Advanced Diploma in Relationship Psychotherapy

In class: February 2024 to December 2024 – London – 20 days
Online: June 2023 to April 2024 – Zoom – 20 days

Our in class version is almost fully subscribed.
We are now accepting applications for our in class, face to face 2024 intake.

We run a number of dedicated seminars on sex, sexuality, psychosexual therapy and relationship therapy, including relationship enhancement. We endorse and collaborate with the London Diploma in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy, a two year training accredited by COSRT, NCP and Middlesex University.

For a direct link to the website of the London Diploma click here.

Our Advanced Diploma in Relationship Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy with couples requires specific skills rather than those applicable to general psychotherapy work. This course aims to build on existing psychotherapy and counselling skills and to widen these to include systemic and psychosexual skills. We support individual students in building on, enhancing and honing their practice when working with couples. Our intention is to enable participants to work with complex and multi-faceted presentations at a deep level incorporating a variety of psychotherapeutic models within the couple framework.

This Diploma is a route to NCS (National Counselling Society) training accreditation once the London Diploma in Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy (provided by LDPRT) has been successfully completed.

Accredited Thematic Level 7

Zoom online version

Dates

Zoom, online: June 2023 to April 2024. Times: 10.00 – 16.30 hrs. 10 modules of 2 days, Sunday and Monday, 20 days in total.

Module 1: Sunday 11 and Monday 12 June 2023
Module 2: Sunday 9 and Monday 10 July 2023
Module 3: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 September 2023
Module 4: Sunday 8 and Monday 9 October 2023
Module 5: Sunday 5 and Monday 6 November 2023
Module 6: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 December 2023
Module 7: Sunday 14 and Monday 15 January 2024
Module 8: Sunday 4 and Monday 5 February 2024
Module 9: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 March 2024
Module 10: Sunday 7 and Monday 8 April 2024

In class, face to face: February 2024 to December 2024. Times: 10.00 – 16.30 hrs. 10 weekends, 20 days in total.

TBC
Weekend 1: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 February 2024
Weekend 2: Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March 2024
Weekend 3: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April 2024
Weekend 4: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May 2024
Weekend 5: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June 2024
Weekend 6: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July 2024
Weekend 7: Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024
Weekend 8: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October 2024
Weekend 9: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 November 2024
Weekend 10: Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December 2024

Fees

£3250.00 for the year (incl 20% VAT). We require a deposit of £250 to secure your place followed by 10 monthly instalments of £300. Applicants who wish to pay for the year a one off payment, are offered a 2.5% reduction in fees.

Testimonials

Testimonials 2020/21
“This course is a comprehensive training in couples work, with highly knowledgeable and skilled trainers, that gives counsellors an excellent grounding in working with couples.” 2020/2021

“Studying with NAOS is one of the best decisions I ever made. You know a course is good when you feel genuinely sad that it is over.” 2020/2021

“I am so pleased that I chose to do the Advanced diploma in Couples Therapy with NAOS. You offer a very good couples training and you are, without question, at the top of your game. Your teaching team brings a wide and deep knowledge and experience which overall creates a very colourful and rich tapestry of learning. I feel that the course has been a positive experience, a privilege to hear and learn from people who are passionate about their work.” 2020

“This was a lively interactive course that deepened and enriched my own experiences as well as enhancing my practice in the therapy room. The facilitators are highly experienced, thoughtful and challenging. The peer group was international, eclectic and enlightening. I had a very special experience and learned a lot. I would thoroughly recommend the course.” 2019/2020

“This course is a must for any couple therapist, it makes you grow personally and professionally, gives you great tools to work with, encourages your creativity, and offers you the most contemporary thinking on therapy.” 2019/2020

Testimonials 2019
“Thank you for this past year but also the past three years. I have had the most amazing experience with you and the entire vital spirit that NAOS has been to me.” Student 2019

“The experiences, the people, the teaching and enlightenment, the place, the insides and the outsides, everything has contributed to profound changes within in me other personally and in my work. Thank you really doesn’t feel a significant enough phrase to express the gratitude I feel.” Student 2019

“I have really enjoyed training with your over the last 3 years. They have been great trainings and wise investments.” Student 2019

“Bernd is warm, irreverent, brave, experienced, shaped by grit, free.” Student 2019

“The year on this course has given me so much, mostly time with incredible thinkers who, as a group of professionals both trainers and attendees, have contributed to broadening my mind and my approach to the way I am able to work with clients. NAOS is a centre of excellence and brings together excellent people to learn and grow with. Thank you.” Student 2019

“I thoroughly enjoyed the Naos learning experience and the insights into couples work I gained on the Diploma. I have used what I have learned in my day to day practice and got the chance to meet some really fantastic, skilled people that I would otherwise not have met. The teaching staff form a well-integrated network of clinicians who seem to have worked together and formed an approach to the work that I was very interested to learn about.” Student 2019

Testimonials 2017
“Another brilliant day facilitated by Bernd. Experiential work hugely beneficial and insightful. Thank you!” Student 2017

