Welcome to the homepage of the Nottingham Psychotherapy Training Institute (NPTI). We founded the institute in 2007 with specific aim of providing the highest quality of professional training and consultancy in counselling and psychotherapy.

Our philosophy is derived from a desire for excellence in clinical practice, which means we keep abreast of the latest advances in psychotherapeutic research and theoretical developments within the field; placing particular emphasis upon the relational and developmental aspects of forming and maintaining an effective therapeutic alliance. We are dedicated to promoting the idea of counselling and psychotherapy as an art as well as a science. Intrinsic within this is our commitment to the centrality of the relationship as a focal point for personal growth and change.

While utilising our previous experience of delivering university validated psychotherapy education we prefer not to link NPTI courses with a university but rather with professional accreditation such as the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP). In this way we can avoid the increasing bureaucratic requirements of university validation that, in the recent experience of the trainers, leans too much toward academic criteria at the expense of clinical ability.

The Nottingham Psychotherapy Training Institute is a partner organisation to the Scarborough Psychotherapy Training Institute (ScPTI), and as such is able to draw from a wide range of very experienced and nationally/internationally renowned trainers. Under the umbrella of ScPTI, from 2010 we will be offering a number of UKCP accredited training courses here in Nottingham (see menu at left), which will provide a pathway for successful graduates to enter the UKCP register of professional psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors.

In addition to this relationship with ScPTI we have also forged links with Creative Agendas: an arts and psychotherapy training organisation, which upholds our desire to enhance and develop the creativity that should be inherent within counselling and psychotherapy. Our vision is that NPTI will foster a therapeutic community giving all aspects of the arts; creative writing, music, photography, painting, sculpture, print-making, drama, dance, poetry, et al a central role within the courses we will be running.

The two course leaders; George Bassett and Pete Lavender, bring to their roles a wealth of clinical and training/academic experience from the public and private sectors. Both are fully committed to their own continuing professional development (CPD), through attending and presenting papers and workshops at both national and international conferences. Thus, both the diploma in Gestalt therapy and the Diploma in Relational Centred counselling are periodically revised in the light of the latest theoretical advances and the development of the latest training standards from UKCP and EAP as well as the European Association for Gestalt Therapy (EAGT).