| Academy of Trauma Therapists

Graduate Diploma of Psychotherapy

The Graduate Diploma of Psychotherapy will give focused attention to some key forms of therapeutic interventions. Since it has a strong vocational emphasis, students learn how to integrate theoretical constructs, gain increased personal knowledge, increase their insight and understanding, apply advanced therapeutic techniques and further develop their observational skills.

A unique feature of the Graduate Diploma is an introduction to the theory and techniques of a brief psychotherapy that integrates concepts from the major psychotherapies, the psychodynamic, cognitive, existential and the humanistic, in a relevant and practical treatment method. By the use of clinical demonstration, students will be given the opportunity to examine actual therapeutic processes.

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Entry Requirements

Normal Entry

Completion of the Graduate Certificate with an average of credit level for each of the four subjects and a degree with studies in welfare, social work, psychology, social sciences, nursing, medicine, education or similar, or diploma level courses in welfare or community studies or similar at TAFE level and at least two years relevant work experience, and studies in basic therapy or counseling skills either within the applicant’s course or in another approved program. For this pathway students may have to complete some prerequisite subjects in the Graduate Certificate.

Special Entry

Applicants who do not meet these requirements may present a case for admission based on previous academic study and relevant work experience.

FEE-HELP

Need help to pay your tuition fees? FEE-HELP can cover all or part of your tuition fees. To find out more go to www.goingtouni.gov.au or call 1800 020 108.

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Credit Points

8 credit points including 4 credit points from Graduate Certificate plus

Core Subjects

• Brief Integrative Psychotherapy
• Treatment Planning and Psychopathology

Electives (Select two)

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
• Relationship and Marital Therapy
• Trauma Counselling and Therapy – Extreme Stress
• Trauma Counselling and Therapy – Loss and Grief

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Core Unit 1 – DPc1, DPc2 or DPc3
Brief Integrative Psychotherapy

Semester 1 (March 2 to June 29)
Mondays 9.00am to 12.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Semester 1 (March 5 to June 11)
Thursdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Semester 2 (August 4 to November 17)
Tuesdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Brief Integrative Psychotherapy is now widely recognized and widely practised. In providing basic training in the practice of brief integrative psychotherapy, this unit draws principally from Contextual Modular Therapy (CMT). CMT provides a therapeutic model that integrates principles and techniques from the major psychotherapies and has been practised at Cairnmillar for more than fifteen years.

CMT is now widely used in direct response to the many pressures faced by therapists and clients for brief therapy; for a plan of therapy, and for cost-effective therapy. CMT details a clear statement of the operations that the therapist will perform. It emphasises the contextual collaboration of the therapist and the client, as well as the context of the problem and the context of its resolution. Students in this unit will learn to apply a modular, sequential application of interventions and with explicit criteria for movement from one stage of treatment to the next.

Topics Covered

• Brief psychotherapy models
• The self in context
• Inadequacies of a single form of psychotherapy
• Common factors in different approaches
• The application of brief integrative therapy to specific problems

Core unit 2 –DPc4, DPc5 or DPc6
Treatment Planning and Psychopathology

Semester 1 (March 3 to June 9)
Tuesdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Semester 2 (August 3 to November 9)
Mondays 9.00am to 12.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Semester 2 (August 6 to November 12)
Thursdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

In this unit students will explore some of the major and common emotional and behavioural disorders. It will emphasise the importance of recognising the presenting and the concealed problems or disorders. This will allow students to examine their own competence and their need to be part of an effective resource team.

Time will be devoted to the development of treatment plans and the different theoretical models that underlie them: Rogerian, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Psychodynamic frameworks.

This unit will involve consideration of how diagnostically valuable information can be derived from the clinical interview and the therapeutic relationship. It will incorporate discussion of the topics, exercises and case studies, and will aim at familiarising the student with past and current thinking, as well as areas of controversy surrounding the field of psychopathology.

