National Course for Training Nurse-therapists in Adult Behavioural Psychotherapy

Extract

British nursing has the honour of being the first profession to produce a nationally recognised syllabus in behavioural psychotherapy. This notable event is signalled by the approval of an 18-month course for the training of nurse-therapists in adult behavioural psychotherapy (course No. 650) by the Joint Board of Clinical Nursing Studies, which is responsible for post-certificate training of nurses in England and Wales. Some details of the syllabus appear in the appendix. The appearance of this course was the culmination of a three-year operational research program funded by the D.H.S.S. at the Maudsley Hospital. During that project a psychiatrist and psychologist trained five R.M.N. qualified nurses to become full-time therapists. In a final year of the program the trained nurse-therapists were seconded to four hospitals in the London area and to a General Practice Health Centre to see whether their therapeutic skills transferred to work in a new setting - they did.