Our Approach

Physis Scotland’s Vision, Mission, Philosophy and Ethos

Vision

Our vision for Physis Scotland is to train and develop counselling and psychotherapy practitioners of the future who are highly skilled, compassionate and robust to support the increasingly complex needs of clients, whilst also offering a range of CPD and advanced training opportunities for all.

Mission

At Physis Scotland we seek to:

• Empower our students, trainers and team to grow, blossom and thrive
• Establish deep roots, nurture, support and ‘stretch’ our students throughout their training in an open, inclusive and safe environment
• Intentionally create an environment of inclusivity and foster a culture which embraces intersectionality
• Promote excellence in delivering the highest standards in counselling, psychotherapy and supervision training
• Co-create the right conditions to enable our students to grow, blossom and thrive beyond what they believe they are capable of
• Develop practitioners who are warm, compassionate, solid and robust in their clinical practice
• Promote and adhere to the values and ethics of Transactional Analysis with integrity
• Actively build relationships and collaborate with our Transactional Analysis community in a shared goal to continue the growth of the modality

Philosophy and Ethos

Physis Scotland’s commitment is to train robust, ethical, autonomous, and empowered counsellors and psychotherapists to the highest standard of professional excellence using Transactional Analysis as a theoretical model, embracing Adult learning principles.

In order to meet their full potential, we believe every human being needs to meet the six senses from the Senses Framework created by Professor Mike Nolan, 2006. At Physis Scotland, we attend rigorously to these senses in our endeavour to provide a warm, caring ‘home’ in an environment where:

• All students and staff feel safe and secure physically and psychologically
• There is an equal measure of nurture, support and ‘stretch’
• All students and staff feel stimulated to work and learn together
• All students and staff are valued equally modelling an I’m OK – You’re OK relationship
• Where learning is fun
• Where students and staff feel motivated and inspired to attend
• Where individuality is embraced
• Where students and staff can grow, blossom and thrive both personally and professionally

Our Training provides:

• Training at post graduate (Masters) level, using TA as the core theoretical model and including theory from psychodynamic, attachment, object relations, body psychotherapy, existential and other approaches
• An emphasis not only on high standards of formal/academic training but also on the development and creative use of knowledge gained in training and practice, and of personal qualities of creativity, openness, warmth and maturity
• An emphasis on the development and use of the psychotherapeutic relationship as the medium for change and growth, and the recognition of each person’s capacity for self-healing as a sovereign individual with responsibility for their self
• Training that reflects the belief that individual growth and healing involves the integration of body, feeling, mind, soul and spirit
• An individually focussed training process recognising and embracing difference and diversity of all kinds
• Training aimed to facilitate the development and commitment of energy to maintain the following goals:
  • Curiosity
  • Capacity for critical self-reflection
  • Capacity for self-directed learning
  • Ability to listen and respond with compassion and respect
  • Awareness of prejudice and the ability to respond openly to issues of difference and diversity of all kinds
  • Awareness and sensitivity to the political, social, cultural, religious and spiritual contexts of people’s lives
  • In-depth self-reflection
  • Self-awareness and commitment to self-development