Framework Overview
Existential psychotherapy requires a clearly articulated set of professional competences that
integrate philosophical foundations, relational depth, and clinical responsibility.
A structured competence framework for existential therapy has been proposed by Joel Vos
(2021) in The Existential Therapeutic Competences Framework, published in the
International Journal of Psychotherapy.
The framework identifies four interconnected domains of competence:
1. Generic Psychotherapy Competences
Core therapeutic skills are shared across modalities, including empathic attunement, ethical
awareness, reflective capacity, and alliance building.
2. Basic Existential Competences
Competences grounded in existential philosophy and phenomenology, including the ability to
work with lived experience, existential themes (freedom, responsibility, meaning, finitude),
and the client’s unique life-world.
3. Specific Existential Competences
Modality-specific competences linked to particular existential traditions (e.g., existential
analysis, existential-phenomenology, logotherapy, existential-humanistic therapy), including
structured methods of working with meaning, choice, values, and personal positioning.
4. Meta-Competences
Advanced integrative capacities enabling therapists to adapt existential approaches flexibly to
individual clients, contexts, and developmental levels.
This framework contributes to the harmonisation of existential psychotherapy standards
across Europe and supports professional training, supervision, and certification processes
within EAP and modality organisations such as FETE.
Reference
Vos, J. (2021). The Existential Therapeutic Competences Framework. International Journal of
Psychotherapy, 25(1).
Available via the International Journal of Psychotherapy: https://www.ijp.org.uk
Reviewed by Dr Yaryna Kaplunenko on behalf of the Research Committee of FETE,
February 2026.
