Definitions and training routes

EIATSCYP Approach to Education and Training Introduction and Overview  The courses within EIATSCYP vary within each of the countries where education, training and practice is being delivered. The principles of practice are interpreted across cultures in different ways and re-configured in the case of each individual child or young person. This information sets out the threshold standards for what would be expected to be included in each country at different levels of education, training, practice and research. All EIATSCYP courses meet with the overall requirements for professional child competencies. What follows is not prescriptive or reductive, but a guide to support in the developmental journey towards evolving curriculum standards and the completion of professional training. The minimum course requirement is three years at whatever level the training is delivered. Trainees work towards completion of course requirements, placements and supervision over a longer period in accordance with their developmental needs towards becoming a professional therapeutic practitioner in different modalities and approaches in context. Professional therapeutic practitioners are required to engage with ongoing continuous personal and professional development with commitment to lifelong learning. All trainings follow a similar pattern of educational development in the process of becoming a therapeutic practitioner which follows three stages of discovery, learning and practice.  

Foundation Stage One – Familiarisation in Preparation to Commence Placements

Students engage in education at a foundation level to become familiar with therapeutic theory, philosophy and values. This level of experiential education enables students to gain awareness of the contexts where children live, learn and play, to consider key concepts for applied therapeutic thinking, understand the importance of children’s rights, the language of the child, play based creative skills, ethical insights, legal and policy frameworks for safeguarding and an appreciation of the value of therapeutic relationships with children. Intermediary Professional Stage Two – Acquisition of Knowledge, Understanding and Skills for Application to Practice-based Learning in Placements  Trainees can participate in professional placements and develop the ability to establish therapeutic working alliances with children, young people and institutions to start to practice within organisations. This level of educational training enables students to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to their supervised work-based practice, including how children develop and the significance of attachment, exploring the multifactorial influences on children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing, including risk factors and protective factors to be considered in supporting the team around the child. At this stage of development trainees learn how to use relevant measurement tools, and the integration of knowledge and experience through practice-based research and evaluation. Professional Stage Three – Integration and Consolidation including Research and Evaluation of Therapeutic Practice Trainees demonstrate an integration of theory and practice through written case studies which hold the developmental journey of a child or young person over time, evidencing the process of therapeutic change and working with parents, carers and professionals. At this stage of training the requirement is to evidence the ability to enable collaborative assessments and formulate aims with children and young people, as well as demonstrating the full range of therapeutic competencies for work with children and young people. Assessments at this stage of training require evidence of insight into the co-creation of professional practice through research and evaluation of the impact of work in progress. Personal Therapy, Supervision, Teaching and Learning  There are different approaches to training towards titles including, Therapeutic Practitioner, Child Therapeutic Counsellor, Child Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Psychotherapist with Children or Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. All students must have experience of personal therapy and supervision to gain self-knowledge through reflective practice, promoting reflexivity, self-awareness, inquiring into and recovering from childhood experiences, monitoring therapeutic work in progress and increasing understanding of interpersonal processes which occur in therapeutic work with children and young people. All approaches to training require the inclusion of 50 hours of personal therapy and 50 hours of supervision. The minimum requirement for practice-based learning in placements is 450 hours and the minimum teaching contact time is 450 hours.  