Counselling Psychology

Entry requirements

Bachelors degree in Psychology (minimum 2:1 or international equivalent). Candidates with a lower classification also require a Master's level qualification at Merit minimum.

You will require basic counselling skills training and professional experience of using such skills.

This criterion might be met, for example, by completing a Certificate in Counselling Skills, or through employment or voluntary experience in a role using counselling skills.

You must also have British Psychological Society Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC).

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (DCounsPsych) at The University of Manchester is the only Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and British Psychological Society (BPS)-approved doctoral programme in counselling psychology offered by a Russell Group university. The programme has four major components:

• the development of appropriate theoretical knowledge;
• the development of research skills;
• the development of therapeutic practice skills;
• and an emphasis upon personal development.

Throughout the programme, you will be introduced in detail to a pluralistic approach of therapy, with a focus on humanistic counselling during the first year and cognitive behavioural therapy in the second.

Alongside assessed units, you will complete a minimum of 450 hours' supervised therapeutic practice and 40 hours' personal therapy.

All members of staff are psychologists who are active in the fields of both research and clinical practice in counselling psychology.

In terms of clinical practice, their work is ongoing within NHS, private healthcare and third-sector settings.

Their training backgrounds include skills in humanistic therapies, cognitive-behaviour therapy, and group analytic approaches.

Staff members publish their research and write widely in the fields of counselling, counselling psychology, psychotherapy, applied psychology, and education, including exploring critical and methodological innovations between psychotherapy and education. For instance, Professor Terry Hanley and Dr Laura Winter have recently edited the fourth edition of the well-known SAGE Handbook of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

In recent years they have been successful in receiving research funding to conduct work looking at topics such as how wellbeing is supported in educational settings, online therapeutic approaches, and the impact of austerity measures on the wellbeing and education of children and families.

The team also has excellent connections within the community of counselling psychology in the UK, as well as strong local links with voluntary sector organisations working around mental health provision for disadvantaged and minority populations.

Fees and funding