Applications
Applications are considered by the IPSS Accreditation Committee which is comprised of several experienced and fully qualified IPSS Members. With reference to the following stages, we invite you to apply for membership and accreditation with IPSS:
Stage One - The Initial Application
Complete the application form in full, and return to the IPSS Administrator.
Please do not send CV’s or other information not immediately relevant to your application. You may withdraw from the application process at any stage. If you do withdraw and later change your mind, a new application will be required.
If anything in your application remains unclear or incomplete the administrator will seek to clarify this with you, before passing the application to the Chair of Accreditation. When your application is received by the accreditation chair, please allow at least 28 days for a formal response.
Please supply two recent professional references, one of which should be a Supervisor that knows your psychoanalytic work well.
Please also send a professional development statement of around 3,000 words. This should also make substantial reference to your clinical work in its social context and draw upon established psychoanalytic thinking and theory, alongside demonstrating why you are attracted to joining the IPSS.
The fee for Stage 1 is £100 (not refundable). Depending on the outcome of Stage 1, most candidates will be invited to proceed to Stage 2 and some candidates will move directly to Stage 3. At this point, suitable candidates encouraged to move to either Stage 2 or 3 will be invited to interview with two IPSS psychotherapists, using an online meeting platform such as Zoom or Skype. The length of this interview is unlikely to exceed 1.5 hours. The cost for the interview is £150 and is non-refundable. If your application at Stage 1 is not considered viable moving forwards you will be advised accordingly, and neither an interview nor further fees will be required; nevertheless, if feasible we will encourage and support you to move forwards to Stage 2. Beyond Stage 1, all applicants will be invited to take up the IPSS membership category of Accreditation Candidate Member and comply with the following conditions:
• Candidates are strongly encouraged to attend IPSS Members Forums (currently three times a year) where possible, either in person or online depending on circumstances.
• Candidates should continue clinical work and remain in supervision with an IPSS supervisor, or a psychoanalytic psychotherapist supervisor agreed by IPSS. A report may be requested from your supervisor.
• Candidates must adhere to the IPSS Code of Ethics and Code of Practice and be familiar with all the documents applying to membership of the organisation. (See Policies and Guidelines)
• Candidates must comply with the policies and procedures of UKCP and CPJA.
• Candidates must maintain professional indemnity insurance of up to £1 million. Evidence will be required.
IPSS candidates moving to Stage 2 may then apply for UKCP Trainee Membership. When candidates have met the requirements for Stage 2, candidates can then move to Stage 3. Successful completion of Stage 3 leads to accreditation with the IPSS and full clinical membership with the UKCP.
Stage Two
Stage 2 may involve addressing some or all of the following requirements, either in full or in part, depending upon the assessed evidence presented in your application:
• Twice a week individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy: This should typically be for a minimum of 4 years in total, of which a minimum of two years (continuous) must have been twice (or more) a week. There should also be a substantial personal therapy overlap with the psychoanalytic clinical work presented as evidence in the accreditation application.
• A period of further supervised twice a week(or more) work with a client/patient for no less than a continuous 12-month period (under appropriate weekly psychoanalytic supervision)
• Additional and regular psychoanalytic specific practice subject to weekly psychoanalytic supervision.
• Additional CPD training or study.
*Please note - Professional fees for further psychotherapy and/or supervision are a private matter between the applicant and psychotherapist/supervisor.
Stage Three - Accreditation Stage, Formal Submissions
Your work will be assessed using our published marking framework. The following documents are required at this stage:
• Written training case study (demonstrating effective use of theory in clinical work and of supervision) evidencing work with a twice (or more) a week client/patient over a period of twelve months or more. This will be 8-10,000 words and may have been drafted or submitted previously in another context. Your case study should demonstrate a working familiarity with key psychoanalytic concepts and thinkers who may include, but are certainly not limited to, Freud, Bion, Winnicott, Klein, Lacan, Jung, Benjamin, Ogden, Fairburn, Bollas etc. Furthermore, theoretical and interpersonal insights drawn from those who situate their psychoanalytical work in a socio-cultural frame will strengthen your application to the IPSS.
• Two short accounts of work with patients from the last three years, around 2,000 words each.
• The fee for Stage 3 is £150 (non-refundable) and includes reading and commenting on papers. Submitted work may also be liable to scrutiny by our external moderator. We do this to ensure our assessment decisions are fair and consistent. Please allow up to 8 working weeks for the assessment outcome, although we will aim to inform you sooner than this.
If you are unable to move directly to Stage 3, you should inform the IPSS (via our administrator) as soon as you believe you have completed all Stage 2 requirements. At this point, we will reassess the evidence you present. There will be no additional fee for this reassessment. At this point the accreditation chair and colleague/s will either:
A) Confirm you have met the Stage 2 requirements in full and can now move to Stage 3
B) Clarify any further Stage 2 actions needed
Stage 3 should be completed within one year of payment of the fee, but if not, the Accreditation Committee will review the application and depending on circumstances may agree an extension or charge a further fee to cover the Accreditation Membership.
If the IPSS Accreditation Committee subsequently recommend the applicant for membership of IPSS and registration with CPJA/UKCP, this decision will need to be ratified by IPSS Council, and the training ‘case study’ must be presented at the IPSS Members Forums (currently February, June, and November each year) before accredited IPSS membership is confirmed. Presentation of the training case study may be undertaken either in person or online depending on circumstances; however, if circumstances permit the candidate is strongly encouraged to present their case study in person at an IPSS Forum event. Candidates may need to wait for a presentation slot to become available.