EIATSCYP Definitions of Therapeutic Practice with Children and Young People General Introduction All EIATSCYP training and education provision in therapeutic practice promotes child centred principles, ethics and conduct, the rights of the child, knowledge of the range of different influences on child mental health and emotional wellbeing, applied therapeutic thinking, age appropriate communication, creative and relational skills, multi-disciplinary perspectives, effective risk management, safeguarding, awareness of limits of competence, child development, the impacts of adversity, trauma, abuse and neglect, cultural diversity, liaison with parents, carers and professionals, as well as insight into the many different settings where children live, learn and play. Whilst theories, philosophy, methods and techniques can vary, integrative and relational values enable a holistic approach to the child in context. All students engage with personal therapy and supervision which can be managed in accordance with individual personal and professional development needs. Supervision ratios can be managed in accordance with the therapeutic practitioner’s professional experience, client ratios and the complexity of the child’s presenting issues. This can vary according to practitioner and context. The following information provides details of some of the distinctions between titles including education, training, practice and research requirements. All courses are research informed, promoting research inquiry into the practitioner’s lived experience and the use of a range of appropriate measures which can be applied for the purpose of assessment, formulation and evaluation of therapeutic outcomes. There are different titles with different training routes for teaching and learning which can include the following: 1.    Contextual Therapeutic Practice 2.    Child Therapeutic Counselling 3.    Child Psychotherapeutic Counselling 4.    Psychotherapy with Children 5.    Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Differences can be defined in many ways according to diverse therapeutic practitioners, modalities and contexts. These are not definitive or reductive and there can be many overlaps between approaches. Each country must work within their own legal, policy and ethical frameworks. The overall aim of the framework for education, training, practice and research is to support practitioners’ development and navigating the range of pathways which can be made available for developing as a child therapeutic practitioner. 1.    Contextual Therapeutic Practice   This includes primary prevention and promotion of children’s wellbeing. It can be delivered within and beyond the therapeutic frame including therapeutic mentoring, key-working and creative group work as well as 1:1 work, or community based therapeutic support with groups and organisations. This can include participatory arts, sports, leisure and nature allied approaches. Contextual therapeutic practice can also be integrated and applied within another role like teaching, social work or speech and language therapy. This includes incorporating therapeutic supervision / reflective practice with individuals and teams, promoting self-awareness, reflexivity, reflecting in dialogue, emotional regulation and the application of therapeutic knowledge and understanding in relationship with others in the wider systemic context. It can include psychoeducation for parents and carers advocating and mediating on behalf of children’s rights and needs, encouraging a strength-based approach to facilitating their talents, interests, identity, self-awareness, self-esteem, self-concept, confidence, resilience and human potential. Practitioners develop relationships with children based on trust, promoting inquiring minds in parents, carers and professionals, early intervention, and enabling each child to develop their capacities for wellbeing in the context.  Length and Duration of Training The duration of education is a minimum of three years of professional training including a foundation year. This can be at undergraduate level and qualification is at degree level. This includes 450 hours tutor contact time as well as independent study, reading, written work, research and presentation. Personal Therapy and Supervision Students are required to do a minimum of 50 hours of personal therapy and 50 hours of professional supervision. Placements Students are required to complete 450 hours of placement and this can be organised in accordance with their training development needs in professional settings, including a minimum of 200 hours contextual working and a minimum of 200 hours of direct facilitation. A further 50 hours can be completed in either area of practice but must evidence engagement with multi-disciplinary liaison and exchange with adults, parents, carers and professionals.   Following three years of education, training, research and practice including final examination the graduate can be awarded the title of Contextual Therapeutic Practitioner. 2.    Child Therapeutic Counselling This can include primary prevention and promotion of child wellbeing. It would normally be delivered within the therapeutic frame and take place on a weekly basis, so that children receive therapeutic support in regular 1:1 sessions. This can be defined as short term, (6 – 12 sessions) time-limited (12-24 sessions) or long term (24+ or open ended). Practice includes the use of play and creative arts materials to enable age-appropriate communication with children and young people. The aims include enabling children to address emotional and behavioural difficulties, managing the challenges and opportunities from the inner life and outer world, in ways which promote choices, recovery from complex lived experiences and the ability to function effectively in relationships within the child’s environment. Child therapeutic counselling can be referred to for a specific incident which may have caused distress to a child or for the purpose of increasing resilience, engagement with quality of life, relationships or learning, ongoing individual challenges or to enhance personal, social and emotional development. Practitioners develop relationships with children based on trust, promoting inquiring minds in parents, carers and professionals, early intervention, and enabling each child to develop their capacities for wellbeing in the context.  