“The course has been terribly enriching and thought provoking. I left feeling much better equipped to think about and work with couples. I was also able to integrate the knowledge and use it into my individual work. I recommend this course wholeheartedly.” Dr Yasmine Haimovici, 2016

“Each of the course modules gave me unique insights which is very useful in my work. I learnt the theory but also how to use them practically in therapy. It had enhanced my level of working with couples.” Rima Hawkins, 2016

“The course gave me a great foundation from which to understand the dynamics between couples and tools to assist them. I am much more confident about tackling some of the more complex situations that couples bring to the consultant room” RG, 2016

“I highly recommend the Advanced Diploma Course for anyone currently working with couples or anyone who is interested in working with couple relationships.  The course content was informative and challenging, stimulating and insightful for the couple process and relationship developments.  The course tutors offered their experience and knowledge to inform theory and bring alive practice, which I valued as a real learning resource.  I felt supported and encouraged by the structure of the course, the delivery of the material plus discussion and role play that transformed theory and learning into practice.
I valued and enjoyed my time with you and continue to work with couples in a more confident and, I hope, more competent way than I did before completing the course.” J.M. 2016

“It’s been a pleasure to study with you and get to know you over the year. Many thanks for an enriching experience and allowing me to learn more about myself.” David Piner, 2014

“I was delighted to be a part of it.” Dominic Davies, 2014

“I found this to be an exciting and diverse training, giving me many more skills to integrate into my work with couples.” Priya, 2014

“It was a lovely ending, very graceful, kind and elegant…” Carolyn Cowan, 2014

“Thanks for the ending. I certainly hope it’s the start of some beginnings in terms of keeping in touch. I’d love to catch up and see how things are going with everyone.” Janine, 2014

Faculty (tbc)

Bernd C. Leygraf  and David Piner (Course Directors), Ana Rhodes, Serge Nicholson, Prof Desa Markovic, Effie Soultani, Marcus Sorensen, Jaap Westerbos, Keeley Mardon, Dr. Maha Nasrallah-Babenko

Location

At NAOS premises, 3 Montpelier Avenue, Ealing – London W5 2XP

Full Course Content

The Curriculum includes

  • The role of the therapist in couples work
  • A psychotherapeutic and developmental framework
  • Stages of Couples Relationship: symbiosis to differentiation, practicing, rapprochement to mutual interdependence
  • Diagnosis of the couple’s stages including stress and anxiety within the couple relationship 
  • Principles for Intervention which will include managing betrayal and affairs
  • A critical review of sexual aversion in the couple 
  • Narcissistic-Borderline couples
  • A synopsis and review of Developmental and Transpersonal models of relationships 
  • Relationship enhancement models vs. couples therapy 
  • Mental health issues in either one or both of the couple 
  • Working with same-sex couples 
  • A culturally sensitive approach to ethnically diverse clients
  • Domestic violence
  • Neuroscience and gendered relationships

Entry requirements
Counsellors, psychotherapists or related professions with a minimum of 2 years training.

Assessment

  • A case study of a couple of 5000 words which is submitted in March 2023  (extensions are given if necessary)
  • Attendance of no less than 85% is required
  • Course director and faculty feedback
  • Peer and self-assessment

Dates (TBC)

In class, face to face: February 2024 to December 2024. Times: 10.00 – 16.30 hrs. 10 weekends, 20 days in total.

Weekend 1: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 February 2024
Weekend 2: Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 March 2024
Weekend 3: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 April 2024
Weekend 4: Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 May 2024
Weekend 5: Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June 2024
Weekend 6: Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 July 2024
Weekend 7: Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024
Weekend 8: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 October 2024
Weekend 9: Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 November 2024
Weekend 10: Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 December 2024

Accreditation
Students may undertake this training in part fulfilment of the Accredited Register (Professional Standards Board), as a pathway into UKCP registration or BACP accreditation.
The course is accredited with NCS and NCP and faculty members are all accredited with national accrediting bodies (AHPP, NCP, NCS, BACP, UKCP, COSRT)

124 NCS logo

Fees
£3250.00 for the year (incl 20% VAT). We require a deposit of £250 to secure your place followed by 10 monthly instalments of £300. Applicants who wish to pay for the year a one off payment, are offered a 2.5% reduction in fees.

Enquiries and Application
If you require more information, please fill in an application form (click here). We will contact you as soon as possible.
All applicants are required to complete the application form. This will be followed by a telephone interview. If offered a place, a course contract will have to be completed and an initial non-refundable deposit of £100 to secure a place will be required.

Zoom online version

Zoom, online: June 2023 to April 2024. Times: 10.00 – 16.30 hrs. 10 modules of 2 days, Sunday and Monday, 20 days in total.

Module 1: Sunday 11 and Monday 12 June 2023
Module 2: Sunday 9 and Monday 10 July 2023
Module 3: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 September 2023
Module 4: Sunday 8 and Monday 9 October 2023
Module 5: Sunday 5 and Monday 6 November 2023
Module 6: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 December 2023
Module 7: Sunday 14 and Monday 15 January 2024
Module 8: Sunday 4 and Monday 5 February 2024
Module 9: Sunday 3 and Monday 4 March 2024
Module 10: Sunday 7 and Monday 8 April 2024