Accreditation Programme Overview

Schema Therapy Scotland

International Certification Programme

In Schema Therapy

Programme Overview
Schema Therapy Training Scotland is pleased to announce their  International Certification Programme in Schema Therapy. This training programme will provide individualised training over a one or two-year period, leading to a diploma documenting that the candidate is eligible to become either a Standard-level Certified Schema Therapist or Advanced-level Certified Schema Therapist recognised by the International Society for Schema Therapy (ISST). This Schema Therapy Training Certification Programme has been approved by the International Society of Schema Therapy and meets UK Criteria approved by ISST Executive Board as of June 2016.

The curriculum consists of 2 workshops, weekly or bi-weekly consultation sessions (by telephone, videoconferencing, or in-person); readings; DVDs; and periodic ratings of client sessions.  The training programme, under the direction of Susan Simpson (Clinical Psychologist) is conducted by an experienced faculty of supervisors with extensive experience and accreditation in schema therapy.

The International Certification Programme in Schema Therapy is appropriate for experienced mental health professionals, and is open to professionals with doctoral or master’s level degrees in mental health fields.  Applicants should already have an intermediate to advanced level of general psychotherapy experience.  Furthermore, applicants should have access to clients with personality disorders (specifically Borderline Personality Disorder) or other complex clinical presentations, with the capacity to meet with such clients for at least 25 sessions.

Advantages of Certification

  • Once candidates have met competency criteria, joined the International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST), and received formal notification of approval from the ISST, individuals may present themselves as Schema Therapists with patients, colleagues, other professional setting and within marketing material.
  • You will be included in ISST referral networks (as long as ISST membership is maintained and continuing educational requirements are met).

Advanced Accreditation

  • Those completing advanced accreditation may present themselves as an Advanced Level Schema Therapist.
  • In order to become eligible for trainer-supervisor status, candidates must meet the additional training requirements set by the ISST training committee (as detailed on the ISST website) and have received notification of certification. This will allow candidates to provide Schema Therapy workshops and consultation (dependent on criteria outlined by the ISST).

 

Key Components & Requirements for the Certification Programme

Standard Certification programme

The Standard Certification programme is suitable for all experienced mental health professionals, and is open to professionals who satisfy current UK criteria for application (contact Schema Therapy Training Scotland for details).  Applicants should have intermediate or advanced levels of general psychotherapy experience. There are a limited number of training places available on the Standard Certification route.   Please be aware that only applicants regularly working with complex and/or personality-disordered clients will be considered.  Submission of an application does not guarantee a place.  Applications will be scrutinised and places subsequently allocated.

  1. Two intensive  workshops (Schema Therapy: The Model, Methods & Techniques and Schema Therapy: Beyond the Basics), consisting of 3 consecutive days (7 hours each day). These workshops are mandatory and will be held across several venues in Scotland and England.  In addition, participants are encouraged to attend one additional specialist workshop of at least 5 hours duration (e.g. specialist workshops on imagery, chair-work, Schema Therapy group work, working with families and children). Students may choose which venue to attend. As a result the total program length stands at 42+ hours.
  2. These workshops are mandatory and will be held across several venues in England, Scotland and abroad.  Students may choose which venue to attend.
  3. 20 hours of individual supervision, each 50-60 minutes in length. These may be conducted face-to-face, by telephone, or by videoconferencing (e.g. VSee, WhatsApp). The consultation sessions must continue for at least one year on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
  4. Three video or audio recordings of client therapy sessions, to be submitted at regular intervals, each accompanied by a completed Schema Case Conceptualisation form.  The final recorded session will be scored by an independent rater other than your supervisor (arranged by Schema Therapy Scotland).
  5. During the Programme a minimum of 2 cases treated with schema therapy, at least 25 therapy hours each: one case must be BPD.
  6. Readings and viewing DVDs directly related to schema therapy, as well as other readings that provide a broad conceptual background in a variety of approaches relevant to the schema model.

Standard Certification Cost: TBC- this includes all training, consultation and ratings of recorded sessions.  It does not cover travel and overnight expenses.  Candidates will be responsible for all travel expenses to the training venue, including fares, lodging and meals, and will make all of their own travel arrangements.  Candidates will also pay the external examiners (for tape ratings) at the end of the accreditation process.

Advanced Certification Programme

The Advanced Certification programme is suitable for all experienced mental health professionals, and is open to professionals with doctoral or master's (or equivalent) level qualifications/experience in mental health fields.  Applicants should have intermediate or advanced levels of general psychotherapy experience.  There are a limited number of training places available on the Advanced Certification route.   Please be aware that only applicants regularly working with personality-disordered clients will be considered.  Submission of an application does not guarantee a place.  Applications will be scrutinised and places subsequently allocated.

