Karuna Institute aims for our admissions process to be fair, open and transparent. We aim to admit students, who regardless of their background demonstrate the potential to successfully complete our training.
Our entry criteria, follows the UKCP’s Humanistic and Integrative College (HIPC) requirements.
Entry is at undergraduate level of competence for the Counselling Diploma and postgraduate level for the Post Graduate Diploma in Mindfulness Based Core Process Psychotherapy. Applicants without recognised qualifications will be eligible with sufficient prior learning and/or life experience.
Applicants will normally demonstrate the capacity and commitment to develop the following qualities that will make them suitable for the profession of psychotherapy:
- a lively and enquiring mind
- a capacity for critical reflection and self-directed learning
- an ability to listen and respond with compassion and respect
- awareness of prejudice and the ability to respond openly to issues of race, gender, age, sexual preference, class, disability, ethnic, spiritual / religious and cultural difference, and diversity
- awareness and sensitivity in relation to the political, socio-cultural and religious / spiritual contexts of people’s lives
- in-depth self-reflection
- self-awareness and commitment to self-development.
- Applicants should have sufficient emotional competence and the internal resources necessary to engage with the demands of the training and the work of psychotherapy.
- It is important that your life situation is stable and that you can approach the training with a level of internal maturity.
Requirements for Entry
As outlined in our website. All potential applicants must attend an Introductory day.
Applicants are required to complete the online application for the Foundation Year and must provide two references. They will be invited to attend an in-person Interview with at least two Faculty members, this is usually the Directors of Karuna Institute.
Successful Applications:
You are required to complete an Introductory day before you can apply to the training. If you completed one of our Introductory Courses but are applying more than two years later, you will need to take another Introductory course before applying for the training.
All applicants who have completed an Introductory day and been successful at interview, will be offered a place on the Foundation Year training, subject to places being are available in the year they choose to apply. Where applicants apply and there are no places they may be offered a deferred place on condition of a follow up interview in the following year. Our policy is that all interviews are conducted in person.
Foundation Year
As one of the only Buddhist, mindfulness based psychotherapy trainings available in the UK, leading to UKCP Accreditation, our training is unique. The foundation year offers a grounding in Buddhist understanding and our Mindfulness Based approach to Core Process Psychotherapy. For this reason completion of the Foundation Year is a mandatory requirement and acts as the first year of the full PG Diploma. Therefore, it is not possible to join subsequent years of the PG Diploma without having completed our Foundation Year.
Prior Experiential Learning
- Where people do not have a formal undergraduate degree but have had relevant life experience then we would consider relevant experience in your application.
- For the reasons stated above due to the specific Buddhist psychology of our training, it is not possible to APEL across from a foundation year in another training because the Foundation Year in MBCPP is the foundation of the PG Diploma training in our modality.
- For students who progress further into the PG Diploma, a HIPC requirement is to have undertaken a Mental Health Familiarisation Placement. Students who have had relevant experience working in the Mental Health Sector may be eligible for an exemption from having to undertake a placement. Students wishing exemption are required to write a report based on their experience which demonstrates how they have already met the criteria through their prior experiential learning.