Is Homa's approach really unique? And if so, how?
Read about the ways in which we have developed our training and see what you think!
We offer a non-academic approach to teaching. We welcome and aim to cater for different learning styles. There is no requirement to write academic essays, assignments can be completed using a variety of media
There are many ways to demonstrate your personal learning and understanding of psychotherapy practice and theory. If writing essays is your thing, then of course you are welcome to write up all your assignments in as academic a style as you wish but you are also welcome to use art, music, stories, video or audio recording, diagrams, powerpoint presentations or any other media to reflect on and demonstrate your understanding and learning. This does not make the process any less rigorous or demanding. We expect the same level of dedication, effort and reflectiveness as we would for an academic essay and we provide detailed guidelines to ensure that you know exactly how to achieve this.
Choosing to create a non-academic training was very deliberate. There are many excellent Masters programmes available in London and throughout the UK and at Homa we wanted to provide a training programme that would meet the needs of all the people who want to become therapists but don't want an academic course. There are many reasons you might choose a non-academic training: Maybe because you have already done a degree or a masters and don't relish the idea of more intellectual learning and long essay writing or perhaps because an academic course doesn't suit your learning style or you don't enjoy essay writing and you learn better by watching, talking, listening or doing than by reading. We wanted to create a truly experiential training. The Homa course does not discriminate against people who do not fit into the traditional academic model. We have created a unique approach to psychotherapy training which makes entering the profession accessible to a more diverse group of people.
You will learn through your personal experience and practice of the theories. This makes your understanding and skills relevant and unique to you
You will learn the psychotherapy theories and counselling skills by experiencing them personally first, before applying them to client work. Our experiential style of teaching respects your internal and interpersonal experience and makes the theories and skills uniquely relevant to you. You will learn though extensive practical experience and experiments, conversation in small groups and larger groups, as well as through watching, listening, reading, moving, mark making and more.
We place a very strong emphasis on Social Justice, training you to be a safe pair of hands for all your clients
As part of our Humanistic Psychotherapy and Counselling Diploma, we run a Social Justice module which spans the whole of the second year of training as well as being woven into the fabric of every module throughout the four years. Tutors and trainees explore and confront our racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and ageism and our prejudices and assumptions in relation to body size, class, economic status, religious faith and belief, pregnancy, marital status and menopause, culture and nationality. We acknowledge and address our privilege, biases and prejudice in all the forms in which they show up.
The aim of this work is not just to develop an intellectual or academic understanding of privilege and injustice but to move from awareness to action so that we can make a positive difference in the lived experience of people who live in the world with protected characteristics and experience discrimination in their daily lives.
Homa is aligned with the values of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility.
locating counselling and psychotherapy in its social, political, ecological, and economic context
recognising the impact of the political dimension on the client-therapist relationship
developing ideas about how social, economic, political, ecological and cultural issues can be integrated into theory and practice
identifying and challenging adverse discrimination at all levels within our profession and in the wider world
generating action, launching campaigns, and seeking to influence political processes
You will learn to have difficult conversations and to manage your discomfort when dealing with difference
There will likely be many difficult and uncomfortable conversations in the group over the course of the four years. These are vital for real learning and personal growth. We make it possible to have thes conversations by co-creating a brave space to practise and learn. You will be supported by tutors whose aim it is to hold the group with clarity and kindness. Uncomfortable conversations are not easy, by definition we will experience discomfort; guilt, shame, anger, frustration, grief... At Homa we have learned that it is not possible to move through difficulties without what can sometimes feel like intense discomfort. But there is a good reason to work through our discomfort and that is to effect real, positive change in our relationships and in the world.
Our objective is to ensure that when you are working with clients, you will be a safe pair of hands, unafraid to work through any difficult feelings you experience, willing to have difficult conversations and to address your privilege, power, assumptions and prejudices as they arise. You will have the experience and skills to recognise and deal with the challenges that the power dynamics in your therapy room might present so that you and your clients can do the work they came to do.
