Person-Centred Counselling

Entry requirements

Individuals on this course will need a high level of critical self-awareness and a willingness to reflect on their own process. Readiness to enter a programme which has at its centre the student’s own personal development is desirable. Voluntary or professional experience of support work with adults is also desirable.

Applicants will normally be expected to hold a relevant Honours degree with a 2:2 or above from a recognised university or body. In exceptional circumstances, applicants without this qualification may be admitted by achieving Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Please contact the programme director for guidance. Applicants must also prove they have relevant, credit-bearing counselling skills, totalling 60 credits, ideally from completion of Aberdeen University’s Counselling and Listening Skills courses 1 to 4.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our Person-Centred Counselling programme is the starting point for a career providing life-changing therapy. Full-time or part-time, you can achieve an MSc, PgDip or PgCert, allowing you to progress to your chosen career.

This programme is grounded in Carl Rogers’ theory of human potential, and training in this approach opens you to the self-knowledge needed to offer clients the deep connectedness at the heart of the therapeutic relationship.

Our full-time route allows you to complete an MSC in 18 months, with an option on the final 60 credits coming from either a Dissertation/Counselling Related Research Study, or our Specialist Certificate for Counselling Children and Young People. Our part-time options give you more flexibility, with the opportunity to qualify as a Person-Centred practitioner just after two years, or to complete the MSc in three years, equally via the dissertation or the CYP specialisation route.

Our PgDip

This qualification is validated by, and meets the professional training requirements of, COSCA (Scotland’s professional body for counselling and psychotherapy) with the diploma consisting of a minimum 400 tutor contact hours and 100 client hours.

The programme aims to enable students to:

• Understand the philosophy, theory and research of the person-centred approach
• Develop a high level of awareness of, and competence in, person-centred counselling relationships
• Understand person-centred therapeutic process
• Develop awareness of their professional developmental needs and how to fully use supervision
• Evaluate the importance of personal development in relation to training as a person-centred counsellor
• Consider the effect of personal experience, values and attitudes on practice
• Develop critical understanding of where the person-centred modality is placed in the field of counselling and the role counselling plays in society as a whole
• Place individual counselling practice within a sound ethical framework as outlined in the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions and the COSCA Statement of Ethics and Code of Practice
• Keep accurate and up-to-date records of client work in accordance with professional body ethical guidelines (BACP 2018, COSCA 2018)