Topics Covered

• The phenomenology, diagnostic criteria, epidemiology of major mental disorders
• The function of symptoms
• Anxiety and depression
• Emotionally abusive relationships
• Obsessional compulsive states
• Personality disorders
• Addiction and substance abuse

Elective 1 – DPe6
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Semester 1 (March 3 to June 9)
Tuesdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a widely practiced form of psychotherapy. It is based on the notion that problems related to thoughts, feelings and actions are learnt over the course of a person’s development, and can be unlearnt by applying the principles of learning theory and cognitive science using specific therapeutic interventions. CBT focuses on a person’s patterns of thinking, emotions, as well as behavioural and interpersonal patterns and coping strategies, taking into account a person’s current life circumstances and biography.

This unit will cover a range of techniques such as graded exposure, imaginal exercises, Socratic dialogue, cognitive restructuring and role plays. Contemporary forms of CBT, such as Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Mindfulness-Based CBT (MCBT), which have incorporated specific emotion regulation techniques, as well as mindfulness exercises with their origins in Buddhist meditation techniques, will also be a focus.

Topics Covered

• The historical development of CBT from the beginnings to today
• Cognitive and behavioural theoretical models and basic assumptions
• Applications of CBT for anxiety disorders, low self-esteem, and affective disorders
• CBT and personality disorders
• CBT and recent trends in positive psychology

Elective 2 – DPe7
Relationship and Marital Therapy

Semester 2 (August 4 to November 17)
Tuesdays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

The increasing stresses in relationships place continual demands on counsellors and therapists to provide ways through and beyond the anxieties and hostilities, the conflicts and the confusion. This unit will aim to explore specialised skills in relationship therapy and the theories and practice of relationship therapy. Systemic analysis and systemic therapy will be a key ingredient of this unit.

The aim of this unit is to advance the student’s clinical, conceptual and diagnostic skills. Students will learn how to identify the therapeutic processes that occur in relationship and marital therapy and translate them into a coherent treatment framework and to apply them in their own case work

Topics Covered

• Conscious and unconscious factors in partner choice
• Conscious and unconscious factors in violence and abuse
• Conscious and unconscious factors in a ‘successful’ relationship
• Factors in restoring optimum happiness and growth to the focused relationship
• Relevant therapies for specific problems
• Coping with the multiple pressures of balancing work and relationship needs, reconstructing family relationships after divorce and death

Elective 3 – DPe8
Trauma Therapy – Extreme Stress

Semester 1 (March 2 to June 29)
Mondays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

This unit brings a strong focus to the theory and practice of trauma therapy. It takes an integrative approach to trauma therapy, drawing on cognitive behavioural as well as psychodynamic elements and on Contextual Modular Therapy as applied to people who have been through a highly distressing experience. Students will be introduced to a multi-faceted biopychosocial understanding of traumatic phenomena, and will learn how therapeutic interventions reflect this understanding.

A particular emphasis is placed on entering into the systems of meaning each client brings with them into therapy, in order to help people with long-term traumarelated conditions. Drawing on the research literature, case studies as well as students’ own clinical experience, learning will centre on improving the effectiveness of each students’ clinical practice. Professional and ethical dilemmas related to trauma therapy will also be considered.

Topics Covered

• Theoretical models and constructs
• Trauma and memory
• Clinical techniques and interventions
• Sexual and childhood abuse
• Repetition phenomena in trauma
• Domestic violence
• Natural disasters

Elective 4 – DPe9
Trauma Therapy – Loss and Grief

Semester 2 (August 3 to November 9)
Mondays 3.00pm to 6.00pm
Cost – $1,650

Loss and grief are associated most strongly with the death of a significant person. However, increasingly, other forms of loss are being recognised as valid sources of grief, including the numerous losses associated with events such as divorce, or the development of a physical or emotional disorder. As people who have experienced trauma have inevitably been affected by various forms of loss, understanding how these losses have shattered a person’s individual system of meaning becomes an important goal of trauma therapy. This course sets out some directions and zones of concern for helping people come to terms with loss and reach their stated goals.

Considerable emphasis will be given to working with a person’s internal and external resources with a view to reconstructing meaning after loss. Students will be shown how the theory and techniques discussed may be applied in a customized way in their own clinical practice.

Topics Covered

•  Theories and models of (traumatic) loss and complicated grief
• Constructivist theory of loss and grief
• The death of a child
• Homicide, accidental and multiple deaths
• Traumas of the ageing, including chronic illness, and the dying patient
• Post traumatic growth and resilience in the face of loss