Where to train as a therapist? 6 recommendations

The learning path required to pursue psychotherapy is not always clear. Depending on the place of residence of each one, the regulation in the exercise of Psychology in each country, and the motivations and needs that move, you have to find a way to enter this professional field by going to the training centers that best match what you want do.

It is not just a matter of studying hard and well; In addition, we must find a training institution that is up to the task in terms of what we need to become the psychologists we want to become. So... where to train as a therapist?

In this article we will see several tips on how to choose the centers in which to train to be psychotherapists, and the way in which we can estimate their quality.

• Related article: "Types of psychological therapies"

Where to train as a therapist: how to choose where to study

Training to practice psychotherapy is not easy, especially considering the wide range of knowledge and skills required to work in this field of health.

The type of training required to intervene psychologically in patients should cover broad facets of human behavior and mental processes involved in them, something that can hardly be achieved without the guidance and supervision of experts in the field. issue.

On the other hand, it is precisely the fact that there is a wide range of knowledge to learn what makes many students feel lost when it comes to proposing to progress in their career formative. After all, among so many thematic areas it is difficult to find a line to follow to sequentially internalize materials that help us understand the functioning of the psychological therapy, establishing the new knowledge on those that we have already done our.

Fortunately, and although in order to dedicate oneself to psychotherapy it is necessary to adapt the line of studies to the unique interests that define us as individuals, in general lines it is possible to find a series of criteria that can guide us when making decisions about where to study to become psychologist. These fundamental criteria are the following.

1. Check the clarity of the syllabus offered

If a training center does not offer a summary of the content that will be covered throughout its courses, that should be a first warning sign. Transparency regarding the type of subjects that will be taught in classes It is something fundamental, and on which we must rely to find out if this option suits our needs.

2. Make sure they offer quality internships

It is essential not to limit yourself to learning in relation to theory. In something as changeable and flexible as human behavior, it takes much more than the knowledge obtained in books: you have to get used to carrying out cases practices that put our skills to the test in real time, in contexts that are as realistic as possible and as similar to professional day-to-day life as the context allows formative.

There are centers that offer internships by referring students to other organizations where students can practice cases of psychological intervention on patients. However, in this regard, the centers that allow internships without having to go to another center are even better; that is, with patients from the place where you are constantly learning. Thus, both theory and practice are better integrated, and a better correspondence between what is explained and discussed in the classroom and what is seen in cases treated with real patients is possible.

An example of this is the Master's Degree in Integrative Psychotherapy of the Mensalus Institute (Barcelona), which offers both internships with patients from the center itself and observation classes in which psychotherapists care for these people who come to the consultation, the students being located behind a glass that hides them (despite the fact that the patient knows that he is being observed).

In these cases, several types of learning are combined that have to do with problem solving in real time: one of them placing the students in the center of the action, and the other leaving them a space to ask questions about what they are seeing.

• You may be interested in: "The 35 psychological competencies that you should enhance"

3. Pay attention to the paradigms from which you part

The training centers you go to must start from a clearly scientific conception of what psychology is. That means it is necessary base their teaching on well-constructed research with the aim of creating knowledge applicable to many contexts and proving falsifiable facts that are easy to test from other research teams.

In this sense, it is important that the bulk of the content to be learned is based on the cognitive-behavioral paradigm, which is the one with the most evidence of efficacy.

4. Review your student service options

It is very common that throughout a course there are incidents, doubts or small problems related to availability for attend a class, with the point system or with the need to contact teachers to answer questions important.

For this reason, it is essential to find out about the type of orientation offered to students by the centers, especially over the internet.

5. Check your schedule compatibility options

Especially in postgraduate studies, it is good to assess the possibility of pursuing these studies without the schedules overlapping with other things, in a way that adapts to the rest of the responsibilities that students with this profile usually have. For example, if to attend class you have to go to class at times far apart from each other, investing almost the entire day in spend three hours in class, that will possibly wear us out and keep us away from the resolution of other needs.

6. Pay attention to the type of therapy in which it is formed

Do not get carried away by what others do: if you are interested in a specific type of therapeutic intervention, do not be afraid to choose a center where more emphasis is placed on that kind of training. Of course, assess the risks of learning only about one type of therapy, taking into account the context in which you plan to work and the amount of competition there will be. The ideal is not to lose a general perspective of psychotherapy applied to a certain variety of health disorders, even if the focus is placed on two or three specific problems.