UK PBSP Training : Entry & training requirements & qualifications FAQs

No.

A small number of non therapeutically trained will be welcomed onto the Foundation Training. For those who are not intending to practice the Pesso Boyden method as a therapist, but will just use it for their own personal development, a counselling qualification is not necessary in the Foundation Year.

As one graduating student put it:

“Even if I never used the Pesso-Boyden method again, I feel that the training has given me so much perspective and clarity on my own patterns and the capacity to make different choices in life that it has fed both my life and my soul.”

Ideally yes.

Exceptions may be made for those who have already enrolled in a programme to achieve a counselling or psychotherapeutic qualification.

Anyone who does not have an appropriate level counselling or psychotherapeutic qualification will not be able to practise as a Pesso Boyden psychotherapist at the end of the training, because you were not a psychotherapist before the training. This means that you will not be able to lead structures or run a PBSP structure group.

The Commitment we ask of you when joining our Training in PBSP Foundation Year Training

Attendance: Ideally participants will attend all of the days of the training programme for which they enrol. Please ensure you arrive on time and avoid having to leave early if you can. This dedication ensures a sense of mutual respect and safety within the group. Of course ‘life happens’ so there will be exceptional circumstances and we will be responsive to such events. However, in line with the sector requirements, you will need to attend 80% of the Foundation Training days to be eligible to begin the Full Training and then 80% of the Full Training days in order to graduate with a Certificate of Attendance from the Pesso Boyden Institute UK.

Fees: We launch our training groups once a viable number of suitable participants have applied and we then limit our group to an optimal size. Our programmes run on a budget which we need to trust. In the light of this, once you have been accepted and have signed up onto the training you will be contracted to pay the full fees for your programme even if you do not attend all of the training days. We will not be able to refund fees if a delegate chooses not to complete either the Foundation Year or the Full Training. This includes those with whom we have agreed staged payments.

Our Commitment to you when joining the PBSP Training

Each of us has trained for decades in the skills of psychotherapy and we have studied the Pesso method specifically for over twenty years with its founder Al Pesso and his beloved colleague Lowijs Perquin. All three of us have had careers in teaching and so we have made this rich body of work uniquely ‘learnable’. We will do our utmost to make your days (and years) with us a meaningful and productive time. Should you take up the Full Training you will graduate with a robust understanding of this powerful and lovely method. In addition, you will have a sound grip on the practical skills that make this modality uniquely effective.

The Pesso Boyden training consists of a one year ‘Foundation Training’ followed by a further two year ‘Full Training’. Participants can choose to attend just the Foundation Training of one year, or to complete the Full Training, which comprises Foundation and Full Training, taking three years in total.

The transition from the Foundation Year into the Full Training will be subject to discussion and agreement with the trainers.

Yes.

To become a Pesso Boyden psychotherapist, and lead one-to-one structures or run a structure group, you need to have completed a recognised counselling qualification and completed the Full PBSP Training of three years.

The minimum training required is a Level 4 counselling qualification.

This could be at a Diploma, Degree or Postgraduate level. It should include many hours of theory, and at least 100 hours in a supervised placement. It should be a course that enables you to apply for BACP/UKCP membership (or similar).

This level of counselling qualification implies a baseline of therapeutic training and practice, which will have equipped you with some of the necessary psychological knowledge to be able to keep clients safe while practising this profound method, given the depth to which structures can take people.

No.

To become a Pesso Boyden psychotherapist we do require you to have a counselling qualification, but you do not need to be accredited.

Yes.

Once you have gained a recognised Level 4 counselling qualification and have insurance, and have completed the three year Full PBSP Training you may lead one-to-one structures and run a PBSP structure group. These trainings can be completed in any sequence.

Yes.

We ask that those who are leading structures are members of an organisation such as BACP, UKCP, BPS, NCS, or similar. N.B. UKCP is an umbrella organisation. Membership of UKCP can either be direct, or through one of their organisational members.

Yes.

We ask that you have a professional indemnity insurance before you start to lead structures (minimum of £2m cover), that covers your work using the Pesso Boyden System of Psychotherapy.

Professional counselling training, from beginning to Level 4, typically takes three to four years part time (depending on how the course is structured). But some students who attended the PBSP Full Training have found a Level 4 counselling course that credits prior training in related fields, which has reduced the length of their training to 2 years (part-time).

This route is acceptable to us, provided the course is of a suitable standard to count towards BACP or UKCP membership and ultimately, BACP/UKCP accreditation (or similar). Other students have initially completed a level 3 training (which usually takes up to a year part time) and then joined the Level 4 training (a further 1 year full time or 2 years part time). Others have chosen to complete a four year (part time) BACP/UKCP recognised training. See summary table at the end of this document for guidance.

If you have a colleague who is a qualified counsellor in the room, who can intervene if necessary and agrees to take clinical responsibility, and you have professional indemnity insurance which covers you, then yes, you may run a structure group, even if you have not yet completed a counselling qualification.

To train as a PBSP Supervisor you need to be a fully qualified counsellor, with the appropriate  years of clinical experience, and to have successfully completed the PBSP UK Full Training course.  The steps to do this are outlined here: https://pessoboydentraininguk.com/pesso-boyden-training-course/pbsp-post-training-accreditation-requirements/  It is recommended that those wishing to train as a PBSP supervisor should be BACP/UKCP Accredited before starting the PBSP Supervision Training.

The Commitment we ask of you when joining our Training in PBSP full Training Attendance: Ideally participants will attend all of the days of the training programme for which they enrol. Please ensure you arrive on time and avoid having to leave early if you can. This dedication ensures a sense of mutual respect and safety within the group. Of course ‘life happens’ so there will be exceptional circumstances and we will be responsive to such events. However, in line with the sector requirements, you will need to attend 80% of the Foundation Training days to be eligible to begin the Full Training and then 80% of the Full Training days in order to graduate with a Certificate of Attendance from the Pesso Boyden Institute UK. Fees: We launch our training groups once a viable number of suitable participants have applied and we then limit our group to an optimal size. Our programmes run on a budget which we need to trust. In the light of this, once you have been accepted and have signed up onto the training you will be contracted to pay the full fees for your programme even if you do not attend all of the training days. We will not be able to refund fees if a delegate chooses not to complete either the Foundation Year or the Full Training. This includes those with whom we have agreed staged payments.

Our Commitment to you when joining the PBSP Training Each of us has trained for decades in the skills of psychotherapy and we have studied the Pesso method specifically for over twenty years with its founder Al Pesso and his beloved colleague Lowijs Perquin. All three of us have had careers in teaching and so we have made this rich body of work uniquely ‘learnable’. We will do our utmost to make your days (and years) with us a meaningful and productive time. Should you take up the Full Training you will graduate with a robust understanding of this powerful and lovely method. In addition, you will have a sound grip on the practical skills that make this modality uniquely effective.