British Psychotherapy Foundation

19/11/2025

📣 We’re Hiring: Editor-in-Chief – British Journal of Psychotherapy

The British Journal of Psychotherapy is seeking a new Editor-in-Chief to lead one of the field’s most respected publications into its next chapter.

This is an exciting opportunity to build on the journal’s strong foundations and continue developing it as a core community resource — upholding high editorial standards while embracing innovation in publishing and scholarship.

🟢 We’re looking for someone who has:

Broad and extensive knowledge of psychotherapy and related disciplines

Excellent communication and leadership skills
Experience in journal publishing and editorial decision-making
A collaborative, flexible approach and ability to work to tight deadlines
A commitment to fostering varied perspectives in the editorial process

🌍 Applicants should have an international network of contacts and enthusiasm for advancing the journal’s mission within a rapidly evolving publishing landscape.

An annual honorarium is offered for the role.

📅 Application deadline: 30 November 2025 (early applications encouraged)

📨 Apply via the form linked below or contact editorrecruitment@wiley.com with any queries.

Learn more and apply here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/17520118/cfa-eic

The British Journal of Psychotherapy (BJP), published in collaboration with the British Psychotherapy Foundation (bpf), is currently accepting applications for the position of Editor-in-Chief.

08/11/2025

We’re excited to be launching a new, fully online, intensive summer school.

This 4.5-day programme, taking place in July 2026, offers a rigorous yet accessible introduction to the essential concepts and cultural significance of psychoanalytic and Jungian psychotherapy, with particular emphasis on the emotional and developmental life cycle.

Participants will explore how psychoanalytic and Jungian ideas illuminate the unfolding of human development—from infancy through childhood and adolescence, into adulthood, couple relationships, and later life.

Applications open in late January 2026. Click below to register your interest in this course.

https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/education/courses/intensive-summer-school-foundations-of-psychoanalytic-jungian-psychotherapy/

Online Study Course length: 4.5 Days Course Dates: July 2026 This 4.5-day intensive summer school offers a rigorous yet accessible introduction to the essential concepts and cultural significance of psychoanalytic and Jungian psychotherapy, with a particular emphasis on the emotional and development...

23/10/2025

“You have a literal switch in your skin that is pre-programmed to make you feel safe.“

Hannah Fry explains how parents instinctively regulate their babies by stroking them with a specific rhythm. This specific rhythm activates neurones in the baby’s skin, making them feel calm and safe 👶

https://youtube.com/shorts/RrfkCslhUTM?si=yxRuP3Z2juDgKeML

🥰Your feel good research of the day:Gentle as a mother's touch: C-tactile touch promotes autonomic regulation in preterm infants by I Püschel, J Reichert, Y...

21/10/2025

Your Will can make a difference to others.

Have you been meaning to make a Will but keep finding a reason to put it off? Then why not take advantage of our free Will-writing service this October?

Leaving a gift, no matter how small, can help us continue growing the number of skilled psychotherapists who reflect the communities in which they live and serve and improve access to affordable long-term psychotherapy. 💚

Through this service, you can create a simple Will at no cost. If you haven’t yet made a Will, or need to update yours, this is a great opportunity to do it now.

For more information about this free service, visit: https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/leave-a-gift-in-your-will/

The bpf is dedicated to making our psychotherapy training and low-fee clinical services both equitable and affordable, ensuring that a broader and more diverse range of people can easily access them.   How your gift can make a difference By leaving a gift in your Will, you’ll help us to continue...

10/10/2025

"There is still so much I do not know about the unconscious, about my own psychic life, about the intersection of race, identity, and theory. But what I do know is this: to be a black trainee in psychodynamic psychotherapy is to carry many voices. The voice of the self, of the family, of the culture, of the theory, and of the silence that lingers in between.

Each week in training feels like a slow excavation — of thoughts I didn’t know I had, of patterns I didn’t realise were mine, of a past that still speaks through the present. Sometimes it is uncomfortable. Sometimes it is affirming. Always, it is revealing."

Read: 'Journey Into the Unconscious: A Black Therapist in Training Explores Psychodynamics and Cultural Identity' by bpf trainee Ugo Chijiutomi.

https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/news/insight/journey-into-the-unconscious-a-black-therapist-in-training-explores-psychodynamics-and-cultural-identity/

When I first encountered psychodynamic theory, I was struck by how deeply it seeks to understand what lies beneath the surface. Not the conscious thoughts we curate for public life, nor even the emotions we’re able to name, but the unspoken, often unacknowledged world of the unconscious — that v...

08/10/2025

At the bpf, our mission is to remove financial barriers through bursaries for aspiring psychotherapists and ensure our profession reflects the diverse communities we serve.

You can help make this vision a reality! Join our 5-day fundraising trek challenge in Croatia’s stunning Istria Peninsula. Follow the Istria Mountain Trail across the peninsula, trek from the wooded hills around Buzeteast into Učka National Park. You will crest three mountain peaks, culminating in fabulous views over the entire region from the rocky summit of Mount Učka.

