Professional Doctorate in Systemic Psychotherapy (ref. M10)
This course aims to enable professionals who have qualified or will qualify as family therapists to continue their professional and academic development and to make original contributions to professional knowledge in the field through a substantial research project.
Who is this course for?
This part-time Doctorate research programme is intended for qualified professionals in systemic/family therapy.
Content/Teaching components
Doctorate programme
This comprises of a 2 year taught programme held on a Thursday, followed by a year or more of completing the research and writing the doctoral thesis, with continued research supervision and attendance at research events. Students need to be able to commit at least 1 day per week to their research work.
The first year, which is supported by research teaching, seminars and supervision, leads to the submission of the research proposal which needs to be approved and registered by the University prior to beginning the research study.
The second year continues to be supported by a programme of research seminars and supervision.
The research work is supported by:
1. Research Seminars and Research Supervision Groups
2. Individual Supervision of Research
3. Research Symposiums
4. Invited Researcher Presentations
5. Data Analysis Sessions
6. Departmental and Clinic Events
The third and subsequent year/s comprise of the completion of the research and its writing up, supported by individual supervision and course events.
Assessment
The first year is assessed through the Masters' critique and the research proposal which needs to be approved by the University Registration Board.
The second year includes three assessed pieces of work in support of the research study.
The Doctorate programme is assessed on the basis of the research thesis. This will be examined by a panel appointed by the Assessment Board and will include a viva voce examination.
Thesis
The thesis will be expected to make an original contribution to the field of systemic therapy with families, couples, individuals or organisations. It will normally be based on clinical research in therapeutic settings or organisations, or research with implications for the systemic therapy field.
Download a list of completed Doctoral Theses from 2009
Student feedback
Past and current students consistently report on the relevance of participation in this programme to their thinking and practice in their setting.
Closing date
26th June (late applications may be considered) for the October intake.
Time commitment
The 2 year taught programme is held on a Thursday, fortnightly. The third and subsequent year is spent completing the research and writing up. Students need to be able to commit at least 1 day per week to their research work throughout the programme.
Entry requirement
Applicants who have previously completed their Masters level qualification in Systemic/Family Therapy and are already qualified as family therapists are eligible to apply to enter the Doctorate programme.
Continuation on the programme is conditional upon the research critique being assessed as of Doctoral standard by the Assessment Board and the thesis proposal approved by the University Registration Board.
Staff’s research interests
Charlotte Burck, PhD
Charlotte Burck is a Consultant Systemic Psychotherapist, trainer and researcher and has been co-organising tutor, teacher and supervisor on the Doctorate in Systemic Psychotherapy, since establishing the doctoral programme in the 1990s. She set up and is co-director of the Tavistock-UEL Family Therapy and Systemic Research Centre, which aims to map research for the systemic field and build research networks. Her PhD research focused on exploring experiences of living in more than one language and their implications for therapy. Her research interests include change processes and developing systemic relational research methodologies. She also runs the Systemic and Family Therapy Supervision Course.
Current research:
- Domains based analysis of family processes
- Resiliences and challenges of families living with parental mental illness
- Action research: Therapeutic work with families with parental high conflict
Publications include:
Burck, C. (2011) Living in several languages: Language, Gender and Identities. Special edition. Living in Translation: Voicing and Inscribing Women's Lives and Practices': edited by Ann Phoenix and Kornelia Slavova. European Journal of Women’s Studies. November 2011 18: 361-378.
Hill, J., Wren, B., Alderton, J., Aslam, N., Broyden, N., Burck, C., Kennedy,E. and Senior, R. (2011) The application of a domains based analysis to family processes: implications for assessment and therapy. Journal of Family Therapy.
Burck, C. & Wren, B. (2011) Dialogues in systemic research. Commentaries on qualitative methods and systemic research. Human Systems. The Journal of Therapy, Consultation & Training.
Burck C. (2005/7) Multilingual Living. Explorations of Language and Subjectivity. Palgrave Macmillan.
Burck, C. (2005) Comparing Qualitative Research Methodologies for Systemic Research: The use of grounded theory, discourse analysis and narrative analysis. Journal of Family Therapy. 27: 238-263.
