Diploma in Family Therapy
The Centre auspices an accredited Diploma in Family Therapy which began in 2002 and is available to mental health care practitioners from all disciplines.
The Diploma in Family Therapy is comprised of flexible learning: a combination of distance learning and workshop attendance. This was the first course in Family Therapy to offer flexible learning in Australia and has always been accredited with the Victorian Association of Family Therapy, now the Australian Association of Family Therapy.
Students from around the country are able to apply. If you would like to know more please contact us. Please Note: Intake for 2025 closes on 6th December 2024.
The Centre auspices an accredited Diploma in Family Therapy which began in 2002 and is available to mental health care practitioners from all disciplines.
The Diploma in Family Therapy is comprised of flexible learning: a combination of distance learning and workshop attendance. This was the first course in Family Therapy to offer flexible learning in Australia and has always been accredited with the Victorian Association of Family Therapy, now the Australian Association of Family Therapy.
Students from around the country are able to apply. If you would like to know more please contact us.
First year units:
- Overview of family therapy
- Developmental experiences, therapeutic interactions
- Family therapy and illness
- Family of origin
Second year units:
- Children and adolescents
- Couples
- Older adults and aging issues
- Ethics research, closure and referral
The course is conducted at the Alma Family Therapy Centre. Teaching methods include small and large group work, seminars, discussions, role plays, case presentations, demonstrations and video work. Participants will also be required to keep a journal thoughout the course.
Each unit comprises the following components:
Readings and activities: |
24 hours |
Peer supervision: |
2 hours |
Workshop: |
6.25 hours |
TOTAL: |
32.25 hours |
Students who would like more face to face contact may apply to participate in small group workshops.
Students of the diploma are encouraged to become associate members of the Australian Association of Family Therapy (AAFT). On successful completion of the academic requirements of the diploma, followed by completion of all post course supervision and log requirements as outlined on the AAFT website, graduates of the diploma are eligible to apply for clinical membership of AAFT.
For current details of supervision requirements for AAFT, please refer to their website, www.aaft.asn.au
Professional development points can be applied for to the relevant professional association.
The course is open to qualified practitioners in the health and social sciences.
Please fill in the form above to apply online now, or alternatively, click here to download an application form. This document is in Adobe PDF format, and requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded free from here.
Offers of enrollment will be made on the basis of interview, subject to availability.
The cost for the Diploma in Family Therapy (8 units over two years) is $10,000 (plus GST).
Fees are payable in advance per semester (2 units) at $2,500 (plus GST).
For those wishing to enrol for individual units by distance, the cost is $1,250.00 (plus GST) per unit, payable in advance.
Course Directors
Dr Miriam Tisher, BA (Hons), MA, PhD, CFHC, Clinical Member AAFT, Clinical Psychologist
Dr Livia Jackson, MBBS (Hons), RACGP, Clinical Member AAFT
Course Coordinators 2025
Dr Ruth Tisher, BA (Hons), DPsych (Clinical), Dip Fam Ther. Clinical Member AAFT, Clinical Psychologist
Dr Maria Nichterlein B.Psych, PhD, MAPS. Clinical Member AAFT, Counselling Psychologist
Tammy Berman
BSc., Grad Dip Ed. Psych. Grad Diploma Family Therapy, MAPsS, Psychologist, Clinical Member, AAFT.
Associate Professor Suzanne Dean
BA(Hons), MA, PhD., MVAP, MPAA, Clinical Psychologist, Victoria University and Monash University.
Rosemary De Young
BA, BEd (Counselling), MAPsS, Clinical Member AAFT, Counselling Psychologist.
Associate Professor Erica Frydenberg
PhD Dip Ed Dip Clin Psych FAPS Educational and Clinical Psychologist, University of Melbourne.
Dr Dennis Handrinos
MBBS, FRANZCP, MPM, Consultant Psychiatrist, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Alma Family Therapy Centre
Dr Jenny Ouliaris
MBBS, FRACGP, Clinical Member AAFT, Grad. Diploma Family Therapy.