Length of Training The duration of education is three years of professional training including an initial foundation year. This can be at undergraduate level and qualification is at degree level. This includes 450 hours tutor contact time as well as independent study, reading, written work, research and presentation. Personal Therapy and Supervision Students are required to do a minimum of 50 hours of personal therapy and 50 hours of professional supervision. Placements Students must complete 450 hours of placement and this can be organised in accordance with their training development needs in professional settings including a minimum of 100 hours across the age range including 20 hours of 3-6 years, 20 hours of 6-9, 20 hours of 9-12 years, and 6 hours 13-18 years. Following three years of education, training, research and practice including final examinations the graduate can be awarded the title of Child Therapeutic Counsellor Child Psychotherapeutic Counselling This includes early intervention with children and young people and would normally be delivered within the therapeutic frame and take place on a weekly basis, so that children receive support in regular 1:1 sessions. This can be defined as short term, (6 – 12 sessions) time-limited (12-24 sessions) or long term (24+ or open ended). It can be long term and in-depth supporting children to build their sense of self and relationships with others. Practice includes the use of play and creative arts materials to enable age-appropriate communication with children and young people. The aims include enabling children to address emotional and behavioural difficulties, managing the challenges and opportunities in connecting to the inner life and orientating to the outer world, in ways which promote self-awareness, choices, recovery from complex lived experiences and the ability to function effectively in relationships within the child’s environment. This can include children or young people who are struggling with physical, cognitive, social and emotional difficulties or relational challenges to help them manage their presenting issues including complex mental health challenges, painful life experiences, significant personal losses, suffering and distress. Practitioners alleviate suffering through empathy and relational dialogue. This can include in depth reflection and analysis over time, researching the lived experience of children and young people as well as extensive self-inquiry. Length of Training The duration of education is three years of professional training including a foundation year. This can be at undergraduate level and qualification must be at a minimum degree level. This includes 450 hours tutor contact time as well as independent study, reading, written work, research and presentation. Personal Therapy and Supervision Students are required to do a minimum of 105 hours of personal therapy and a minimum of 50 hours of supervision. Placement Students must complete 450 hours of placement and this can be organised in accordance with their training development needs in professional settings including a minimum of 450 hours across the age range including 20 hours of 3-6 years, 20 hours of 6-9, 20 hours of 9-12 years, and 6 hours 13-18 years. Following three years of education, training, research and practice including final examinations the graduate can be awarded the title of Child Psychotherapeutic Counsellor Psychotherapy with Children and Young People Many psychotherapists from every orientation work with children and young people. As EIATSCYP promotes specialist standards for working with children in education, training, research and practice it is recommended that anyone working with children and young people receives some specialist training. Some psychotherapeutic practitioners may have studied child development and the language of the child in their approaches to Psychodrama, Integrative Arts Psychotherapy, Dance Movement Psychotherapy or other modalities. It is essential to work therapeutically with the diversity of children’s relational and developmental needs in the context of their lived experience and in relationship to parents, carers and other professionals. Child therapeutic practitioners learn how to manage effective safeguarding practice, be rights-informed in their approach, identifying needs, making accurate assessments, working creatively and engaging in age-appropriate ways in accordance with specialist understanding of child mental health and emotional wellbeing. This requires specialist theoretical study, self-inquiry, consultation and supervision in accordance with each students developing knowledge and professionalism. Length of Training Psychotherapy is a post-graduate level profession so any psychotherapist would be expected to be educated in accordance with post graduate academic standards and requirements including an undergraduate degree or equivalent. In addition to this