Counselling Psychology Prof Doc

This course is in clearing

Overview

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Professional Doctorate

  • Prof Doc Counselling Psychology, home applicant, full time

    • Home Applicant
    • Full time, 3 years
    • Pound 11380 per year
    Applications are closed for this intake. Please check back again later.
  • Prof Doc Counselling Psychology, international applicant, full time

    • International Applicant
    • Full time, 3 years
    • Pound 15640 per year
    Applications are closed for this intake. Please check back again later.

What makes this course different

Advance your career

Our course gives you the experience and the necessary skills to pursue a successful career in the NHS, the voluntary sector or private practice. Throughout the training, there is an emphasis on the development of qualities, competences and transferable skills required in the current job market.

Accredited by the BPS and approved by the HCPC

This course has been grounded in the standards for doctoral courses in Counselling Psychology, according to the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) requirements.

450 hours of supervised clinical practice

You will develop skills and experience in contemporary therapeutic approaches through supervised clinical practice in a range of placement contexts and the support of clinically experienced tutors.

Accreditation

Accredited by the British Psychological Society

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Course modules

NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.

Download course specification

Your future career

Your future career

This counselling qualification allows you to work in clinical settings, including the NHS, health and social care, community services, organisational, forensic and third-sector settings. Most of our students secure jobs before, or as soon as, they complete their doctoral training.

The course allows you to apply for paid work as a trainee counselling psychologist as you continue to work towards full Chartered Counselling Psychologist status and registration with the HCPC.

You will be eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC and for chartered status with the BPS once you have fulfilled all the requirements of the doctorate.

Our dedicated academic team has many years of experience of working within the NHS and the third sector. All contribute to the research which has earned UEL's School of Psychology such a high reputation in recent years and, crucially, all are actively working in clinical settings.

We pride ourselves on enabling our students to gain the necessary academic and professional knowledge and competencies that help them become effective, competent, resourceful, safe and ethical practitioners, who can offer high-quality psychological services and are well-placed to achieve their professional goals and aspirations in the current job market.

Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the sector on our Career Coach portal.

Psychology Students
I enjoy the fact that the course puts a lot of emphasis on reflexivity and process in therapy. It's something that cannot be learned by reading books. One has to experience it for oneself, which makes you a good psychologist."
Monika Copija

Prof Doc Counselling Psychology

How we support your career ambitions

We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our courses are created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure they accurately reflect the real-life practices of your future career and provide you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.

Career Zone

Our dedicated and award-winning team provide you with careers and employability resources, including:

  • Online jobs board for internships, placements, graduate opportunities, flexible part-time work.
  • Mentoring programmes for insight with industry experts 
  • 1-2-1 career coaching services
  • Careers workshops and employer events 
  • Learning pathways to gain new skills and industry insight

Mental Wealth programme

Our Professional Fitness and Mental Wealth programme which issues you with a Careers Passport to track the skills you’ve mastered. Some of these are externally validated by corporations like Amazon and Microsoft.

Our Mental Wealth programme

We are careers first

Our teaching methods and geographical location put us right up top

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship support 
  • We are ranked 6th for graduate start-ups 
  • Networking and visits to leading organisations 
  • Support in starting a new business, freelancing and self-employment 
  • London on our doorstep

What you'll learn

Counselling psychology is embedded in the discipline of psychology and concerns itself with applied areas of psychological work, in the overlapping areas of psychotherapy, clinical psychology, counselling and psychiatry.

The critical position here at the University of East London embodies the idea that individual psychological processes need to be considered within historical and current social, political and cultural contexts.

You will study human development across the lifespan with a focus on issues of diversity, difference and community, and the impact of inequality, discrimination and social justice.

As well as working with adults, you will have substantial opportunities to gain experience of working with children and families, and to work with more complex cases as your competence and experience grows.

The clinical focus of the training in Year 1 is on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT); in Year 2 on psychodynamic approaches to therapy; and in Year 3 on theoretical integration (including third-wave approaches to CBT) and on assimilative integration.

You will receive research training in Years 1 and 2 and you will get support in completing your doctoral research project by a supervisory team. Furthermore, there are several research assignments that help you develop your doctoral research in a stepwise manner and provide you with several opportunities to get detailed feedback on your research. For example, in Year 1 you will submit a Literature Review; in Year 2 a Research Proposal and an Epistemological Essay; in Year 3 you will make a presentation on a chosen aspect of your doctoral research (e.g., your analysis) that evidences leadership in your research area.

We consistently review our courses to ensure we are up to date with industry changes and requirements from our graduates. As a result, our modules are subject to change. 

How you'll learn

You will learn through a combination of taught components, individual study, and research and counselling placement activities.

You will work on a wide range of different approaches to clinical counselling practice. 

You will be assigned your own clinical tutor to support you with your academic and professional development.

Two days a week will be spent on counselling placement, and your portfolio will include at least two NHS placements.

We have close links with a range of mental health services within local NHS trusts and in the third sector.

You may choose placements with refugees or asylum seekers, learning disabilities, or trauma-focused work, depending on your particular interests and competencies.

You may also undertake a specialist counselling placement, working with either children or young people.

Your study will include lectures, seminars and workshops led by our academic team and outside counselling specialists. You will take part in individual and group tutorials, role play, problem-based learning in small groups, and clinical discussion groups.

Your training will be enriched by independent and directed reading as well as personal therapy and development work.

Unlike many other courses, at the University of East London, we have the ability to provide research supervision teams internally when you come to do your thesis. That's because we have such a large research department working across many different areas.

How you will be assessed

There are no examinations. Assessment is ongoing throughout the year. It includes critical essays, case studies, process reports, group and individual case presentations, professional practice logs and the research thesis. You will be expected to show evidence of 450 hours of one-to-one supervised clinical practice by the end of your training. All components of the course, including the research thesis need to be passed in order to be awarded the Doctorate and to become eligible to apply for registration with the HCPC and for chartership with the BPS.

Campus and facilities

Water Lane, Stratford