  1. Two intensive workshops (Schema Therapy: The Model, Methods & Techniques and Schema Therapy: Beyond the Basics), consisting of 3 consecutive days (7 hours each day). These workshops are mandatory and will be held across several venues in  Scotland and England.  In addition, participants are strongly encouraged to attend one additional specialist workshop of at least 5 hours duration (e.g. specialist workshops on imagery, chair-work, Schema Therapy group work, working with families and children). Students may choose which venue to attend . As a result the total program length stands at 42+ hours.
  2. 40 hours of individual supervision, each 50-60 minutes in length. These sessions may be conducted by telephone, or by Skype (or equivalent). The consultation sessions must continue for at least one year typically on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
  3. 4 video or audio recordings of client therapy sessions, to be submitted at regular intervals, each accompanied by a completed Schema Case Conceptualisation form.  An additional 2 recorded sessions will be scored by an independent scorer other than your supervisor (details for accessing independent raters will be provided by Schema Therapy Scotland).
  4. During the programme a minimum of 4 cases treated with schema therapy, at least 25 therapy hours each: one case must be BPD and one must be other Personality Disorder (however a “formal” diagnosis is not required).
  5. Readings and DVDs directly related to schema therapy, as well as other readings that provide a broad conceptual background in a variety of approaches relevant to the schema model.

Reading

It is mandatory for participants in both Advanced and Standard programs to have carried out preliminary reading:

  • Reinventing Your Life
  • Schema Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide
  • Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder.
  • Schema Therapy: A Clinician’s Guide

Programme Workshops

  • Attendees on the Standard Certification course must attend workshops 1 & 2.
  • Attendees on the Advanced Certification course must attend workshops 1 & 2 and are strongly encouraged to attend at least one additional specialist topic -  training dates to be arranged through the year.

Advanced Certification Cost: TBC- This includes all training, consultation and ratings of recorded sessions.  It does not cover travel and overnight expenses.  Candidates will be responsible for all travel expenses to the training venue, including fares, lodging and meals, and will make all of their own travel arrangements. Candidates will also pay the external examiners (for tape ratings) at the end of the accreditation process.

Summary of Workshop Details 

Candidates on either the Standard or Advanced Certification Programme must attend Workshops 1 & 2 (Schema Therapy: The Model, Methods & Techniques and Schema Therapy: Beyond the Basics)

.  You may choose to attend in different cities.

Workshops will include a combination of teaching methods, including lectures, handouts, videotapes of master schema therapists, live demonstrations, question-and-answer periods, group discussions, supervised practice in dyads, discussion of supervisees’ own schemas and childhood histories, and small group exercises.

Individualised Case Consultation:

Candidates will receive 40 hours (if pursuing the Advanced Certification Programme) or 20 hours if pursuing the Standard Certification Programme) of individual case supervision, on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Regular consultation will provide an opportunity for intensive, individualised feedback and mentoring, tailored to each candidate’s specific needs.  Consultation will include case conceptualisation, treatment planning, practising specific techniques, and, on a limited basis, some sessions can be devoted to helping candidates heal their own schemas that may be interfering with treatment.  Some sessions will be devoted to discussion of the supervisor’s feedback and ratings of recorded patient sessions submitted by the candidate. The Schema Therapy Competency Rating Scale (STCRS) will be utilised when rating session tapes. Candidates may choose to have the consultation sessions and session ratings spread out over either a one or two-year period.

Breakdown of the Didactic/Dyadic hours required by ISST & as provided by Schema Therapy Workshops
  ISST Requirements (in hours) Schema Therapy Workshops
(hours allocated)
Standard Certification
Didactic Hours 24 hours 26 hours
Supervised role-playing in Dyads 15 hours 16 hours
Advanced Certification
Didactic Hours 24 hours 26 hours
Supervised role-playing in Dyads 15 hours 16 hours
Breakdown of supervised role-play and didactic hours by workshops (including a minimum of one additional Specialist workshop) as provided by Schema Therapy Workshops
Total Workshop Hours Didactic Dyadic
Workshop 1  (21 hours) 13 hours 8 hours
Workshop 2  (21 hours) 13 hours 8 hours
Specialist Workshop/Tutorial 2 hours 4 hours (minimum)
Standard Certification Totals: 28 hours 20 hours
     
Advanced Certification Totals: 28 hours 20 hours

Timing of Workshops and Certification

There is a 3 year deadline in which accreditation needs to be attained, starting from trainees’ last day of didactic training. This applies to Standard and Advanced accreditation. So if a trainee obtains their Standard certification 2 years after attending their last ST training, they have one year left in which to obtain Advanced accreditation.  Those who exceed the 3 year deadline, can do so as long as they demonstrate that they have attended 6 hours of workshops each year that they are over that period. These workshops/training must be provided by an ISST training program and not someone who is not recognised by ISST as having a training program.