Dr Brian Stagoll
MBBS, FRANZCP, DPM, Clinical Member AAFT, Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr Vicki Windholz
MBBS (Hons), FRACGP, Grad Diploma Family Therapy, Clinical Member AAFT
| Unit A – Overview of family therapy | |
|---|---|
| Faculty Colleen Cousins Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Essay | Objectives Recognise different schools of family therapy. Understand theoretical basis for schools of family therapy. Understand and use boundaries, systems and subsystems in formulating hypotheses. Recognise theoretical formulations guiding psychotherapy. |
| Unit B – Developmental experiences, therapeutic encounters | |
| Faculty Colleen Cousins Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Genogram with hypotheses | Objectives Identify and understand four stage model of therapy. Draw three-generation genogram with appropriate symbols. Use information obtained in genogram to generate hypotheses about patient’s problems. Understand relevance and importance of life cycle stages in patient’s presenting problems. |
| Unit C – Family therapy and Illness | |
| Faculty Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Essay re narrative of illness in patients noting circular patterns | Objectives Identify families’ narratives in relation to illness. Use genograms to clarify transgenerational patterns of coping with chronic illness and death. Identify circular patterns in families relating to illness. Identify circular patterns between families and systems. |
| Unit D – Family of origin | |
| Faculty Moshe Lang Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Review of journal with reference to clinical implications | Objectives Acknowledge influences of family of origin in therapy. Use genograms to clarify transgenerational patterns of secrecy and grief. Respect cultural and individual grieving processes. Understand and recognise impact of culture, gender and secrets in a family and how this can affect family dynamics. |
| Unit E – Children and adolescents | |
| Faculty Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Ruth Tisher Assessment Genogram for child and adolescent with hypotheses and interventions | Objectives Adolescents Child-related problems as reflection of distress in family. Child and adolescent expressions of unhappiness. Circular patterns with children as the identified patient. Adolescent turmoil and interaction with family system. |
| Unit F – Couples, circular patterns, circular questions | |
| Faculty Julie Beauchamp Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Videotape of couple and critical review | Objectives Evaluate your own therapy and counselling work. Patients symptoms in cybernetic or circular pattern terms. Use circular questioning. Include marital system in information gathering and option generating stages of therapy. |
| Unit G – Older adults and Aging Issues | |
| Faculty Nella Charles Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Critical review of two readings with reference to implications for clinical practice | Objectives Recognise issues of elderly persons and families. Recognise the circular pattern between an elderly member and their family and between families and other systems. Identify own issues about ageing and influence on practice. Identify approach to impending death, relate to family of origin, socio-cultural and spiritual experiences. |
| Unit H – Ethics, research, closure and referrals | |
| Faculty Nada Miocevic Maria Nichterlein Miriam Tisher Assessment Review of journal with reference to ethical dilemmas | Objectives Clarify confidentiality and its limitations with your clients. Ethical issues, your responsibility and how they apply to you in your work place and in the therapeutic context. Recognise when and how to refer appropriately. Duty of care issues and appropriate responses. |
Apply Now
Please fill in the application form below. On receipt of your application, an email acknowledgement will be automatically sent to you.
Course Feedback
Like most of us I have a number of selves; the me before and after different life events that have molded me and changed my character. Studying family therapy is one of these life events that has changed my being in the most fundamental and powerful way. Although I had an appreciation of family therapy, working alongside family therapists in a non for profit organisation for 5 years, it was only after doing my training through Alma Road Family Therapy Centre that I was a true believer in the power of working with relationships in creating meaningful and lasting change.
My entry into my family therapy training course came at the perfect time in my life having been recently married just months before starting the course and having a child during the first year of the course. Even my daughter knew how to fit into the course and she was born during the ‘family of origin’ unit! Thinking about my own family of origin and relationship dynamics played a big part in my thoughts about choice of name for my daughter.
It wasn’t just me that experienced the course this way, my colleagues too re-examined themselves and their relationships, particularly during the unit on older adults and dynamics around aging and illness. A family’s ability to change and reorganise itself in the face of life stressors is a process that effects everyone.
Having both the intellectual understanding plus experiencing this in a real way in my own family has made me a better person and a better clinician. Although I am a relatively young clinician, my older colleagues often approach me about dynamics in our team and our association with other teams in our workplace. They say that I am wise. I say go forth and study family therapy