The Foundation Year at Physis Scotland: Your First Year of Counselling and Psychotherapy Training

If you are thinking about longer term training as a counsellor or psychotherapist, the Foundation Year is where that journey begins. It is a year of learning, self-reflection, and personal growth, grounded in Transactional Analysis, and held within a small, supportive training group in Edinburgh.

This post is a guide to what the Foundation Year involves, who it is for, and what comes next.

What is the Foundation Year in Counselling and Psychotherapy Training?

The Foundation Year is the first year of Physis Scotland's professional training pathway in counselling and psychotherapy using Transactional Analysis (TA). It provides a thorough grounding in core TA theory and practice, alongside the development of essential counselling skills.

It is not simply an academic course. The Foundation Year asks you to engage personally with the material. The emphasis throughout is on integrating theory with your own experience, developing self-awareness, and beginning to understand the relational processes that underpin therapeutic work.

At the end of the year, successful students receive a Physis Scotland Foundation Certificate and are eligible to progress to the next stage – Advanced Year 1.

Who is the Foundation Year for?

The Foundation Year welcomes people from a range of backgrounds and with different goals. Some students enter with a clear intention to qualify as counsellors or psychotherapists. Others are drawn to TA for professional development in education, organisational work, or other fields. Some come for personal growth.

Whatever brings you to the training, the year offers the same rigorous grounding in TA theory, the same opportunity for self-reflection, and the same experience of learning within a relational group.

Before entering the Foundation Year, students need to have completed, or signed up for, a TA101 (the official introduction course to Transactional Analysis). The Physis TA101 is online over 2 days.

What will I study during the first year of counselling and psychotherapy training?

The Foundation Year syllabus covers the core concepts of Transactional Analysis, taught across ten training weekends between September and June. Each training weekend focuses on a different area of TA theory and practice.

The topics covered include the philosophy of TA and life positions, the structural and functional models of ego states, transactions and strokes, life script and script analysis, passivity, discounting, symbiosis, and frame of reference, rackets and authentic emotions, psychological hungers, time structuring and game analysis, the contractual method, and endings in counselling and ethics.

Each training weekend also includes observed skills practice, where students have the opportunity to practise and receive feedback on their developing counselling skills in a supported environment.

There is also the Physis Scotland All Together Day in April, where Foundation Year students join the other year groups for a day focused on working with difference, diversity, neurodivergence, and intersectionality.

How is the Foundation Year structured?

The Foundation Year runs from September to June and is delivered across 8 weekends, plus a three-day Introduction to Counselling Skills weekend in September and the All Together Day in April. That adds up to 20 training days across the academic year.

Training weekends take place in person at Physis Scotland's premises at 22 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh. Each weekend follows a consistent format: Saturday is given over to teaching, exploring theory, and group discussion, while Sunday typically includes a 90-minute observed skills practice session alongside further teaching.

Outside of training weekends, students are expected to undertake their own studies and keep a reflective learning journal. Students will also meet with peer groups and attend tutorials with their tutor during the year.

How am I assessed?

Assessment in the Foundation Year is designed to support your learning, not simply to test it. It includes both written and oral elements.

Written assessments consist of a 3,000-word essay on a TA model that is important to you, a 10 to 15-minute presentation on a different TA model, and a 2,500-word supporting essay for that presentation. Students also keep a reflective learning journal throughout the year and set personal training goals, which are revisited at the end of the year.

Oral assessment includes the presentation itself, observed skills practice (assessed up to twice during the year with written feedback), and ongoing participation in group discussion and process.

All written work is assessed at postgraduate level, and the marking criteria reflect this, covering theoretical accuracy, critical analysis, self-awareness, diversity, and ethical thinking.

What support is available during the year?

Training at Physis Scotland is demanding, and the support structures reflect that.

Each student is allocated a personal tutor and will have two tutorials during the year. Tutorials are an opportunity to discuss your progress, your personal development, your written work, and your training goals.

Physis Scotland also has an Academic Student Support Advisor, who is available for individual guidance on academic writing, presentation skills, and training goals. A Learning Student Support Advisor is available for students with additional learning support needs, including those who identify as neurodivergent, or who have a visual or hearing impairment, long-term illness, or other needs that may affect their learning.

Students are also required to form peer groups of two to four, meeting for a minimum of eight hours across the year to discuss training, theory, and related topics.

Do I need to be in personal therapy during the Foundation Year?

Personal therapy is strongly recommended from the start of training. For students intending to progress to advanced clinical training, entering therapy is a requirement.

For those on the psychotherapy pathway, UKCP requires a minimum of 40 hours of personal therapy per year over four years, with a UKCP-registered psychotherapist. Physis Scotland recommends that therapy should be in the TA modality where possible.

For those on the counselling pathway, the COSCA Diploma requires a minimum of 90 hours of therapy over the three years of academic training, with the majority in the TA model.

Students who have entered the Foundation Year for educational, organisational, or personal development purposes are not required to enter therapy during this first year, although it is strongly recommended.

What qualifications and accreditations does the Foundation Year lead to?

At the end of the Foundation Year, successful students receive a Physis Scotland Foundation Certificate. From there, the training pathway opens up.

Students can progress to Advanced Year 1 and then Advanced Year 2 – both lead to the COSCA Diploma in Counselling using Transactional Analysis. The full programme runs across Foundation Year and two further Advanced Years.

Beyond the Diploma, students can continue into Advanced Year 3 and ultimately pursue registration with UKCP as a registered psychotherapist, or seek accreditation as a counsellor through BACP or COSCA or continue on to CTA qualification.

Physis Scotland's training meets the standards of UKCP, UKATA (the United Kingdom Association for Transactional Analysis), COSCA (Counselling Scotland), BACP, and EATA (the European Association of Transactional Analysis). This means the qualifications gained are widely recognised across Scotland, the UK, and Europe.

What is Transactional Analysis, and why train in it?

Transactional Analysis is a relational approach to understanding personality, communication, and development. Developed by Eric Berne in the 1960s, it offers a rich set of models for understanding how people think, feel, and relate to one another, and how early experiences shape patterns of behaviour that can be understood and changed.

TA is used across psychotherapy, counselling, education, and organisational development. It is an accessible and practical theory, but it also has depth and complexity. Training in TA equips practitioners with a framework for understanding the therapeutic relationship and for facilitating meaningful change.

Physis Scotland trains in the psychotherapy application of TA, which means the emphasis is on depth, relational process, and personal integration alongside theoretical rigour.

Where does the Foundation Year take place?

All Foundation Year training takes place at Physis Scotland's premises at 22 Drumsheugh Gardens, in Edinburgh's West End. The building is a beautiful Georgian townhouse in one of Edinburgh's most attractive streets, a short walk from Haymarket station and the city centre.

How do I apply for the Foundation Year?

Places on the Foundation Year are limited, and applicants are asked to have completed, or have applied for, a TA101 before the starting of the course.

For further information about the Foundation Year, the application process, and upcoming course dates, visit the course page or contact the team at enquiries@physisscotland.co.uk or join one of our free information sessions.

---

Physis Scotland is an Edinburgh-based Transactional Analysis training provider, offering a full professional training pathway from introductory courses through to psychotherapy qualification. Our training meets the standards of UKCP, BACP, UKATA, COSCA, and EATA.