Course description

Our MSc Forensic Psychology and Mental Health course is aimed at graduates who want to pursue a career as a Chartered Psychologist and/or register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Forensic Psychologist.

You will cover topics such as psychology applied to legal and investigative processes, forensic risk assessment, offending behaviour interventions, research methods, and personality disorders.

Teaching will comprise a blend of face-to-face and online delivery, and will be based on case examples from forensic and clinical practice.

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

The BPS outlined five commendations following the January 2018 BPS accreditation visit:

• The Programme Director, programme team and administrative team have worked extremely hard to develop a high quality programme that meets all of the Society's standards.
• The programme has been designed to have a fully embedded mental health flavour which makes the programme distinctive.
• The programme team is approachable and supportive to the students and this is greatly valued.
• The pilot of the reflective log for understanding the professional skills that the programme embeds is innovative and well thought-out.
• The senior management team has shown commitment in supporting the programme and its team in their development for the future.

Aims

On completion of the course, you will demonstrate a number of competencies and have enhanced knowledge and skills including:

• a systematic and critical awareness of current knowledge, theory and evidence base relevant to the discipline of forensic psychology;
• a comprehensive understanding of relevant ethical, legal and professional practice frameworks;
• a critical awareness of current psychological approaches to the understanding of the development and treatment of offending behaviour and mental health conditions;
• appreciation of approaches to working with different client groups in forensic practice (eg victims of crime, offenders, professional groups, organisations);
• advanced research skills to develop and implement a forensic-related research project.

Each unit enables you to develop a range of core and transferable skills central to the role of a forensic/practitioner psychologist. The course promotes the development of critical thinking and student engagement.

Career opportunities

Forensic psychologists work across all agencies within the criminal justice system, primarily in prison and probation services, secure hospitals, the police and the courts. These agencies and organisations will be your primary employers if you graduate from this MSc.

Our course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).