MINIMAL TRAINING STANDARDS

As Agreed by the General Assembly 2003

1. MINIMAL  QUANTITATIVE  REQUIREMENTS

1.1. For accreditation as Certified Psychodrama Practitioner (CP),

the minimal total amount of training hours is 720

and the minimal amount of practice hours is 160.

Total minimum amount required : 880 hours.

Definitions :

• The certified psychodramatist  or Certified PD Practitioner (CP) is a person, who is recognized as competent to take the responsibility of organising and directing a PD group and individual PD sessions on an independent way, within his area of competence.

• Definition of hours. We make a difference between training and "training hours", between to learn theory and techniques and "theory and techniques hours" , between practising psychodrama and "practice hours" and so on.

• Training hours. The hours of training in professional contact with a recognised trainer or assistant trainer. They can be of PD self experience, of theory and techniques, of conducting inside the training institute or of supervision.

• Practice hours: hours of practising as director or co-director in own practice under (some type of) supervision. Time is time.of session + time of processing with a co-director before and/or after the session.

• One hour is minimal 45 minutes pure PD work from actual start till the end (without pause).

1.2. Content. In the 720 training hours, there will be minimal :

• 200  hours of PD self experience,

• 120  hours for theory and techniques hours,

• 200 hours of training for conducting inside the advanced training group ;

• and 80 hours of supervision.

• The remaining 120 hours can be decided freely by the training organisation or by the trainee, as supplements of these 4 subsections

• In these 80 supervision hours there will be minimum 40 hours supervision of the individual psychodrama trainee or of a trainee team conducting one group.

Hours of PD self-experience. Time active in a basic or therapeutic PD group or in an individual experiential PD setting ; it is centred on experiencing the role of group member, of protagonist and of auxiliary (ego), while working on own psychic and relational problems.

Hours of theory and techniques. Hours of activity with a trainer and centred on theory or techniques; it is usually given as seminar or workshop.

Hours of training in conducting inside the advanced training group. In this group the accent is more on practising than on experiencing. Practising by being director, co-director and auxiliary and processing this practice. 

Hours of supervision are contact hours with a supervisor  in a training process focused on the psychodramatic relationship between the client (individu and/or group) and the trainee practising as director or co-director outside his training institute.

2. MINIMAL  QUALITATIVE  REQUIREMENTS

2.1. Preliminary educational level for admission of new trainees

Preliminary education for an application in psychodrama training: a University or Higher Education degree in a field relevant to the applicant's area of practice.

All applicants will document training / education in the following areas: human growth and development, theories of personality, methods of psychotherapy, and social systems .

These are minimal standards. Member organizations wishing to make a distinction between PD psychotherapist and PD leader, clinical and non clinical, have the possibility to require more.

2 .3. The evaluation of the trainee before certification shall be a qualitative evaluation of practice, theory and personality.

The guidelines are advices, recommendations offered by the FEPTO community and voted by a large majority (80%) but they are not mandatory.

Training for PD is an active self experiential learning, containing more than the required ‘training hours’: reading on the subject, writing down his experience, looking at videotapes of his directing  and discussions with peers are important.

The duration of PD training is a minimum of four years including the duration of supervised practice of minimum one year.

The absence level shall not be more than 10% each year

It is important not to disperse the training but to work long enough with a same trainer or co-directing team. It is also important, specially at the end, to see other trainers working.  We recommend minimum 200 hours with the same trainer.

It is useful to have an self experience and training in individual psychodrama.

In the Theory and techniques hours, trainers shall present written scientific articles to enable a discussion on a theoretical level .

In the examination board of the evaluation before certification there shall be an external member who has not been a trainer of the candidate.