Breakdown of the Core Curriculum

Workshop 1: Schema Therapy-The Model, Methods and Techniques (3 days)

A total of 21 hours

This will include the basic model, assessment questionnaires, some outcome research and a focus on practicing basic skills. It also includes the following supervised role-playing (approximately 1 hour each) in dyads:

(1) Imagery for Assessment

(2) Vulnerable Child mode - Role play practicing reparenting skills

(3) Group Imagery Exercise

(4) Angry child mode- Role play practicing diffusion, de-escalation and empathic confrontation

(5) Role play involving imagery and bypassing the Detached Protector

(6) Confronting the Punitive (Demanding) Parent Modes

(7) Formulating a flashcard with clients

(8) Cognitive elements of change- Reviewing the evidence

 

Workshop 1: Day One 

Theory and conceptual model

  • Schema Therapy defined
  • Comparison of schema therapy and Cognitive Therapy
  • Core emotional needs
  • Broad goal of schema therapy
  • Schemas and Developmental Needs
  • Definition of an Early Maladaptive Schema
  • Eighteen Early maladaptive Schemas
  • Origins of Schemas
  • Schema Acquisition
  • Maladaptive Coping Styles
  • Common Coping Responses
  • Schema Operations
  • Schema Modes Defined
  • Schema Change strategies
  • Outcome Research/Evidence Base
  • Group imagery to identify participants’ own schemas
  • Revisit the 18 EMSs

Assessment and Education

  • Multiple techniques for assessing and activating schemas and coping styles
  • Educating the client about schemas
  • Scoring and interpretation of schema inventories
  • Activating schemas with experiential techniques, including emotive imagery
  • Assessing schemas in the therapy relationship.
  • Assisting clients to make link with early childhood experiences
  • Case Conceptualisation – Using the Schema Therapy Conceptualisation Sheet

Workshop 1: Day Two 

Strategies for Change

  • limited re-parenting as one of the central foci of treatment for complex cases and Personality Disorders.
  • conceptualise pervasive and complex difficulties in terms of schema modes

Cognitive strategies

  • Building a case against schemas and coping styles
  • Schema Dialogues
  • Developing flashcards

Experiential Strategies

  • Emotional change through venting, imagery, dialogues, and letters to parents
  • Breaking through common therapeutic impasses

Behavioural strategies

  • Setting assignments out of session
  • Looking at modelling behaviour change
  • Setting specific goals for change

Workshop 1: Day Three 

Mode work further defined, role play and practice

  • Rationale & Advantages to the Mode Approach
  • Trouble shooting modes- Detached protector- Importance of recognising how the
  • Detached Protector mode blocks access to the Child
  • Modes & working with emotions in general
  • Schema Modes Defined
  • Discuss List of Schema Modes
  • Four Types of Schema Modes
  • Vulnerable Child Mode: Overview
  • Detached Protector Mode: Overview
  • Angry/Impulsive Child Mode: Overview
  • Punitive Parent Mode: Overview
  • Assessing Modes (during the session and outside of the session)
  • Bypassing the Detached Protector
  • Limited Reparenting defined and elaborated in great detail.
  • More limited Reparenting: “Beyond the Call of Duty”
  • Giving out an ‘out-of-hours’ numbers, Extra time: phone calls, e-mails, SMS’s,
  • Transitional Objects, “What would a healthy parent do for a young child?”,
  • Limited holding or touch

Workshop 2: Schema Therapy- Beyond the Basics

(3 days, a total of 21 hours)

This Workshop will primarily provide attendees with practical experience and guidance

in the use of imagery, mode work and other techniques for change. This training will

focus on commonly experienced difficulties facing clinicians working with challenging

cases, including working with detachment, intense mood states & problematic

behaviours. In addition, allocated time will focus on clinician’s own schemas and their

influence in treatment

This includes the following supervised role-playing (8 hours) in dyads:

(1) Vulnerable Child mode - Role play reparenting (a) therapist re-parents, b)“helper” re-parents & (c) assisting client’s healthy adult mode to re-parent -  (separate activities at 45 minutes each)

(2) Angry child mode- Role play practicing diffusion, de-escalation and empathic confrontation

(3) Detached protector mode -Role play bypassing the detached protector using imagery

(4) Detached Protector using chair work

(5) Emphatic confrontation with critical and demeaning behavior

(6) Confronting Punitive and Demanding parent modes- Imagery

(7) Confronting Punitive and Demanding parent modes- via modework/ chairwork

(8) Imagery connecting past to present/ Imagery for assessment

(9) Formulating a flashcard/ using voice recordings as flashcards

(10) Behavioural change- modelling limit setting and change outside of session Schema Therapy Rating Scale – For Individual Therapy Sessions (STRS-I-1)

