Overview
The application deadline has now passed. Offers will be communicated to applicants once all interviews have taken place and interview scores have been ranked. If after this round of interviews, there are spaces available, a new application window will be opened.
This long-established and hugely popular course is fully accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
It is designed to provide training in an integrative approach to counselling and psychotherapy. It will enable you to develop your own synthesis within a framework which is not tied to a particular theoretical school or perspective. We follow current research into what actually works in counselling and psychotherapy, which means we use an integrative approach, employing a variety of techniques to respond to the needs and preferences of individual clients.
Typically, students on this course will have first degrees in other subjects, and they may be employed either part-time or full-time.
You may be working in health, social care or education - but you don't have to be.
This course (two years for the Diploma) is ideally suited to those with a part-time job, although it can also work for those with full-time commitments. The basis of study for the Postgraduate Diploma is one afternoon/evening per week.
The two-year Postgraduate Diploma allows you to practice as a BACP registered counsellor. Completion of the diploma confers automatic entry to the MA Counselling and Psychotherapy final year which is a popular choice for our students. (Only the Masters is eligible for a student loan from SFE.)
The Postgraduate Diploma entails completing 100 hours of supervised work, which will be undertaken on a placement which you have to secure for yourself. However, the School has established links with many agencies and practices where our students have worked over the years.
You may take these skills back into your workplace, use them for a change of career, or develop your own specialist practice.
This course is in Clearing
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What makes this course different
Accredited by the BACP
Accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) since 1990, the longest running BACP accredited programme in the UK.
Focused on therapy
This programme is founded on a secure evidence base for what works in therapy, rather than any particular modality or theoretical school
A different approach
We have a strong emphasis on skills and the development of a collaborative therapeutic relationship, where the client is actively involved in developing the goals of their therapy, the ways their issues are conceptualised, and the approaches used.
Accreditation
BACP accredited course
Course modules
NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.
Download course specification
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Online & Phone Therapy – OPT
COVID-19 and OPT
Because of the extraordinary circumstances resulting from the Covid 19 pandemic, the course ran differently from usual in the academic year 2020/2021. We learned to operate a dual delivery model which meant students received education both on campus (with social distancing in place) and via MS Teams, a free app that allows us to meet as groups virtually. Students in these affected year groups rose to the challenge and adapted very well.
September 2021 saw us return fully to campus for in-person teaching. However, because of the pandemic, counselling facilities, including many of our placements, continued to offer online therapy, and some still continue to do so. Thus, we applied to the BACP for amended accreditation to deliver training in online and phone therapy (OPT). We will be conducting some work (teaching, labs, skills training, and supervision) online to fulfil our commitment to OPT training and develop your ability to work competently both face-to-face and virtually. These sessions will be clearly marked in your timetables, and on these teaching days, all staff and students will not be on campus, and all teaching will be delivered on MS Teams. For this reason, students need to have a device that can record video to bring on campus. They will also need a quiet place at home where they can work privately and undisturbed when conducting client sessions / video labs from home, and a good Wi-Fi connection. Other than these online teaching days, you will be expected to attend class in person, on campus.
Please note: We expect students to behave in class as they would behave when working with a client. Presence and respect are crucial elements of our profession; we will expect that, when working online, students will observe simple rules that promote a thriving online community, e.g., turning on cameras during online lectures; switching off phones and not looking at them during class. This list is not exhaustive, and we do address these and other requirements in full, in class.
OPT in assessments, supervision, and placement
Following the Covid pandemic, we have introduced new elements to the curriculum and in 2021 we modified our assessments and teaching under BACP’s aegis so our graduates can be confident in offering ethical and effective online and telephone work as well as face to face ‘in the room’ therapy. This reflects the changes required in the way most Integrative Counsellors & Psychotherapists worked to support the mental health of our communities during the Covid pandemic.
Core Skills Assessment: This assessment is based on the small group practicum which works on the core qualities, basic theoretical concepts and listening skills during the first semester. Assessment of Core Skills involves self, peer, and staff assessment of your ‘readiness’ to use these qualities and skills in your work with ‘outside' clients’. While there is no legal restriction, we see it as our ethical responsibility to ensure that you have reached a potentially safe and effective level of practice before starting work with outside clients. With the introduction of OPT competencies in 2020/2021, you will also be assessed on your Fitness to Practice with online and phone therapy (OPT). You will have to demonstrate basic core competences in OPT as well as face-to-face work and understand the differences as well as the similarities inherent in both vehicles of therapy.