You will develop outstanding communication and interpersonal skills
Over the course of the four years you will become a skilled communicator. You will learn different processes for managing conflict and difficulties in relationships and you will practise these skills so often that they become second nature. You will learn how to manage your feelings in response to conflict; anger, frustration, fear, sadness, hurt etc. and how to stay in connection even when there are difficulties. You will discover the importance of language and how choosing our words thoughtfully can make a powerful difference to communication. And you will also learn how to share about yourself and your experience in a way that feels satisfying and true to you.
We honour all the different ways of being in a group and invite our trainees to become aware of and curious about their reactions and responses, enabling them to have more choice about how they participate and relate.
We value and invite independent thinking and self awareness
We encourage trainees to be curious and question everything. We invite them to meet all the processes, theories and information they are introduced to with and open and inquiring mind. Just because something has always been held to be true does not mean that it always is. Some theories developed by one group of psychotherapists at a particular time might not fit a different cultural context or personal situation.
Self awareness is key to being a psychotherapist. Being aware of our own process means that we can do what it takes to be in relationship with our clients, to be of service to them. Self awareness and the willingness to examine and question long held beliefs and ways of thinking means that we can be present and open, aware of all our responses and reactions and how they might inhibit or contribute towards the client’s process.
You will work at relational depth in the group and with your clients
This means that you will be in a genuine dialogue with your peers and clients. You will be working from Buber’s I/Thou rather than an objectifying, I/It, expert/patient model. You will learn how to be authentic and connected in a way that is deeply satisfying for both you as the therapist and your clients. How will be in the therapy room will be unique to you, not a set of learned best practice or appropriate responses. You will learn how to do this through many hours of practising with your fellow trainees, coaching from the tutors and during your voluntary placement.
As part of the Foundation Year there is a 5 day residential retreat in a beautiful country setting.
Being away together as a group offers a unique opportunity to enrich and deepen relationships. There is time for learning, talking, laughing, crying, resting, walking, moving, connecting and more!
In 2025 the residential retreat takes place at Poulstone Court in the Wye Valley in a peaceful setting, with delicious food. All the costs are included in the training fee.
The course includes ecotherapy, embodied movement and art psychotherapy as well as talking therapy
The Homa training primarily teaches talking therapy. In addition all trainees are introduced to ecotherapy. This is a ten day module lead by Emma Rich and Sophie Boss which takes our trainees outdoors, beyond the confines of the therapy room.
Through an immersive experience of working outdoors you have the opportunity to reconnect with the untamed parts of yourself. You will explore your relationship to the what we call nature and to the crisis facing our planet. You will develop the skills to bring ecotherapy into the therapy room as well taking therapy outdoors with Walk & Talk therapy.
Humans have been moving and dancing forever. Audrey Boss teaches awareness at Homa through the moving body, using music as a catalyst and guided movement explorations to grow our embodied intelligence. Audrey is a queer, brown teacher of Open Floor movement practice and has been a community leader for 25 years
Trupti Magecha a Homa tutor and art psychotherapist has created a powerful race, power and privilege module which uses mark making as a way of exploring our thoughts, feelings and experience of racism.
We will teach you the business of therapy so that you can build a thriving practice
We want to make sure that when you leave Homa you have all the knowledge and tools you need to build a thriving practice. So once you have all the psychotherapy theories, counselling skills and hours of clinical practise under your belt, we want to make sure you know how to create a successful and satisfying business.
There are modules covering:
Running a thriving practice
Advertising and marketing
Managing your finances
Setting your fees
Referrals
Writing your profile
Internet presence and communications
Teaching the business of therapy as an integral and important part of the course is part of our unique approach to psychotherapy training. We know that being a therapist in private practise brings with it all the joys and challenges of running your own business and we want to make sure that yours is successful on every level.
We team teach - there are always two or more tutors teaching each session, making us more accountable and offering you different perspectives
Our Foundation Year is co-lead by a team of two or three tutors as is the Race, Power & Privilege module. All other modules are co-lead by two tutors with the addition of guest tutors for certain subjects.
When tutors teach alone there is little opportunity for true accountability. At Homa we always team teach, this means we can hold each other accountable for our mistakes and missteps and we can draw attention to each others’ blind spots. We are also able to hold both the content of the training days and the ongoing group dynamics more effectively and equitably as a team.
Debriefing with our co-tutor/s at the end of the training day gives us an opportunity to give each other honest feedback and to keep improving and refining our teaching methods, styles and the content of the course.