Burck, C., Frosh, S., Strickland-Clark, L, & Morgan, K. (1998) The Process of Enabling Change: A Study of Therapist Interventions in Family Therapy. Journal of Family Therapy. 20. 3: 253-268.
Frosh, S., Burck, C., Strickland-Clark, L, & Morgan, K. (1996) Engaging with Change: A Process Study of Family Therapy. Journal of Family Therapy. Vol 18 No 2: 141- 162.
Bernadette Wren, BSc Psychology; MSc Clinical Psychology; CPsychol, MSc Family Therapy, DSysPsych
Bernadette Wren trained as a Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Psychotherapist, and is Head of Psychology at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. She has degrees in philosophy and psychology and a continuing interest in the relevance of each discipline to the other. She works clinically with transgendered young people and their families in the Trust’s Gender identity Development Service. She teaches clinical research methods across a number of Tavistock courses and co-chairs the UEL-Tavistock Doctorate in Systemic Psychotherapy.
Current research:
- A ‘social domains’ model of family interactions, focusing on parent-child communications.
Publications include:
Wren B & Kavner E. A Plurality of Just Answers. In A.Lemma (Ed). (in press)
Hill, J., Wren, B., Alderton, J., Aslam, N., Broyden, N., Burck, C., Kennedy, E. and Senior, R. (2011) The application of a domains based analysis to family processes: implications for assessment and therapy. Journal of Family Therapy.
Wren, B. (in press). ‘Researching the moral dimension of first-person narratives’. Qualitative Research in Psychology
Burck, C. and Wren, B. (2010) Commentaries on Qualitative Methods and Systemic Research. Human Systems: The Journal of Therapy, Consultation & Training. 21,2.
Wren, B. (2011) It’s interesting, but is it science: reflections on researching outside the dominant experimental paradigm. Association of Child Psychotherapy Bulletin. No.219.
Dilks, S., Tasker, F. and Wren, B. (2010) Managing the impact of psychosis: A grounded theory exploration of recovery processes in psychosis. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 49,87-107.
Dilks, S., Tasker, F and Wren, B. (2008) Building bridges to observational perspectives: A grounded theory study of therapy processes in psychosis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory. Research and Practice, 81,209-229.
Wren, B. (2006) Editorial: Reviewing Publication Ethics in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 11,1
Wren, B. & Daniel, G. (2005) Parents with mental health problems in A Vetere & E Dowling (Eds) Narrative Therapy with Children and Their Families: A Practitioner’s Guide to Concepts and Approaches London: Routledge
Wilson, I. Griffin, C. & Wren, B. (2005) The interaction between young people with atypical gender identity organisation and their peers Journal of Health Psychology, 10(3), 307-315
Wren, B. (2005) Editorial: The politics of clinical work in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10,4.
Wren, B. (2004) Crossing or Blurring the Gender Boundary; Dilemmas of Transgendered Adolescents (and their Therapists). Harvest; International Journal for Jungian Studies, Volume 50, No. 1, pp 120-135.
Reenee Singh, DSysPsych
Reenee Singh is a Consultant Systemic Psychotherapist/Research Specialist. She is the co-organising tutor of the Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy and is the co-director of the Tavistock and UEL Family Therapy and Systemic Research Centre. Reenee is the North London Co-Ordinator for SHIFT (Self Harm Intervention Family Therapy), a national Random Controlled Trial exploring the efficacy of family therapy for deliberate self-harm in adolescents. Reenee’s doctoral thesis, entitled ‘The Process of Family Talk across Culture’ was a qualitative research study. It focused on discourses of ‘the family’, change and experiences of family therapy in a sample of White British and South Asian clinicians and families. Reenee is the Associate Editor Qualitative Research for the Journal of Family Therapy and recently edited a special issue of the Journal on Qualitative Research.
Current research:
- ‘Race’, culture, power and migration
- North London Co-ordinator for SHIFT (Self Harm Intervention Family Therapy)
Publications include:
Singh, R. (2011) Editorial. Ecological Epistemologies and beyond: qualitative research in the 21st Century. Journal of Family Therapy 33(3): 229-232.
Singh, R. (April 2011) Report on the Tavistock and UEL Family Therapy and Systemic Research Centre. Context.
