As restrictions start to ease in Scotland, Physis Scotland is delighted to look at returning to in-person training on a group-by-group basis.
All students and trainers have received full details from us about this.
Physis Scotland continues to review Scottish Government and Public Health guidance, as well as monitoring COVID rates. We have therefore taken the decision that all core training years will continue to meet online for the month of February.
All students and trainers have received full details from us about this.
Following the recent guidance from the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland about maximising working from home and postponing Christmas parties to account for the alarming and increasing rates of COVID, in particular the new Omicron variant, we have taken the decision that all year groups will meet online from now until the end of January.
We will continue to review our decisions month by month in line with the Scottish Government and Public Health guidance and keep our students and trainers updated.
Following the Scottish Government’s recent guidance around the removal of social distancing and updated guidance for colleges and universities, we are delighted to announce that we will be returning to Drumsheugh in September for the start of the academic year using a phased approach. We understand that many of our students are really keen to return to Drumsheugh and others are anxious about returning face to face.
As a training organisation we want to account for the feelings of everyone as much as we can and what we have therefore decided, at this point in time, is not to have two groups in the building at the same time to help us all get used to being back face to face which we hope will help with social distancing and ventilation, and will ultimately lead to a smoother transition when we will have more than one group in the building later on.
Our current students (Diploma in Counselling using TA/Psychotherapy courses, and Diploma in Counselling Supervision programmes) have received full details from us about this.
We will continue to review our decisions constantly as we receive updated guidance from the Scottish Government and COSCA about when we can all be in the building together, potentially in the New Year, but also to note if there were to be a further lockdown, we would all return to online working immediately.
Please note, our CPD courses and TA 101 courses will continue to take place online until further notice.
The past 10 months have been incredibly challenging for us all. The UK has been plunged back into lockdown and we know that for so many of us, along with our students and trainers, this presents worrying times. We wish you all strength, courage and good health as you look after your clients needs, at the same time as supporting your own families. Please take care of your own needs too. Hope is on the horizon, with the vaccine roll out and we are so grateful to all the scientists and medical professionals involved.
Looking forward, we are excited for an inspiring year ahead with thought provoking CPD workshops from our incredible group of trainers and working with our students as they progress through their academic studies. We have been incredibly blessed over the past 6 months to welcome participants from all around the globe to our CPD’s and TA 101 courses. We look forward to developing connections far and wide this year too.
At Physis Scotland we have been closely monitoring the Scottish Government guidelines and what they mean for our eventual return to 22 Drumsheugh Gardens.
As you will be aware, this is a time of much uncertainty about the safety of physical gatherings; and whilst we would like nothing more than to be welcoming you in person again at Drumsheugh, your safety is our absolute priority at this time.
As such, we can confirm now that all Physis Scotland training weekends in September 2020 will be delivered online. Meantime we will be monitoring and evaluating ongoing public health guidelines and keeping in touch with our professional organisations, in particular COSCA and UKATA, to assess and make decisions about how soon thereafter we may safely return to ‘in-person’ training. Depending how this guidance develops, we ask that all our students please hold in mind the high probability that their full first term of training (September – December 2020) may take place online.
Please be assured that we are working hard to ensure that whenever our return to Drumsheugh happens, that it will be done as safely as possible, including considering possibilities for phased returns, a blended approach to delivery of training and devising in-house health and safety procedures.
Although we are sure this may not be the way most of you had envisaged beginning your 2020-21 training year, one thing that remains unchanged is that we at Physis Scotland will be so pleased to welcome you, and that our commitment to ensuring high standards and quality of training will be maintained throughout.
Over the past number of months our world has transformed. We are all experiencing enormous changes, that we could have never imagined or indeed welcomed, and yet we are adapting, including ourselves here at Physis Scotland. We are embracing change, learning about technologies that can facilitate our temporary new world and are delighted to host a fabulous online programme of training and CPD opportunities. During these unprecedented times, we are offering our CPD courses at a considerably reduced rate to support our counselling students and qualified practitioners during these tricky and challenging times. As soon as the health crisis allows, we will be so excited to welcome you back to Edinburgh and meet again in-person, face to face.
Physis Scotland takes the health and safety of our students, TA community, friends and colleagues from other modalities, and fantastic team extremely seriously.
In light of the Government announcing this week that schools and colleges, along with pubs, restaurants, cafes etc., are to close for the foreseeable future, Physis Scotland will continue to offer a full training programme, delivered online. We will be delivering our core training programmes using the online platform Zoom until further notice. Zoom allows for face-to-face contact with the group and tutor, break-out rooms for small group work/discussions, individual chat and sight of PowerPoint presentations.
Our current students (Diploma in Counselling using TA/Psychotherapy courses, and Diploma in Counselling Supervision programmes) have received full details from us about this.
We are currently in the process of looking at delivering our CPD programme using the excellent online platform Zoom. We will be in contact with those who have registered onto our short courses as soon as possible.
Physis Scotland are issuing the following information in light of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation:
The government formally announced this week that we are moving into the ‘Delay’ phase of the Coronavirus in the UK. This move has been taken to try to slow down the spread of the virus, to reduce the pressure on our National Health Service and to protect the more vulnerable in our society.
For more information on how to protect yourself from the Coronavirus please refer to the government advice www.gov.uk
Physis Scotland is paying close attention to regional and national developments regarding the current health situation and the impact this may have on our training provision.
At present, Physis Scotland is open, and will continue to offer training, therapy and supervision as normal until more information becomes available and further notice.
We are implementing additional measures to do what we can to contain Coronavirus:
Physis Scotland appreciates this is an anxious time for our students, staff, clients and supervisees, and will support our students, staff, clients and supervisees in whatever ways we can to minimise any disruption.
We will update you as soon as we can if you have booked onto one of our courses. Please do check our website regularly before setting out and don’t come if you are ill as per above advice.
Please do not hesitate to contact Fiona Cook or Fiona Firman if you need to talk to us about any of these areas.
In the meantime, please keep following government advice about how to protect yourself. Take good care and stay safe.
Please download our Coronavirus guidelines Coronavirus – March 2020