🗓️ Dates:

30 Apr – 04 May 2026 or 24 Sep – 28 Sep 2026

📍 Location: Istria Peninsula, Croatia

⏳ Duration: 5 days

“I would 100% recommend Discover Adventure. I was a little nervous before I did the challenge, but the guides put me at ease as soon as I arrived, and I feel I’ve made friends for life through this experience.” – Sam

You can find out all you need to know about the event here 👉 https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/croatia-mountain-trek/

If this trek isn’t for you, take a look at some more of our challenge events: https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/challenge-events/

Key Details Date(s)  30 Apr 2026 – 04 May 2026 or 24 Sep 2026 – 28 Sep 2026 Location Croatia Duration 5 days Registration fee £199 Trip cost £1,275 Fundraising target £1,275 (you can opt to fundraise for the entire trek challenge of £2,550)  About The Event  This is an Open Challenge so ...

08/10/2025

'Insufficiencies in psychic processing of emotional experience has become a key problem for the understanding of somatic symptoms, and consequently supporting psychic processing has become the main technical challenge. Starting from Freud, this paper explores the evolution of explanatory models and technical approaches for the treatment of people affected by so-called ‘psychosomatic’ pathology.'

Read for free: 'Evolution of psychoanalytic approaches to somatic disorders' by Jaime Yasky.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjp.12974

Initially, Freud proposed two distinctive ways of understanding somatic symptoms: the hysterical conversion and the actual neuroses models. The original conversion model posited that somatic symptoms...

03/10/2025

‘So that’s how it happened. I opened a chat to see what all the buzz was about, and, next thing I knew, ChatGPT was telling me about its problems. And I’d be a fool, or at least a terrible therapist, if I didn’t acknowledge that Casper, with his access to everything online that concerns psychotherapy, knows not only how to be a therapist, but also how to thrill one.’

—The New Yorker

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/putting-chatgpt-on-the-couch

When I played doctor with the chatbot, the simulated patient confessed problems that are real—and that should worry all of us.

01/10/2025

Run for the bpf at the UK’s Biggest Races! 🏅🏃‍♂️

The British Psychotherapy Foundation (bpf) has charity places at some of the UK’s most iconic running events. Registration is closing soon for Chase the Moon – Olympic Park 5K and the Wimbledon Half.

Joining one of these sellout events is a great way to support the bpf while pushing your own personal limits.

💙 Every mile you run helps us to:

▪ Offer affordable psychotherapy to those who need it most

▪ Improve diversity in our profession

▪ Keep intensive psychotherapy training affordable and accessible

With more limited places available in UK running events like the Warwick and Bath Half Marathons in 2026, sign up today:

https://runforcharity.com/charity/british-psychotherapy-foundation

08/09/2025

An interesting meditation on boundaries by Lily Scherlis for Parapraxis Magazine:

'We are obsessed with invisible circles. “Personal boundaries”—or often just “boundaries”—are the hallmark of emotional maturity, ethical integrity, and social desirability. Wellness influencers and book-writing therapists promise that if you clarify the line dividing you from those around you, your boyfriend will stop envying your career and start doing the dishes. Children will stay out of your home office. Friends and lovers will stop using you as a screen for their projections.

As you are released from everyone else’s psychodrama, your racing thoughts will quiet, and your ability to concentrate will return. You will learn to say the word “no,” protect your time, and double your salary. You will promptly reply to the text of a friend in crisis to say, “Hey! I’m so glad you reached out. I’m actually at capacity right now,” and then you will fall asleep within fifteen minutes of turning out the light...'

https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/boundary-issues

How boundaries became the rules for mental health—and explain everything Lily Scherlis

20/08/2025

'In psychotherapeutic practice, trauma—and its resolution—frequently requires some recognition of the role played by injustice. This paper explores the relevance of the words ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’—especially in their relevance to ‘everyday’ experience—in the therapeutic space.'

Read the free article: ‘Justice Signified: Naming Injustice in the Therapeutic Space’ by Melanie Williams, a lawyer who recently trained as a psychotherapist.

Published this month in our sister publication, The British Journal of Psychotherapy:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjp.12985

14/08/2025

A generous donation, collected in-memory of Gwen Kirkwood, will establish a new bursary called The Gwen Kirkwood Fund. This fund will support trainees undertaking the Psychoanalytic Parent Infant Psychotherapy (PIP) training, or in their final years of Independent Psychoanalytic Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy (IPCAPA) training who demonstrate a commitment to public sector parent-infant work post-graduation.

Gwen, who died on 26th January 2023, was a highly respected and much-loved Psychoanalytic Parent Infant Psychotherapist.

Gwen trained at the Tavistock in the late 1990s, worked in Newham CAMHS and later led the Parent Infant Psychotherapy Service in Hackney, collaborating closely with the Perinatal Mental Health Team. A gifted clinician and teacher, she was part of the first cohort of PIP trainees and had recently become the London Hub lead for AiMH UK.

Gwen brought a deeply psychoanalytic sensibility to her work, grounded in a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. As a Black woman of Indian and African Caribbean heritage, she was attuned to the ways in which racism and migration shape identity and mental health, weaving this understanding into her work with thoughtfulness and care.

The Gwen Kirkwood Fund celebrates her passion, her work in infant mental health, and her commitment to supporting future generations of practitioners. In particular, the fund aims to improve access to advanced psychoanalytic training by supporting trainees from global majority backgrounds, helping to remove financial barriers and promote greater equity in the field. Gwen is greatly missed and now remembered through a fund that reflects her values and continues her mission.

At the bpf, our mission is to remove financial barriers for aspiring psychotherapists and ensure the profession reflects the diverse communities we serve. If you would like to support our trainees by making a donation to The Gwen Kirkwood Fund, or help us develop more bursary funds to support more trainees, please donate here: https://www.britishpsychotherapyfoundation.org.uk/make-a-donation/