OVERVIEW
This course is particularly suited to students interested in undergoing professional training that will equip them for employment as a clinician in the NHS, the voluntary sector or in private practice.
Our typical applicant is someone who already has experience in working in the mental health sector and understands about working with people.
We will encourage you to develop a flexible, reflective and critical approach to psychological and psychotherapeutic theory, research and practice, and will provide you with relevant experience to facilitate understanding of the different facets of work as a counselling psychologist and how this role is evolving in contemporary employment settings.
The course involves a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars and workshops. You will be required to be on placement throughout your training and to have successfully completed 450 hours of one-to-one supervised clinical practice by the end of the course.
Training placements are crucial to your learning and the development of your clinical competence and confidence. Our programme has close links with a range of placement providers in East London and we provide you with high levels of support and guidance in securing clinical placements that contribute to your learning and professional development.
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.
HOW YOU’LL LEARN
You will learn through a combination of taught components, individual study, and research and placement activities.
You will work on a wide range of different approaches to clinical 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 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, or learning disabilities, or trauma-focused work, depending on your particular interests and competences.
You may also undertake a specialist placement, working with either children or young people.
Your study will include lectures, seminars and workshops led by our academic team and outside 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.
