Our History

The Sherwood Institute was founded as the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute in 1987 by Ken Evans, our first Director, and his first - late - wife, Mairi Evans. Originally located in a large house in the Sherwood area of Nottingham, it began its first ever training group in Gestalt Psychotherapy.  It soon became clear that more than one group was needed and our second group began in 1989, with The Institute moving to Thiskney House, one of its present buildings in the City Centre, around the same period.

Demand for training continued to increase and the following year saw the start of the third group.  For each subsequent year another group has begun, with, to date, around 100 graduate students having qualified as Gestalt Psychotherapists through The Sherwood Institute.

Demand for other approaches was also increasing. We started to run courses in Person-Centred Counselling (1990), in Supervision (1991), Integrative Psychotherapy (1992) and Transactional Analysis (1993). We have continued to recruit to these programmes year by year and we currently have around 200 students

Meanwhile the world of counselling and psychotherapy was rapidly changing.  Accreditation and national recognition was becoming increasingly important to graduates and potential trainees looking for courses in this field.

In 1993 we became an accrediting member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, and were thus able to offer our Psychotherapy graduates UKCP registered status. In 1994 our Counselling course gained accredited status with the British Association for Counselling (now the BACP), and in 1995 SPTI and the University of Derby entered into a partnership, with our psychotherapy courses becoming Masters Programmes as well as clinical professional qualifications.

This was an intense period of growth, both in terms of size and in what we as a training institute could offer to our trainees.  Many connections were made with others in the field, on both national and international levels. The next period saw us concentrating on developing what we had already achieved.

In 2001 we entered a new period of expansion with the validation of the Humanistic Person-Centred Programme.  We now had four Masters courses each leading to UKCP registration and one accredited course with the BACP.

The year 2002 saw a change in management, with Andy Fookes taking over as Director.

In 2003 we underwent procedures for changing to the University of Birmingham as our new validating body, we started the process of achieving BACP accreditation status for two more of our courses and we are in preparation for a foundation certificate course, designed for those who wish to move onto the Masters programme but who need to enhance their study experience in preparation for this.

We are also extending our connections in Europe and beyond, using our reputation for innovative research in psychotherapy, and our ability to offer the Masters degree, to increase our number of international students.

Finally, The Institute is expanding to Birmingham, with our new courses based at the Birmingham Counselling Centre, allowing an increased number of people to gain access to our courses. (Work in Nottingham will continue and develop all the more)

We are proud and appreciative of the way our historical developments have led to us being here, now, able to provide a major contribution to the field of psychotherapy and counselling, and we look forward to the future!