Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology

Entry requirements

A 2:1 honours degree or above which confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society (BPS) (see below) or other first degree with relevant conversion course. The evidence would normally be in the form of a letter from the BPS confirming that you are a Graduate Member and that you have been granted GBC. If you are unsure whether your undergraduate degree confers GBC then please contact the BPS for clarification. If you are currently completing a relevant BPS accredited course you will need to have applied for and been granted Graduate Membership conferring GBC with the BPS, by the commencement of the programme.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology course is designed to equip you with a rigorous training in clinical practice, as well as professional research skills at doctoral level, to enable you to become an effective and competent Practitioner Psychologist.

The DPsych aims to develop ethical, reflective and professional practitioners of counselling psychology who work collaboratively with service users to provide high-quality psychological services, drawing on evidence-based psychological practice in the context of a therapeutic relationship characterised by trust, respect, and appreciation for the subjective experience of the person and individuality of the client and their unique world view.

Our programme seeks to sit at the interface of science and practice. We value reflective professional practice and development of practice through the rigour of top class research.

You are equipped to work with a wide range of complex presenting issues; with individual adults and children, couples, families, groups and organisations; short and long term; in single and multi-professional contexts; and through transferring psychological skills to others in multidisciplinary teams. You will build a solid foundation of the clinical and professional knowledge and skills for working in mental health on the programme.

Equality of opportunity is central to the programme and trainees work in the course community to foster their valuing of difference in society and their own personal relationship to diversity, developed in relationship within the course community and then integrated into their practice outside. The diversity of our trainees is a highly valued feature of our course, and is integral to the learning context.

This programme of study enables graduates to meet the training requirements for chartered membership as a Counselling Psychologist with the British Psychological Society and the eligibility to apply for registration as a Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.

The Counselling Psychology programme aims to:

• Train Practitioner Psychologists to be competent, reflective, ethically sound, resourceful and informed practitioners able to work in therapeutic and non-therapeutic contexts who are sensitive to their clients’ subjective experiences, while at the same time being pragmatic, confident and, competent to deliver a comprehensive range of evidence-based practice interventions to meet clinical needs;
• Develop Practitioner Psychologist skills in assessment, formulation, planning and implementing interventions, assessment of outcome effectiveness, consultation, teaching, supervision, service audit and evaluation, and leadership;
• Provide the research and evaluation skills which will enable graduates as practitioners and researchers to contribute to the development of the profession and to evaluate and assess the effectiveness and impact of their psychological interventions;
• Foster a personal awareness and openness in our graduates to equip them to work with a broad spectrum of people recognising and appreciating the significance of wider social, cultural, spiritual, political and economic domains;
• Be able to develop and demonstrate communication, teaching and leadership skills by applying psychological knowledge and skills in a range of professional, clinical, organisational and research contexts; and
• Produce graduates who are well placed to work in a broad range of settings, including the NHS, forensic settings, Third Sector (voluntary), industry, government and private practice as well as academic and research settings, among others.