Interpersonal Psychotherapy Training (IPT) Moving from Adults to Adolescent

About this training

This course is jointly delivered by Roslyn Law and a young champion, who is a young person with lived and professional experience of mental health care for young people. This course will provide accredited IPT practitioners with an introduction to working with adolescents with depression and to the ways in which IPT has been adapted in Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) and when delivered in a family context. IPTUK has stipulated that this type of CPD training is required for all IPT practitioners who work with clients aged 16+ and is strongly recommended for IPT trained therapists working with clients from 18-24 years of age.

The course will be delivered as a blended learning experience, including pre-recorded teaching, online discussion of clinical scenarios and small group exercises. In addition to providing practical skills training, the course will aim to increase participants’ knowledge of adolescent development and the evidence base for IPT-A and IPT delivered in a family context.

This course is of particular relevance now in light of the profound impact of COVID-19 on the lives of young people and their carers, uncertainty about the future, restricted access to support and significant changes to home routines. These have combined to have a negative impact on many young people’s mental health adding to already very high rates of mental health disorders, particularly among young women aged 12-25.

Aims of the training

• To provide an overview of how IPT has been adapted in IPT-A to enable accredited IPT practitioner to work with adolescents with depression;

• To provide an introduction to the challenges and opportunities when working with and adolescents with depression;

• To review the evidence for and modifications in practice when IPT is delivered with the family in mind.

Who is this training for?

This training is suitable for accredited IPT practitioners who would like to learn about using IPT-A with an adolescent population or in a family context e.g. working with depressed parents of depressed adolescents.

This course is also suitable for IPT therapists who intend to work directly with adolescent with depression or who work with parents and want to understand more about how adolescents with depression experience their own mental health difficulties and the impact on the family.