Courses / Advanced Diploma
Stage 4 of 4 on the training route
Advanced Diploma in TA Psychotherapy
The final stage of the route. Advanced clinical training for counsellors becoming psychotherapists, with two distinct routes to qualification.
- Length
- One year, October to July
- Each month
- An online Friday and an in-person weekend
- Next start
- October 2028
- Fee
- £3,400
- Level
- Level 7
About the Course
The Advanced Diploma deepens your clinical work towards longer-term, in-depth psychotherapy. Drawing on TA and psychoanalytic thinking, you'll work with more complex presentations, refine your own way of practising, and build towards qualification as a psychotherapist.
By the end, you'll have a clear understanding of how you work and why: the kind of grounded, reflective practitioner that clients can trust with their most important changes.
What You'll Study
The year is made up of five modules. These are the topics each one covers:
The Self and Unconscious Process
- Third Order Ego State Structure
- Unconscious Communication
- Relational Approaches
- Character Styles
- Breaks and Endings
Adaptive and Maladaptive Psychological Functioning
- Trauma
- Wellness and Good Psychological Functioning
- Shame
- Philosophy of Psychotherapeutic Change
Personal Development in Psychotherapy Practice
- Group Process and Personal Development
- Implications of Therapists' Scripts and Personalities
Psychological Research in Action
- Being a Researcher-Practitioner
Preparation for Psychotherapy Practice
- Your final written and oral exams (no taught sessions)
How It's Taught
Three training days a month for ten months, from October to July: one Friday online and one weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in person at Victoria Halls in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire.
You'll continue your reflective journal and yearly synopsis, and the Advanced Diploma ends with a two-part final exam, written and oral. On the CTA route, the CTA exams are taken separately through EATA or ITAA.
Two Routes to Qualification
You'll choose one of two routes. They share the same training but lead to different qualifications, with different clinical requirements.
- The CTA route: becoming a Certified Transactional Analyst via UKATA, with eligibility to apply for UKCP registration and membership of EATA and ITAA. Exams are held through EATA and ITAA.
- The UKCP route: a streamlined route to a Master's-level qualification in Adult Psychotherapy and eligibility for UKCP registration.
Entry Requirements
- Completion of the Diploma in TA Psychotherapeutic Counselling, or entry by APL if you've trained at another UKATA RTE or qualified as a TA counsellor through a Foundation Degree or Level 4 Diploma
- Current supervised client practice
- Ongoing personal therapy, at least 40 hours a year
- For the CTA route, a training contract with a PTSTA or TSTA supervisor
On either route, you'll also complete a mental health familiarisation placement, or an equivalent, before you qualify.
Both routes to UKCP registration run through UKATA Registered Training Establishments (RTEs). Our application to become an RTE is in progress. Get in touch for the latest on where it stands.
The Two Routes Side by Side
| CTA route | UKCP route | |
|---|---|---|
| Qualification | Certified Transactional Analyst (Psychotherapy), awarded by EATA | Master's-level (Level 7) qualification in Adult Psychotherapy |
| Supervised client hours | 750, including at least 50 with groups or couples and 50 with individuals | 450 with adult clients |
| Supervision | 150 hours, including 75 in TA with a PTSTA or TSTA, at least 40 of them with your principal supervisor | One hour for every six client hours, which can drop to two hours a month after 450 client hours |
| Training contract | An EATA CTA contract with a PTSTA or TSTA principal supervisor | Not required |
| Personal therapy | At least 40 hours a year with a UKCP-registered psychotherapist who is also a CTA, PTSTA or TSTA | At least 40 hours a year with a UKCP-registered psychotherapist (160 hours over four years) |
| Mental health familiarisation placement | Required | Required |
| Assessment | The EATA written exam, then an oral exam based on three recordings of your work | A written assessment, including a client case study, and an oral assessment based on a recording of your work |
| Eligible to apply for | UKCP registration, and membership of EATA and ITAA as a CTA | UKCP registration |
Completing the training makes you eligible to apply. Membership, registration and certification remain subject to each body's own processes and discretion, and their requirements can change. Always check the current EATA and UKATA handbooks.