foundation in professional psychotherapeutic training, further specialism must include the acquisition of relevant knowledge, understanding and skills, formal assessments, and specialist supervision with an appropriately qualified and experienced child therapeutic professional. The additional length of time may vary between one and two years in accordance with each students’ professional background with children and young people. Personal Therapy and Supervision Students are required to do a minimum of 160 hours of personal therapy in psychotherapy training and a minimum of at least 50 hours of supervision. In addition specialist supervision for work with children is a requirement. This can be managed in accordance with the developing practitioners training and educational needs based on their professional experience with children. Placement In addition to placement hours in psychotherapy with adults, students are required to complete at least 100 hours of placement with children and young people, organised in accordance with training and development needs in professional settings across the age ranges including 20 hours of 3-6 years, 20 hours of 6-9 years, 20 hours of 9-12 years and 6 hours of 13-18 years. Following completion of specialist placement requirements and necessary assessments for child competencies the psychotherapist can be awarded the title of Psychotherapist with Competencies for Working with Children Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy This can be delivered within the therapeutic frame and in residential contexts. Sometimes children can be seen more than once a week according to the complexity of need, presenting issues and context. Depending on the child and setting, this work can include in depth, developmental and relational repair, working with intersubjective and unconscious processes. It may also include arts materials to enable age-appropriate communication with children and young people, research and development in infant observation of parent-infant interactions. Aims vary according to need. Clinical work is adapted and applied within different settings to address a range of mental health issues. Child Psychotherapists will regularly consult with parents, carers and other professionals to increase understanding of the child’s needs in context. This includes in depth research and analysis through reflection over time, researching the lived experience of children and young people, as well as extensive self-inquiry to manage intensity and complexity of the child need. Length of Training This is post-graduate level training and academic requirements include an undergraduate degree or equivalent. Professional training is a minimum of four years and must include a minimum of 600 hours of tutor contact time and include independent study, reading, written work and research presentation.
Personal Therapy and Supervision
Students are required to do a minimum of 160 hours of personal therapy and a minimum of 50 hours of professional supervision. Placements Students are required to complete 450 hours of placement organised in accordance with needs in professional settings including a minimum of 450 hours across age ranges including 3-6 years, 6-9 years, 9-12 years, 13-18 years. This will take place in at least two different placement settings in health, education, social care, statutory, charity and voluntary sectors. Mental Health Familiarisation Placement This includes a minimum of 60 hours of observational placement in the context of child mental health settings. These may be any context where child mental health and wellbeing is a priority within health, education and / or social care. Trainees are required to understand how mental health diagnostic categories work within each country and how they are implemented in systemic practice. Infant Observation Students are required to engage in infant observation studies and the rationale for the approach taken can be articulated by each specific training course. Following a minimum of four years of education, training, research and practice including final examinations the graduate can be awarded the title of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist   Post Qualifying Specialism for work with Children and Young People If an adult psychotherapist, whose standards already meet with the European Psychotherapy Association EAP, wishes to develop a specialist approach to working with children, following their graduation as an adult psychotherapist, they can select different training routes and pathways. Students who wish to further specialise, can build on their initial training to develop the core competencies for work with children in different ways towards different titles. In each case students are required to satisfy the criteria of the training organisation for the different titles and would normally be expected to have completed a minimum of two years of further study, in specialist placements and supervision in accordance with their registration title. As well as a psychotherapist with competencies for working with children this can also include contextual therapeutic practitioner, child therapeutic counsellor, child psychotherapeutic counsellor or child and adolescent psychotherapist. Students would be expected to complete training in accordance with the title and must meet with all the competencies for children and young people.  