Stratton, P., Reibstein, J., Lask, J., Singh, R. And Asen, E. (2011) Competences and occupational standards for systemic family and couples therapy. Journal of Family Therapy 33(2): 123-143.
Singh, R. and Dutta, S. (2010). ‘Race’ and Culture. Tools, Techniques and Trainings. A Handbook for Professionals. London: Karnac.
Singh, R. (2009) Constructing ‘the family’ across culture. Journal of Family Therapy 31(4): 359 -383.
Singh, R. and Clarke, G. (2006) Power and parenting assessments: the intersecting levels of race, culture, class and gender. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry 11 (1): 9-25.
Singh, R. (2005) Case comment. The Journal 7 (2): 63-65.
Singh, R., Nath, N. and Nichols, W.C. (2005) Introduction to Treating Indian Families Contemporary Family Therapy 27 (3): 281-285. Special Issue. Treating Indian Families in India and Around the World. R. Singh, R. Nath and W.C. Nichols, Issue Editors.
Singh, R. (2005) Therapeutic skills for working with refugee families: an introductory Course at the Institute of Family Therapy. Journal of Family Therapy 27 (3): 289-293.
Singh, R. (2004) Exploring culture in practice: a few facets of a training course. The Journal of Family Psychotherapy 15 (1-2): 87-104. Co-published simultaneously in Family Therapy Around The World: A Festchrift for Florence Kaslow. Hawforth Press.
Karen Partridge, PhD
Karen Partridge is a Clinical Psychologist and Systemic Psychotherapist working at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology investigating organisational change in hospitals in which she explored the effect of staff training and organisational interventions from an ecological and systemic perspective. She is interested in supervision, consultation and training in organisations and staff groups and in the interface between therapy, organisational and community interventions and action research. Her clinical work takes place in child and adolescent mental health, autism and adult mental health. She teaches on a number of Tavistock courses and is currently involved in a project to develop and manualise systemic treatment for parents in high conflict.
Current research:
- Action research: Developing systemic treatment for parents in high conflict
Publications include:
Partridge, K. A Bundle of Treasures for a Wandering Therapist: An exploration of personal and professional resources to sustain a therapist on a systemic journey. Context: The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice in the UK, December 2010, pp. 26-29
Partridge, K. (2010) Systemic Supervision in Agency Contexts: An Evolving Conversation with Clinical Psychologists in a Mental Health Trust. in Charlotte Burck and Gwyn Daniel, Processes in Systemic Supervision, London:Karnac, pp. 309-335.
Partridge, K. And McCarry, N. (2009) Dissolving blame: systemic therapy in action. Healthcare, Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal, 9, no 3, pp. 12-16.
Lang, S., Oliver, C. and Partridge, K. (2009) Research cartwheel: An exercise for developing research ideas. Context : The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK,103, pp. 37- 38.
Partridge, K. , McCarry, N., Kelly, A., Ruse, E. and Holmes, J. (2009) Externalising inner conversation in supervision and in therapy through “I” and “You” dialogical writing. Context : The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK,
103, pp. 2- 7.
Partridge K. (2007) The Positioning Compass: A Tool to facilitate Reflexive Positioning. Human Systems: The Journal of Systemic Consultation and Management, 18, 96-111.
Partridge, K, McCarry, N, and Wilson, T. (2007) Practices of Freedom: Playing with the Position of the Other. Journal of Family Therapy, 29, 4, 311-315
Partridge ,K. and McCarry, N. (eds) Systemic Practice and Psychosis: diversity and inclusion. Context : The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK. 93, 2007.
Partridge, K. (2007) Holding onto Fragments: Reflections on Using Mindmaps in Therapy. Context : The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK. 93, 22-26.
Partridge, K. (2006) Re-Membering: Reflections on the Death of a Client. Context The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK.
Partridge, K. (2006) Acting and Dreaming: Sparking Meaning with Metaphors. Context : The Magazine for Family Therapy and Systemic practice in the UK. 85,25-29.
Partridge K. (2005) A Systemic Tale of Assessment and Formulation. Clinical Psychologist, 46, February, 13- 18.
