WCSPP’s Adult Psychotherapy Training Program is a two-year course of study designed for mental health professionals who wish to refine their acuity of the psychotherapeutic process. With an overarching psychodynamic focus, courses survey assessment, psychopathology, and core clinical concepts in conjunction with clinical case seminars. Gathering one evening per week, students benefit from small seminar settings. Typically, each entering group becomes a close peer circle, enjoyed long after the two years of formal training. An experienced, open-minded faculty further create settings that enable students to be intellectually stimulated, individually supported, and safe in ways that allow each person to be candid and engaged. Eligible students are assigned a patient and receive highly trained, compassionate supervision at a reduced fee. Personal psychotherapy is strongly recommended. A limited number of spaces are available to students who wish to pursue only course work without the clinical component.
Because of WCSPP’s uniquely welcoming community, graduates enjoy enduring personal connections and professional opportunities long after completion of the training. Many continue on by enrolling in WCSPP’s psychoanalytic training, couples therapy training or child and adolescent psychotherapy training.
“WCSPP is a non-profit organization, chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York.”
ADMISSION
• PSYCHIATRY: M.D. from an accredited medical school, completion of one year of psychiatric residency plus ongoing residency while in training.
• PSYCHOLOGY: Ph.D. or Psy.D. in psychology from an accredited university or professional school. Eligibility for state licensure.
• SOCIAL WORK: Masters or doctoral degree from an accredited school of social work. Eligibility for state licensure.
• Other Licensed MENTAL HEALTH professionals from accredited programs: This includes marriage and family therapists, creative arts therapists, and mental health counselors. Others are considered on an individual basis.
Admission is by application and interview. Applicants are encouraged to apply prior to May 15. Each applicant must have current professional liability insurance, a copy of which will be retained in the WCSPP office.
TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
• COURSE WORK: The two year academic program is organized as a trimester system with one course per trimester. The course meets for one hour and twenty minutes for 11 weeks on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 8:20 PM. A clinical presentation is offered once in each trimester as an additional class. On the twelfth Tuesday of each trimester candidates attend a Town Meeting where WCSPP candidates, graduates, and faculty assemble for discussion.
• SUPERVISION: A minimum of 80 hours of faculty supervision are required over two years. In order to earn credit, candidates must have at least 40 hours with the same faculty supervisor. Supervision is offered at a reduced fee of $50 per individual session.
• CLINICAL REQUIREMENT: Candidates are required to provide treatment on a weekly basis to patients. Training patients are assigned through the Psychotherapy Service for a minimum of 80 hours over two years. Upon graduation, training patients may be transferred to the candidate’s private practice.
• FEES: There is an annual $75 registration fee for each academic year to cover administrative costs. Course tuition is $450 per course and the tuition is to be paid prior to the start of each trimester. If needed, individual payment plans can be arranged. Supervision is offered at a reduced fee of $50 per individual session.
COURSES
There are three trimesters per year fall (F), winter (W), and spring (S). Candidates take one course per trimester:
FIRST YEAR
• FALL: Psychoanalytic Principles I – The basic psychoanalytic concepts of transference, countertransference, resistance, and interpretation are studied. The focus of the course consists of adapting the analytic attitude to the psychotherapy situation.
• Winter: Psychoanalytic Principles II – The primary objectives of the course are to increase the students’ abilities to identify and understand latent content. The focus is on understanding the unconscious, fantasy, dreams, symbolism and metaphor.
• Spring: Contemporary Issues in the Therapeutic Relationship – The therapeutic relationship has been seen as transference, a working alliance, a frame, a holding environment and a source of new experience. This course will review these aspects to focus on ways of integrating them into the therapist’s clinical work.
SECOND YEAR
• FALL: Psychoanalytic Listening – The course focuses on expanding the clinician’s capacity to hear the complexity of meaning of the patient’s communications. Emphasis is on the importance of unconscious processes, conflict and the use of language.
• Winter: Comparative Theory and Technique from a Contemporary Clinical Perspective – The focus of the course is to provide a contemporary clinical perspective comparing various psychoanalytic approaches through clinical material and readings.
• Spring: Treatment of Patients with Severe Pathology – The course reviews psychoanalytic theory and techniques relevant to working with more disturbed patients. Readings address mood disorders, substance abuse, trauma, sexual abuse, ethical dilemmas, and the integration of psychoanalytic psychotherapy and psychopharmacology.