Counselling Children and Young People (MA)

Entry requirements

• Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling Children and Young People as well as post-qualifying counselling experience or experience of working with young people
• You must also be a registered member of an appropriate professional body, e.g. BACP
• Two references must be uploaded with your application, and one must be from your clinical supervisor

Months of entry

September

Course content

The MA Counselling Children and Young People is one of the only Masters courses of its kind. It offers a unique blend of knowledge and skills practice, and provides a pathway to many exciting opportunities within the field of therapeutic work with young people. It will enable you to become part of a new generation of professionals working within schools and other formal and informal youth settings.

The MA Counselling Children and Young People is a two-year course made up of one year’s training on the Postgraduate
Diploma Counselling Children and Young People plus one year completing the Masters research and dissertation stage.

You will have the opportunity to choose between conducting an academic research dissertation and delivering a professional practice project in the community. Whichever you choose, it will need to be a topic relevant to Counselling Children and Young People.

You will learn about a range of appropriate research, evaluation and project management methodologies and methods to support you in the development, implementation and completion of your final submission. You will be allocated a personal academic supervisor or project mentor to provide expert guidance, advice and support through the process.

Teaching consists of seven days of tutor facilitated teaching and learning and nine hours of direct dissertation supervision or project mentoring.

All tutor facilitated days will take place on a Friday from 9.30am until 4.30pm.

Supervision or mentoring meetings would be negotiated directly and arranged flexibly with the designated member of staff.

Depending on whether you have chosen to follow an academic research dissertation or an applied professional project route, you will either submit a 17,000 word Dissertation or a 17,000 word Project Portfolio for summative assessment.

There will be a number of formative assessment opportunities set throughout the year that support your progression towards you final Dissertation or Project submission.

Once you’ve completed the Masters, you will have demonstrated that you have an in-depth knowledge of counselling Children and Young People, including specialist knowledge gained by your own research dissertation or applied professional project findings. This is likely to further develop your reputation and employability as a therapist in the statutory, commercial and third sector.

There may also be opportunities for you to progress on to a PhD or research degree.