weekly supervision. Each patient will be seen for 16 sessions of weekly DIT. This is typically structured as half an hour supervision per patient over 16 sessions.

In addition, six additional tape recordings will need to be submitted for rating. All therapy sessions will be audio or videotaped.

Once supervision has been successfully completed, trainees will be able to see DIT patients with weekly supervision until they are registered DIT practioners.

There will be four components to the assessment:

1.     Theoretical basis of DIT.  

This will be delivered in advance of the course through online podcasts and prescribed reading. The content of this component will be based on the initial chapters of the DIT manual, which will not be covered as part of the training. Satisfactory completion of this component is essential for progression. This is evaluated by a multiple choice questionnaire, which has to be completed by the agreed date before commencing the course. 

2.     Knowledge of DIT.  

This will be assessed after the first half of the programme, which covers sessions I.1–I.3 and II.1–II.3, by a mixture of role-play and clinical videos. There will be a further requirement of submission of clinical logs for each of the three training cases. Satisfactory completion of this component is essential for progression. 

3.     Intervention with DIT.  

This will be assessed at the end of the training by the same method as for component 2. Teaching methods include opportunities to observe and practise key skills associated with DIT. Supervisees have to pass an online role play to demonstrate their ability to hold the DIT stance, explore and elaborate interpersonal narratives to elicit themes as well as give an adequate explanation of the DIT model in order to begin supervision of clinical work. Supervisees should show steady progress in their ability to apply learning points from training days. Satisfactory completion of this component is essential for progression. 

4.     Clinical experience.  

Supervisees will present logs and video recordings of their supervised clinical experience of three cases treated with DIT. Two video recordings will be watched for each of the three cases; in all instances the session where the IPAF is negotiated will be evaluated by your supervisor and the other session will be chosen from the middle or ending phases. It is expected that you show steady progress from each clinical case and that you demonstrate an ability to take on board, integrate and apply the feedback you receive in supervision as part of this learning.  

This training is accredited by the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) and those who complete the training successfully will be able to join the BPC Roster of ‘kite marked’ practitioners.

Please note that there will be an annual cost of £50 to appear on the Roster, or £25 per year for those already a BPC Registrant, to be paid directly to the BPC.

According to a research study carried out by Jenny Khalastchy on the first 20-day DIT cohort of 2019-2020, which analysed 62 cases with full data sets from 26 clinicians, 90% of the patient outcomes showed "reliable improvement" with 69% showing "reliable recovery." 

The online platform Zoom will be used to deliver this training. Prior to booking on, please ensure you meet the system requirements so you're able to join this training. 

Before the training, please test your equipment is working by going to Zoom.us/test and follow the instructions.