I had the privilege of undertaking Core Training with Julie Cochrane at ISTDP Australia, and it has been a transformative experience that has been instrumental to my growth both professionally and personally.
Pre-Core, Core and Advanced programs, plus one-day trainings on special topics, for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers and psychotherapists across Australia, New Zealand and overseas. Cohorts stay small, and most people who train here stay with the community.
“Freud discovered the unconscious;
Davanloo has discovered how to use it therapeutically.”
As much about how we treat each other as about what we teach.
We believe that honesty, trust, fairness and accountability are central to our ethos and we seek to, at all times, maintain personal integrity and ask that those training with us do the same. Doing the right thing for the right reasons, even when no one is watching.
We aim for a rich environment that embraces differences of backgrounds and experience, and involves active, empathic listening and interacting: how you treat someone who can do nothing for you.
Training tends to work best within a community. People learn alongside each other and from each other, in addition to learning from experienced teachers and supervisors.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” — Helen Keller
Compassion is the bridge that connects our shared humanity, transforming empathy into understanding and skilled interventions. We encourage compassion for what patients bring, and what is activated in we therapists, as we listen to our patients’ journeys of emotional suffering.
ISTDP is a very skills-based therapeutic approach and we aim to well equip you with a vast range of skills, that have been developed over many years and tested in clinical practice; interpersonal skills including those intended to build a deep therapeutic alliance, and technical skills to accurately assess and precisely and effectively intervene. We aim to bring about maximum therapeutic change, as quickly as possible.
Our mission is to enable you to transform your therapeutic practice: to develop the capacity to bring about deep emotional change in your clients, evident in all facets of their lives. Pain is inevitable in life; suffering is optional. We aim to enable people to be free of the emotional suffering attached to both past and present; to find a way through pain rather than living a life defined by what has gone wrong.
Many people who come to an introductory workshop go on to Core Training. Some end up working at Dynamic Psychotherapy. And most of the people at our one-day workshops have trained with us before. They come back because the training doesn't really end.
The work happens through the therapeutic relationship; underpinned by a deep understanding and use of theory and technique, video review of real sessions, and ongoing small-group supervision. Cohorts have included therapists from all states of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Finland, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Portugal, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the US.
New to ISTDP or already practising, there's a pathway that will deepen your work.
See training pathways →“The patient gets in touch, often for the first time in their life, with the true sources of their suffering — and finds, at the same moment, the inner strength to face them.”
Dr Habib Davanloo · co-founder of ISTDPThe next sessions on the calendar. The full list is on the Training page.
I had the privilege of undertaking Core Training with Julie Cochrane at ISTDP Australia, and it has been a transformative experience that has been instrumental to my growth both professionally and personally.
I highly recommend Julie Cochrane as both a psychotherapist and teacher/supervisor. As a therapist, Julie is remarkably attuned and attentive.
Julie creates an optimal environment to facilitate professional growth. Her expertise is accompanied by her unflinching commitment to each student's success.
Julie is that rare therapist who combines presence, empathic attunement and active engagement with highly refined skills. She is a talented teacher and supervisor, and with her extensive training in ISTDP, she is at the forefront of the field.
I have immensely benefited from her observations and suggestions regarding my clients. Julie has a very meticulous attention to detail about the technique of ISTDP.
Ava, our site assistant, can answer most questions about trainings, dates, applying and the therapist directory straight away. For supervision arrangements, referrals, or anything specific to you, email us and we'll reply within a business day.