Program Overview

This degree provides opportunities for students to develop their knowledge and skills as counsellors and/or researchers in the field and is especially suited to students considering a career as a practicing counsellor.

In the first year of the programme, students are introduced to counselling theory and ethics. Due to the course leading to a professional qualification in counselling, much of the learning is experiential where students will develop their counselling skills as well as how to apply theory to their work. In the second-year students can begin to gain practical experience as trainee counsellors, learn about relevant clinical research paradigms, and develop skills and knowledge as reflective practitioners. As a key component of learning and assessment on the programme students will need to will develop awareness of the impact of their intersecting identities, psychological development, and relational past on their interpersonal and professional relationships as counsellors in training.

Students will learn research and evaluation skills during the second year of the programme. As a talking therapy, counselling is informed by both outcome research on what works for clients and process research on client experience of the counselling process and relationship. Research themes include determining what counselling skills and interventions are most effective for specific groups or issues, what is the best context for providing a service, and how to build inclusive and caring counselling relationships.

On the MSc programme, a third-year a research thesis is completed based on a research topic with relevance to counselling theory or practice. The MSc programme will provide graduates with the skills required to refine research questions and to use a variety of methods for answering them. Students will be encouraged to develop an original research idea, complete an independent research project, and consider how to disseminate their findings to different audiences.