EIATSCYP Approach to Education and Training

Introduction and Overview

The courses within EIATSCYP vary within each of the countries where education, training and practice is being delivered. The principles of practice are interpreted across cultures in different ways and re-configured in the case of each individual child or young person.

This information sets out the threshold standards for what would be expected to be included in each country at different levels of education, training, practice and research. All EIATSCYP courses meet with the overall requirements for professional child competencies.

What follows is not prescriptive or reductive, but a guide to support in the developmental journey towards evolving curriculum standards and the completion of professional training. The minimum course requirement is three years at whatever level the training is delivered.

Trainees work towards completion of course requirements, placements and supervision over a longer period in accordance with their developmental needs towards becoming a professional therapeutic practitioner in different modalities and approaches in context.

Professional therapeutic practitioners are required to engage with ongoing continuous personal and professional development with commitment to lifelong learning.

All trainings follow a similar pattern of educational development in the process of becoming a therapeutic practitioner which follows three stages of discovery, learning and practice.

Foundation Stage One – Familiarisation in Preparation to Commence Placements

Students engage in education at a foundation level to become familiar with therapeutic theory, philosophy and values. This level of experiential education enables students to gain awareness of the contexts where children live, learn and play, to consider key concepts for applied therapeutic thinking, understand the importance of children’s rights, the language of the child, play based creative skills, ethical insights, legal and policy frameworks for safeguarding and an appreciation of the value of therapeutic relationships with children.

Intermediary Professional Stage Two – Acquisition of Knowledge, Understanding and Skills for Application to Practice-based Learning in Placements

Trainees can participate in professional placements and develop the ability to establish therapeutic working alliances with children, young people and institutions to start to practice within organisations. This level of educational training enables students to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills relevant to their supervised work-based practice, including how children develop and the significance of attachment, exploring the multifactorial influences on children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing, including risk factors and protective factors to be considered in supporting the team around the child. At this stage of development trainees learn how to use relevant measurement tools, and the integration of knowledge and experience through practice-based research and evaluation.

Professional Stage Three – Integration and Consolidation including Research and Evaluation of Therapeutic Practice

Trainees demonstrate an integration of theory and practice through written case studies which hold the developmental journey of a child or young person over time, evidencing the process of therapeutic change and working with parents, carers and professionals. At this stage of training the requirement is to evidence the ability to enable collaborative assessments and formulate aims with children and young people, as well as demonstrating the full range of therapeutic competencies for work with children and young people. Assessments at this stage of training require evidence of insight into the co-creation of professional practice through research and evaluation of the impact of work in progress.

Personal Therapy, Supervision, Teaching and Learning

There are different approaches to training towards titles including, Therapeutic Practitioner, Child Therapeutic Counsellor, Child Psychotherapeutic Counsellor, Psychotherapist with Children or Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist.

All students must have experience of personal therapy and supervision to gain self-knowledge through reflective practice, promoting reflexivity, self-awareness, inquiring into and recovering from childhood experiences, monitoring therapeutic work in progress and increasing understanding of interpersonal processes which occur in therapeutic work with children and young people. All approaches to training require the inclusion of 50 hours of personal therapy and 50 hours of supervision. The minimum requirement for practice-based learning in placements is 450 hours and the minimum teaching contact time is 450 hours.

EIATSCYP Definitions of Therapeutic Practice with Children and Young People

General Introduction

All EIATSCYP training and education provision in therapeutic practice promotes child centred principles, ethics and conduct, the rights of the child, knowledge of the range of different influences on child mental health and emotional wellbeing, applied therapeutic thinking, age appropriate communication, creative and relational skills, multi-disciplinary perspectives, effective risk management, safeguarding, awareness of limits of competence, child development, the impacts of adversity, trauma, abuse and neglect, cultural diversity, liaison with parents, carers and professionals, as well as insight into the many different settings where children live, learn and play.

Whilst theories, philosophy, methods and techniques can vary, integrative and relational values enable a holistic approach to the child in context. All students engage with personal therapy and supervision which can be managed in accordance with individual personal and professional development needs.

Supervision ratios can be managed in accordance with the therapeutic practitioner’s professional experience, client ratios and the complexity of the child’s presenting issues. This can vary according to practitioner and context.

The following information provides details of some of the distinctions between titles including education, training, practice and research requirements.

All courses are research informed, promoting research inquiry into the practitioner’s lived experience and the use of a range of appropriate measures which can be applied for the purpose of assessment, formulation and evaluation of therapeutic outcomes. There are different titles with different training routes for teaching and learning which can include the following:

1.    Contextual Child Therapeutic Practice
2.    Child Therapeutic Counselling
3.    Child Psychotherapeutic Counselling
4.    Psychotherapy with Children
5.    Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy

Differences can be defined in many ways according to diverse therapeutic practitioners, modalities and contexts. These are not definitive or reductive and there can be many overlaps between approaches. Each country must work within their own legal, policy and ethical frameworks. The overall aim of the framework for education, training, practice and research is to support practitioners’ development and navigating the range of pathways which can be made available for developing as a child therapeutic practitioner.