Course Content
Many professionals work with people who can describe what happened but not what they felt. Alexithymia, difficulty identifying and describing emotions, is more common than most practitioners realise, and it is easily mistaken for disengagement, resistance or not caring.
This practical, evidence-based course gives you a clear introduction to alexithymia and what it means for your work. You will learn how it affects emotional awareness and communication, how it shapes relationships and engagement with services, and how to adapt your approach so that conversations about feelings become more accessible for the people you support.
What You’ll Learn
- What alexithymia is, and how it shows up in everyday conversations
- Why emotions can be experienced but remain difficult to name
- Where alexithymic traits come from, including attachment, emotional development and biology
- How alexithymia relates to mental health difficulties, neurodiversity and other conditions
- How to recognise alexithymic traits in the people you work with
- A flexible framework for conversations that does not require someone to name what they feel
Who Is It For?
This course is written for counsellors and psychotherapists, and for anyone whose work involves conversations about how people are feeling.
- Counsellors, psychotherapists and trainees
- Coaches, mentors and wellbeing practitioners
- Teachers, pastoral leads and student support staff
- Mental health, health and social care professionals
- Youth work, community and voluntary services
No prior knowledge of alexithymia is needed. The course assumes you already work with people, and builds from there.
Course Format
- Online and self-paced
- Approximately 3 hours of learning across five modules
- Video lessons with clear, practical explanations
- A downloadable Course Workbook for your reflections and notes
- A practice scenario to work through, with a framework you can use in real conversations
- A knowledge check to consolidate your learning
- Certificate of Completion, which you can log as self-directed CPD
Course Lead
Dr Sharon Good – Training Associate
Sharon is a Lecturer in Psychology and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her expertise lies in emotion, emotional regulation, and emotional awareness. Sharon’s research focuses on how people understand and interpret thoughts and feelings, with a particular interest in emotional communication and processing. She brings extensive teaching and research experience to the study of alexithymia and its impact on everyday functioning and professional practice.
Course Fee
£150 £99 inc VAT
Introductory offer until 14th October 2026. The course returns to £150 after this.