Supervision: Some of your supervision on the course (about half) will be online to ensure that you learn how to navigate the supervisory relationship online and understand the differences and challenges which it brings which are different from those of face-to-face supervision. Your placement supervision may be face-to-face, and we need to be sure that you understand the requirements of meeting with a supervisor online. Online supervision is a mandatory part of our course following our move towards training you to work ethically and safely with OPT. You will be on campus for the most part during your online supervision (although not all the time) and joining your supervisor virtually.
Placements: Over one half of your clinical hours should be in face-to-face work. You are allowed to count OPT hours towards your 100 clinical hours. The number of telephone hours you are allowed to count should be discussed with your course leader who will decide if they can count on an individual basis depending on the placement. (Telephone counselling is a valid therapeutic vehicle but face-to-face and online are preferred by the course while you are training.)
Your future career
In recent years, around half to two-thirds of students leave after completing their counselling and psychology Diploma (which is the professional qualification), with the remainder staying on for a final year of MA study.
In either case, you will be able to work towards the next level of professional standing by seeking individual accreditation within the BACP, which requires 450 hours of supervised working. Past students have attained this level two or three years after graduating.
Career options
Even if you do not go on to work as a counsellor or psychotherapist, this course is a strong supplement and support for work you may already be doing in health, social care or education.
Completing the course often leads to career progression. Many past students have returned to previous jobs while establishing and developing their own counselling practice as a second strand to their careers. In several cases, this has proved successful enough to become their main source of employment.
"Many of our counselling graduates become portfolio workers," says Elizabeth Wilson. "They leave the course and carry on doing whatever they have been doing, but they also start doing some sessions as counsellors.
"Two, three, four years down the line they are spending more time on their practice than their other employment."
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.
How you'll learn
Please note: teaching takes place over two academic years on a part-time basis, one day a week, which remains the same for the two years you are with us (plus three Saturday workshops each academic year). The cohort has previously met at the Stratford Campus on either Wednesdays or Thursdays.
There is no facility to complete this course full-time. Because we are BACP accredited, the course must be completed in full and we do not accept any prior qualifications gained in counselling and psychotherapy. However, that experience may well strengthen your application.
Further study
If you decide to stay on for the third-year MA top-up, it is over one calendar year, part-time. You will have your own academic supervisor.
Placement
Once you have passed assessments in the first term you will be eligible to secure a placement and start recording hours of supervised client work.
If you have not reached 100 hours before the end of your second year, you have another year to make up the total in order to qualify for your diploma.
Class sizes
A maximum group total of 25 students in years one and two and 20 in year three will ensure you will benefit from an excellent student/tutor ratio.
Teaching
Our teaching team have extensive clinical experience and have written and published widely. Several have or still do contribute to the work of BACP committees.
You will develop your practical skills in our suite of six on campus interview rooms with video recording and playback equipment. There is an emphasis on working in groups and the programme contains regular interactive structured exercises.
Other modes of learning include workshops, lectures, clinical supervision groups, personal therapy, individual tutorials, self-directed private study and assessed written assignments.
"Current research shows that the theoretical approach is by no means the most important thing in counselling and psychotherapy," says Course Leader Elizabeth Wilson. "It's about responding to the individual needs of the client sitting in front of you."
How you'll be assessed
You will be assessed in a variety of ways, including essays, presentations and process reports. You will be assessed on your practical skills, on your personal journal and on your professional log, which is an ongoing record of your client work, supervision, personal development and training.
Campus and facilities
Our campus and the surrounding area
Our historic Stratford campus is located in one of the best-connected areas of London: close to Stratford's thriving town centre, the 2012 Olympic Park, and just 15 minutes from London's West End.
Stratford’s facilities include a state-of-the-art library and learning centre, the majestic great hall and specialist laboratories and computing services. The School of Childhood and Social Care, and Centre for Clinical Education in Podiatry, Physiotherapy and Sports Science are housed in new buildings. There is also a campus restaurant and bookshop, and a Students' Union café-bar.
Westfield Stratford City - Europe's largest indoor shopping mall - is just one of Stratford's attractions, alongside many other shops, cafés, bars and restaurants. There are two multiscreen cinemas, a theatre, an arts centre and much more.
Who teaches this course
This course is delivered by the School of Childhood and Social Care
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
- Course leader
Elizabeth Wilson
Department of Social Work Counselling & Social Care, School of Childhood and Social Care - Course leader
Sital Panesar
Department of Social Work Counselling & Social Care, School of Childhood and Social Care - Course leader
Daphne Waithe
Department of Professional Psychology, School of Childhood and Social Care - Course leader
Mike Higgins
Department of Social Work Counselling & Social Care, School of Childhood and Social Care - Course leader
Suzannah Hill
Department of Social Work Counselling & Social Care, School of Childhood and Social Care - Course leader
Banjo Aromolaran
Department of Social Work Counselling & Social Care, School of Childhood and Social Care