Latest Module Specifications
Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026
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Description The purpose of this module is to advance students’ understandings of mental health issues in order to bring a critical reflective, multi-theoretical, and cross-cultural sociological perspectives and humility to their clinical psychotherapy work and engagements. The module also attends to how participants can use an adaptable and integrative framework to psychotherapy assessment, case formulation, and treatment planning. In this module students will develop knowledge and skills in integrative psychotherapy practice in the context of working with the diversity of clients, with complex multifaceted histories and needs, with a particular focus on trauma care awareness and meeting resilience. The approach adopted will address the needs of participants as theoretically informed and skills-based integrative psychotherapy practitioners. Students are expected to attend lectures, seminars, and discussions, along with complementing their self-directed learning preparations and activities through supplementary readings in relevant theoretical and empirical literature. Ongoing personal reflection and response-ability is core to both engagement with this module and its assessment. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Learning Outcomes 1. Critically appreciate, in both personal and clinical capacities, how early experiences and traumatic events influence development. 2. Personally reflect on, and take responsibility for how social biases, prejudices, and blind spots both positive or negative may hold conscious or unconscious implications for both individual and cultural aspects of mental health. Students will hold awareness around factors such as race, gender, sexuality, and social class within mental health discourses and practices. 3. Critically appreciate and reflect on one’s own, as well as society’s differing assessments, judgments, and understandings of addiction within the individual and within/for society. 4. Demonstrate critical understandings of biopsychosocial cultural and spiritual dimensions along with multi-disciplinary approaches to diagnosis, categorisation, formulation, and treatment. 5. Apply the principles of an integrative and developmental framework to assessment, case-formulation, treatment planning, and outcomes to better inform clinical practice and supervisory engagements. 6. Appreciate and question, both for themselves and for clients, the interplay of sociological and cultural factors on mental health and mental health discourse. 7. Engage in ongoing active reflective engagement and practice to track bias, presumptions, questions, concerns and learnings that evolve and emerge through the activities and learnings on this module and evidence your ongoing formation as an integrative, reflective, clinician. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml |
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Indicative Content and Learning Activities
Early Influences on Development: Influences of a range of early infant/childhood experiences on psychological development and ongoing mental health. Trauma and Resilience Conceptualisation of trauma from different theoretical perspectives: psychological impact of traumas, Recognising and Building Resilience. Loss, Bereavement and Suicide Critical consideration of mental health and psychotherapy discourses and clinical work, in relation to loss, bereavement and suicide. Addiction and Society A critical consideration of addiction and differing discourses around addictive and/or compulsive behaviour, for and within both the individual and society. Diversity in Approaches to Formulation and Treatment Multidisciplinary & Culturally competent approaches to diagnosis, categorisation, formulation & treatment of mental health issues. Integrative Psychotherapy and Mental Health Applying the principles of an integrative and developmental framework in psychotherapy practice. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Indicative Reading List Books:
Articles:
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Other Resources
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