This module is designed to enable you to take up a mentoring or supervisory role in your organisation by equipping you with theoretical understanding of the dynamics of that role, and by considering in depth your mentoring or supervision of a colleague or peer over 5 weeks. You can also practice mentoring in workshops and gain valuable feedback to improving your skills.

The aim of this module is to develop your knowledge and understanding of the principles of psychodynamic counselling and provide you with a grasp of the key skills useful in supportive work with children and adolescents. You will also deepen your understanding of the dynamics of relationships and encounters between staff and children/adolescents.

This module will introduce you to a wide and diverse range of refugee narratives presented through song, poetry, stories, art, drama, film, photography, autobiography, oral history, and charity sector, media and political reports. You will explore the complexity and uniqueness of these narratives, gaining understanding of different factors potentially influencing the construction and interpretation of narratives. People may seek to narrate their own stories, speak for themselves and give their own accounts of personal lived refugee experiences. You will reflect upon the challenges people may encounter in communication personal refugee experiences to others and consider the extent to which first person accounts may be said to belong to those who give them. The terms ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’ are used in particular ways in legal discourse, but the way they are used in different types of public discourse varies greatly. You will develop critical insight into how and why stereotypical ideas about people seeking refugee arise, and furthermore the ability to question and challenge stereotypical ideas. You will gain an appreciation of the complex, diverse, messy lived experiences of those who seek refuge and come to recognise that whilst there may be elements of suffering and disorientation, not everyone who seeks refuge is traumatised by their experiences. Indeed, whilst those seeking refuge may experience human rights violations, at times they may experience resourcefulness, creativity, liberation, growth and joy. You will reflect on people’s experiences of being labelled an ‘asylum seeker’ or ‘refugee’, deepening their understanding of the complex psychosocial reasons why such labels may sometimes be embraced, at other times rejected and of the dynamic, fluid nature of refugee experience. The module will examine concepts of ‘voice’, ‘representation’ and ‘power’, considering who may secure spaces to present refugee narratives and who may pay these presented narratives any attention.

In this module, you’ll explore three interrelated phenomena – dream, myth, and magic – that emerge at the intersection of the conscious and unconscious mind. Each was deeply involved, explicitly or implicitly, in the development of depth psychology, and each continues to be a site of reflection and controversy within the field.

How has the concept of mental health been developed by psychiatrists? What role do genetic, psychological, social and cultural factors play in causing mental illness? How has mental health treatment developed? Critically examine mental illness, psychiatric thinking and practice, and mental health services, using real-life examples in your debates.

What impact has the printed press had on our social and cultural life? What about radio, cinema, TV and recorded music? And how important is all this in the light of new technological advancements? Examine the development of our mass media culture, from the nineteenth century to the present day.