Overview

This Masters degree in Counselling is an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of human thinking, reasoning and their actions and offers the chance to take the first steps into a career in counselling. Our MSc in Counselling course provides you with a level of knowledge and skills that will allow you to develop as counsellors, and once you have gained further experience and client hours you will be able to pursue a range of professional opportunities.

If you have a first degree in Psychology that is Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) accredited, your postgraduate training opportunities will include doctoral training on British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited courses in Counselling Psychology.

Course Details

The Counselling MSc at UON has been designed to contribute towards achieving the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goal: SDG3 Good Health and Wellbeing. This Masters in Counselling course will help you to achieve sufficient communication skills as well as personal development skills which are useful and applicable to a number of organisations and situations. Students will be integrated into the learning process partnered with a supportive and motivational environment.

Our masters degree in counselling requires you to undertake a supervised placement of a minimum of 100 client hours plus supervision and a minimum 40 hours of personal therapy with an approved and registered or accredited counsellor or therapist. A student membership of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is advised and professional indemnity insurance and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be required for placements.

The course modality is theoretical integrative, which means that you will be working to a specific integrative framework throughout the course. These frameworks draw on a range of traditional theories which you will also learn about, along with a wide range of the issues that clients may present with in counselling. The placement module allows you to take your competencies to organisations to work with clients.

Throughout the course, you will be encouraged to develop a critical, evaluative approach to the knowledge which underpins present-day professional practice as well as building your ability to make evidence-based decisions. Current issues within counselling and therapy will be considered critically with particular emphasis on their relationship to client practice.

What can I do with a Masters in Counselling?

A Masters degree in Counselling will allow you to pursue a number of career paths. Following completion of a MSc Counselling degree, you will have a deep understanding and appreciation of various therapies and presenting issues that will allow you to pursue a career in a wide variety of sectors. Graduates may secure roles in further and higher education, in charitable agencies and a wide range of businesses.

Other professional counselling opportunities include marriage and family counselling, substance abuse counselling, the NHS and private practice. Please note that many of these specialised roles require further training and additional experience is needed before entering into private practice.

Is the course accredited?

Although the course is not accredited it may be used as a basis for personal accreditation with BACP once further experience and an additional 350 client hours have been gained.