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Why study this course?
This Counselling and Psychotherapy MSc course will give you the academic and practical training to become eligible to practice as a counsellor. We offer an integrative approach to counselling and psychotherapy based upon person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, and psychodynamic therapeutic frameworks, which will enable you to succeed in your future career in the counselling professions.
This course places value on learning through experience, collaborative projects in small groups, as well as reflective, non-discriminatory, and ethical counselling practice. Through the exploration of different therapeutic frameworks, you’ll develop essential practitioner skills and learn how to ethically apply them to support clients with differing expectations and needs.
By developing advanced levels of knowledge and practical counselling skills, you’ll also learn to critically reflect on your own experiences and practice to maintain the highest standards that protect those using counselling services.
Find your own way to study through practical exercises
This course places value on learning through experience, collaborative projects in small groups, as well as reflective, non-discriminatory, and ethical counselling practice
Become a member of the BACP
On successful completion of this course, you’ll have gained the 100 supervised client contact hours required for individual membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Take your career prospects to the next level
You’ll graduate with the confidence and experience to engage with clients from all backgrounds across different settings in the public and voluntary sectors and in private practice
Course modules
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2024/25 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year* 1 modules
Year 2 modules
Models of Counselling and Psychotherapy
This module currently runs:spring semester - Thursday afternoon
autumn semester - Thursday afternoon
(core, 20 credits)
This module is designed to allow you to develop your knowledge and understanding of the dominant modalities in counselling and psychotherapy including the person centred/humanistic, psychoanalytic, and cognitive/behavioural modalities which underpin many widely used counselling and therapeutic techniques. In particular, it will help you to develop your understanding of the philosophical, theoretical, and empirical underpinnings of the core modalities and your ability to evaluate their applied efficacy in relation to different client needs. It provides opportunities to apply the competencies and skills developed in this module and PY7211 Professional Practice and Reflective Skills in different counselling and therapeutic scenarios and provides a foundation for more advanced study and practice at later stages of the course.
Read full detailsProfessional Practice and Reflective Skills
This module currently runs:autumn semester - Thursday morning
spring semester - Thursday morning
(core, 20 credits)
This module will help you to develop a range of core personal and professional skills in preparation for work in supervised counselling placements. It is designed to foster core competencies and reflective skills that underpin effective counselling practice. It complements the theoretical and intellectual competencies developed in other aspects of the course through its focus on developing the practical skills required to work safely and effectively with clients with differing expectations and needs, both face-to-face and remotely, reflecting the fact that much counselling and therapeutic practice occurs online. The module is experiential in its approach and provides opportunities for you to participate in roleplay counselling sessions with peers and to critically reflect upon and discuss your experiences with your peers and members of the course team. The module will also help you to develop your critical awareness of the limitations with your own competencies and to take responsibility for addressing such limitations. It thus provides an important context in which your readiness to work in supervised practice placements is developed and assessed.
Read full detailsResearch Methods for Counselling and Psychotherapy
This module currently runs:summer studies - Thursday morning
spring semester - Thursday morning
(core, 20 credits)
This module is designed to develop your knowledge and skills in a wide range of psychological research methods. It will help you to develop your ability to design and conduct different types of research, analyse different data types, and appropriately interpret and present the findings, in line with codes of professional ethical practice and open science. The module includes an introduction to the nature and purposes of research in counselling and psychotherapy. You will explore different methods for gathering data, different types of quantitative and qualitative analysis and different ways of summarising and disseminating research findings. You will learn how to use different software packages for analysing both quantitative and qualitative analyses, how to interpret results, and to draw appropriate conclusions. Each of these abilities is associated with competencies that are essential to an evidence-based practice in counselling and psychotherapy and are highly valued in employment contexts. The module also provides a firm foundation for PY7P10: Dissertation.
Read full detailsSafeguarding and Ethical Practice
This module currently runs:summer studies - Thursday afternoon
spring semester - Thursday afternoon
(core, 20 credits)
This module will allow you to develop your understanding of the ethical principles outlined in the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (BACP) Ethical Framework. It will help you to develop your understanding of core aspects of ethical practice, including safeguarding, confidentiality, data protection, and ensuring the integrity of the practitioner-client relationship. It will enhance your knowledge of policy and legislation relevant to counselling and psychotherapy, including the Mental Health Act (2007), the Mental Capacity Act (2005), the Children’s Act (2004), and the Health and Care Act (2022). The module will support your capacity to work safely and ethically in clinical and healthcare settings with vulnerable individuals and groups, your ability to assess and appropriately manage different types of risk and will thus help to maintain high standards in the counselling and related professions.
Read full detailsAdvanced Counselling Skills
This module currently runs:spring semester - Wednesday morning
(core, 20 credits)
This module is designed to support the development of your theoretical knowledge and practical skills and your professional identity as a counsellor/psychotherapist. It provides opportunities for you to critique and reflect upon the links between theory and practice in complex or challenging clinical situations, informed by contemporary theory and research. It will develop your understanding of the limitations with different modalities and techniques and your ability to integrate concepts and methods from different modalities to meet clients’ needs. The module will allow you to develop your ability to translate the application of your counselling and therapeutic skills to different contexts (e.g., face to face and online) and your critical awareness of factors that can impact the therapeutic relationships that you form with clients. A problem-based learning approach is used to develop your ability to utilise advanced and creative methods of supporting clients with complex needs and your ability to work cooperatively and productively with others to ensure best practice.
Read full detailsDissertation
This module currently runs:spring semester - Wednesday afternoon
summer studies - Wednesday afternoon
(core, 40 credits)
This module is designed to consolidate and develop the knowledge and skills you have acquired throughout the course. Your research interests will be mapped to a suitable supervisor who will guide you through the different stages of the research process, including selection of a suitable research topic, obtaining ethical clearance, study design, analytic approach, and dissemination of the findings via a research report and a poster presentation. The research project must be informed by relevant theory and research of relevance to counselling and/or psychotherapy and agreed with your supervisor prior to commencement and should adhere to the principles of open science.
Read full detailsEquality, diversity, and inclusion in professional practice
This module currently runs:autumn semester - Wednesday afternoon
(core, 20 credits)
This module aims to develop your understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) legislation and its application in counselling and therapeutic practice. It will introduce you to a range of issues often experienced by clients from underrepresented and marginalised groups when accessing and using healthcare services. It will also develop your understanding of circumstances – both external to and within the therapeutic relationship – that can impact clients’ engagement and motivation to change. This includes your understanding of how your own assumptions and unconscious biases can impact the therapeutic relationships you form with clients and how they can be identified and addressed. The module provides a context for you to consider different ways of creating a safe therapeutic environment that supports the expectations and needs of clients from diverse populations, thus preparing you to address situations you will encounter as you progress through the course and beyond.
Read full detailsProfessional and Practitioner Skill Development
This module currently runs:autumn semester - Wednesday morning
(core, 20 credits)
This module is designed to align with your experiences in supervised counselling placements and to support the development of your practical counselling skills, including your ability to integrate and apply different counselling modalities. You will learn how to develop case formulations based upon anonymised clients encountered in your supervised work placements and to evaluate the efficacy of different therapeutic interventions. The module will enhance your ability work cooperatively and productively with clients with differing expectations and needs and your ability to reflect upon and make use of feedback from different sources (e.g., clients, supervisors, and peers) to improve your practical counselling and therapeutic skills.
Read full details
