Psychotherapy training in an isolated setting

This paper describes the setting up of a training programme in psychodynamic psychotherapy in Perth, 'the most isolated city in the world'. Previous attempts to do so have petered out after a short period of time. It had certainly never been possible to develop a training programme. Initially a study group of interested health professionals was formed in 1984 which met to study certain texts at fortnightly meetings and participated in workshops conducted by the supervisors who visited from Sydney, 3,400 km away. At the end of that year the study group was changed into the Association for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy of Western Australia. The foundation members were also the first training group. The training programme consisted of fortnightly meetings concerned with intragroup issues, administrative matters and with the didactic programme: this consisted of seminars being conducted as part of a training programme in Sydney which were recorded on videotape and flown to Perth. As the 3-year training progressed we also added additional topics of our own. On the alternative fortnight the members split into small groups for peer supervision of audiotape recordings of sessions with the patient being supervised. In addition there were supervision workshops conducted by the visiting supervisors from Sydney. The paper also discusses the logistical problems of conducting such a training as well as transference and countertransference issues that arose within the group of trainees as well as with the supervisors who were so far away.