Having many different tutors and more than one in the room at the same time, means that you will be exposed to different perspectives and ways of being a psychotherapist. While all Homa tutors share a grounding in Humanistic or Integrative Psychotherapy, we each have our unique approach and style.
You will be taught by high calibre guest tutors who are experts in their field of psychotherapy
We bring in specialist tutors to teach aspects of race, power & privilege, gender, sexuality, sex, power dynamics in the therapy room, marketing and building your therapy business.
Dr Aileen Alleyne - Dr Alleyne teaches a session on working with generational trauma on black lives. She is a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, consultant and author of The Burden of Heritage: Hauntings of Generational Trauma on Black Lives as well as many published articles which are informed by her clinical research and wide-ranging interest in identity, race and culture.
Trupti Magecha - Trupti Magecha designs and leads the creative approach to Homa’s Anti Racism programme. She is an art psychotherapist with 18 years of experience in community development, professional photography and television broadcast. As an established film maker she has made documentaries for the BBC and Channel Four covering a range of themes including immigration, race and internet child pornography. She is a co-founder of Deep Black, an award winning social enterprise that offers daring creative workshops and training to explore issues that are provocative: conflict, immigration, mental health and identity.
Dr Gillian Proctor - Dr Proctor teaches a session on the dynamics of power in the therapy room at Homa. She is a lecturer in counselling at the University of Leeds, responsible for the Masters in Counselling and Psychotherapy programme. She is a research supervisor with a particular interest in qualitative research, ethics, power and reflexivity. Dr Proctor is the author of The Dynamics of Power in Counselling and Psychotherapy and Ethics and Values in Counselling and Psychotherapy and edited the second edition of Counselling, class and politics: undeclared influence in therapy by A. Kearney
Dr Kit Hayam (they/them or he/him) - Dr Hayam teaches sessions on trans awareness and working with trans clients. They are a Leeds-based freelance writer, heritage practitioner, trans awareness trainer and academic, author of Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender and many other published articles.
Caroline Shahbaz - Caroline Shabaz teaches sessions on Kink and BDSM and working with Kink in the therapy room. She co-authored Becoming a Kink Aware Therapist with Peter Chirinos and is the founder of Kink Knowledgeable. Her research interests include exploring cultural, social and professional oppression, persecution and demonisation of individuals, groups and marginalised alternative sexualities and understanding transformative aspects of BDSM practices and relationships.
Elsie Owen and Charlotte Braithwaite - Elsie and Charlotte teach a session on building a thriving therapy practice. They address the taboos of making money from being a therapist and marketing to reach the clients you want to work with. They teach trainees how to create a practice that aligns with their values and goals. Elise and Charlotte are successful, young therapists who have built thriving practices of their own in a short space of time. They share their expertise with our Year 4 trainees.
Homa provides everything you need to complete the course
We want to make sure that you don't have to spend extra money to complete your training, so we make our course fees inclusive of everything you'll need. There is an extensive book library at Homa so you won't need to spend any money buying books unless you want to. Also included are art therapy materials, any special kit for ecotherapy, course certificates and the final diploma, notebooks, pencils and more.
Homa fosters a strong sense of community and belonging even beyond graduation
As a Homa trained psychotherapist you will be part of a dynamic, ongoing professional community for life long learning and connection. This is true not only while you are training but beyond.
Once you graduate you can choose to continue in an Ongoing Postgraduate Group for 6 days each year (2 days per term) with members of your original training group, lead by two Homa tutors.
Once a year there is a whole Homa Community Training Weekend with opportunity for networking and shared experience. The opportunity to be part of a group who knows you so well, who can support you and be touchstones for years to come is truly invaluable.
The Postgraduate Groups also offer varied and valuable CPD (Continued Professional Development) training and ongoing personal growth.
The beautiful Homa building feels like home
Homa is less like an institution and more like a home. The house has been decorated with warmth and comfort in mind. All the rooms are unique and the training takes places throughout the house.
There is a beautiful kitchen with unlimited tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit (and often other goodies too) for trainees and tutors and a comfortable and cosy chill-out space to hang out in the breaks.
Welcome Home!
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