Workshop 2: Day One 

Schema Therapy: the Mode Approach, Limited Reparenting

Assessment

  • Review of Treatment Formulation – Clarifying Goals & Needs in Schema Terms
  • Review of assessment techniques (YSQ, YPI, SMI)
  • Linking Schemas with Early Childhood Experiences

Formulation

  • Rationale & Advantages to the Mode Approach
  • Schema Modes Defined
  • Discuss List of Schema Modes
  • Four Types of Schema Modes
  • Vulnerable Child Mode: Overview
  • Detached Protector Mode: Overview
  • Angry/Impulsive Child Mode: Overview
  • Punitive Parent Mode: Overview

Treatment/ change phase

  • Assessing Modes (during the session and outside of the session)
  • Importance of recognising how the Detached Protector mode blocks access to the child modes & to emotions in general
  • Bypassing the Detached Protector
  • Limited Reparenting defined and elaborated in great detail
  • Linking patterns and past experience to present
  • Cognitive elements to change phase- schema diary/ disputing the evidence/ cognitive continuum work

Workshop 2: Day Two 

Schema therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder

  • Conceptual Model & Philosophy
  • Hypothesised Origins of BPD
  • Philosophy of Treatment (from Schema Therapy Perspective)
  • Cultural Factors influencing formulation and treatment
  • Schema Modes in BPD
  • Abandoned or Abused Child
  • Angry & Impulsive Child
  • Punitive Parent Mode (Inner Critic)
  • Detached Protector
  • Healthy Adult
  • Detached Protector Mode: Overview
  • Abandoned or Abused Child Mode: Overview

Workshop 2: Day Three 

Practice of therapeutic interventions/ therapist’s own schemas/ Narcissistic Personality Disorder/ common challenges  

  • Therapists' own schemas and influence on treatment
  • Identification of therapist schemas & their influence in the therapeutic relationship

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

  • Conceptualisation in mode terms
  • Treatment aims
  • Core related schemas
  • Working with aggrandiser mode
  • Letting go for detached self soother modes
  • Reparenting, ways to improve therapist empathy/ care

Empathic Confrontation

  • In narcissism and other behavioural/ interpersonal problem
  • Use of vignettes/ responses to aggression/ criticism/ condescending behaviour

Common Problems in treatment

  • Bypassing the detached protector
  • Linking past experience to present
  • Subtypes of detached protector
  • Using emotionally-focused expression/ language to enhance experiential exercises
  • Working with angry states and conceptualising correct modes
  • Negative reactions to reparenting
  • General troubleshooting

Schema Therapy Competency Rating Scale (STCRS)

  • Using STCRS to guide /measure treatment fidelity in Schema Therapy.

 

Payments
We will only contact candidates with instructions for payment when they have been allocated a place on the Certification Programme. For those self-funding, there will be the capacity to spread the cost of training over the training period. Payments for supervision will be made directly to the supervisor.

Contact Information

Website: www.schematherapyscotland.com 

Please email completed application forms to info@schematherapyscotland.com

 

 

About the trainers

Susan Simpson

Certified Advanced Level Schema Therapist and Clinical Supervisor

Clinical Psychologist

Susan Simpson is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of experience using schema therapy with complex clinical problems and personality disorders.  She has completed advanced certification as a trainer and supervisor both in Schema Therapy and Group Schema Therapy. In addition, she has completed training in chair-work; "shorter term" Schema Therapy; and couples’ schema work. Susan completed her advanced schema therapy training with Dr. Jeffrey Young, Dr. Gunilla Fosse (Norway) and Dutch Schema therapy trainers (including A. Arntz, M. Nadort, H. van Genderen, M. van Vreeswijk).  She has extensive experience in the application of the schema therapy model with complex adult difficulties, eating disorders and personality disorders.  She has provided schema therapy workshops and supervision for psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals for over 10 years both within the public and private health settings. Susan runs schema therapy training workshops for ISST accreditation, as well as specialist workshops on schema therapy for eating disorders, and a schema therapy approach to preventing burnout in mental health professionals. Susan has published several research papers on schema therapy for complex eating disorders, and has presented her findings at numerous international conferences. Her current research projects are investigating the effectiveness of Group Schema Therapy for complex eating disorders; and the link between early maladaptive schemas and burnout amongst therapists.

Susan has practiced as a psychologist for over 20 years in the UK, mostly within NHS Scotland in Adult Mental Health, Liaison Psychiatry and Eating Disorder services. She also spent 6 years as Senior Lecturer and Psychology Clinic Director at the University of South Australia, where she lectured on the postgraduate clinical psychology training program and provided schema therapy training across Australia for Schema Therapy Training Australia. She currently leads Schema Therapy Scotland, and runs the only accreditation program in Scotland. In addition she is Lead Clinical Psychologist at the Regional Eating Disorders Unit at St. John’s Hospital, Livingston, Scotland. She continues as Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of South Australia.