You can attend the Foundation Course in person at the Institute premises or entirely on Zoom if you are applying from outside London.
Involves clinical experience.
The Institute’s Foundation Course is aimed at those wanting to gain a deeper knowledge of psychoanalytic ideas and the ways in which they are applied in clinical work.
This course is a good option if you are thinking about a future training in psychoanalysis – but also if you are just interested in psychoanalytic thinking and clinical experience.
The format comprises a lecture (lasting just over an hour) followed by a clinical seminar (75 minutes). The lectures are given by psychoanalysts on different areas of psychoanalytic theory and clinical application, over all having a greater emphasis on the clinical side than the Introductory Lectures. Each clinical seminar group is led by a psychoanalyst and the students take it in turn to present their own clinical material. All students are encouraged and expected to participate in the clinical discussion of the work that is presented. The Foundation Course usually takes place on Thursday evenings from 7.45pm to 10.15pm throughout the academic year.
Our Foundation Course is open to people who have a university degree or who are working in fields related to mental health. It is important to be able to demonstrate a genuine interest in psychoanalysis and in its clinical application. Although some life experience may be helpful, we also welcome more recently qualified graduates who are thinking about a future career in psychoanalysis.
While our Introductory Lectures and Seminars precede the Foundation Course in terms of equivalent level and content, it is not necessary to have attended them before participating in this course. However, for those who are applying from outside the mental health professions we do look for some introductory level of understanding of psychoanalytic theory.
There is an optional pathway that enables students who have been accepted for both the Foundation Course and either the MA Psychoanalytic Studies at Birkbeck College or the MSc Theoretical Psychoanalytical Studies at UCL to have their work on the Foundation Course accredited as part of their degree programme.
We require applicants who do not work in a clinical setting to arrange a formal clinical or observational placement and this can be discussed further at the interview. It’s important to understand that you are applying for a clinical course, that all students are expected to present appropriate clinical or observational material and that if you are not already involved in clinical work you are expected to find a suitable placement. This need not necessarily be in a mental health clinical setting and other possibilities can be thought about at your interview. Whilst we can help with some suggestions, it remains the student’s responsibility to arrange their own placement.
Foundation course students receive access to Pep Web, the Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing Website (www.pep-web.org).
The course fees for the foundation course are £1425 (early bird) for the academic year 2025/26. These will be reviewed during the early part of next year. The course fee can be paid in two instalments. The first instalment of £950 is due before the course starts and the last instalment of £475 is due in December. An additional non-refundable £50 application fee is also payable.
The Co-Chairs of the Foundation Course are Dr Sergei Grachev and Mr Alex Read. Applicants to the course will be invited to attend an interview with them or another committee member to assess their suitability to attend. (Payment of the application fee does not guarantee that you will be accepted onto the course and this fee is non-refundable even if you aren’t accepted).
If you have any queries, please email the Foundation Course administrator, Katerina Tsami-Cole: katerina.tsami-cole@iopa.org.uk.
You can apply by clicking on the link below. We start accepting applications to the Foundation Course in November 2024. The deadline for completed applications is 14th July 2025. The course is very popular and it is therefore important that you submit your application form as early as possible. Once we have reached the maximum number of students we can accept for the academic year we cannot accept any more.
Lectures and seminars for this course take place in hybrid form at the Institute’s premises at Byron House, Maida Vale. Students from outside London will be able to attend the lectures and seminars online. It is also the intention that students from south London will be able to attend the lectures online from the Institute’s south London premises at an and 10 Windsor Walk, SE5 8BB. These students will then be able to attend an in-person seminar group at this site. These arrangements will be discussed further as part of the interview process.
You can now submit an application form for the academic year 2025/26. Once you have submitted your application you will be contacted by the administrator about arranging an interview.