To ensure a high standard of professional practice across Europe and to facilitate the exchange of expertise within the European member societies, ESTSS has decided to work on different curricula addressing specific professions. We need to precise that the general certification program (“General Knowledge about Psychotraumatology”) is also still active. Since 2016 the ESTSS has chosen a new structure with a general board consisting of representatives of the national societies. The revision of the certification program matches this new structure: Local certification programs within the national societies and contexts seem to be the most adequate base for building up a European standard of care in the aftermath of severely disruptive events. To build such a certification program, within the new structure of the ESTSS, a special task force structured a curricula program in terms of contents of the curricula and strategies for their implementation. The first of a series of new curricula is the ESTSS Curriculum „Therapy of Posttraumatic Disorders in Adults”. The contents of this curriculum are based on existing curricula from several member societies, existing guidelines and an extensive debate of a working group.
For the implementation of this curriculum, ESTSS has established two new structures (Accreditation Committee, Certification Committee). At the same time, National Societies were asked to form a National Certification Committee who will be responsible for the implementation and dissemination of the certification on the local level. The ESTSS Certification Committee collects representatives from each National Committee and works to match the local rules of implementation and operationalization at a common European level. It is important to emphasize that in the interest of a broader dissemination, ESTSS explicitly aims at a diversity of curriculum providers within the member societies as long as the quality of the certification process is assured.
National Societies that want to achieve accreditation of their adult psychotherapy curriculum by ESTSS have to fill the ESTSS application form for member societies and the corresponding table providing information on how their national curriculum meets the ESTSS requirements. Documents need to be sent to ESTSS secretariat at secretariat@estss.org.
List of Documents required to be submitted:
1. Application form for member societies
Other important documents:
ESTSS Curriculum „Therapy of Posttraumatic Disorders in Adults”
ESTSS Professional Certificate Regulations
