Counselling and Psychotherapy (Top up)

Our top-up degree is designed to build upon your previous counselling training. You will further develop your knowledge and understanding, gain a deeper theoretical base and apply what you learn to a variety of practice contexts and learn how to provide an effective service to your clients while maintaining your
wellbeing. The programme will also encourage you to critically reflect and develop relevant transferable skills such as critical enquiry, argument and analysis, and independent learning. Alongside this, you will also gain real-life work experience by running therapeutic groups within the community, building your confidence as a practitioner.

Morality and Personality
This module will examine the study of the individual and the various motives for the actions an individual takes. It will explore theory, contemporary topics, and analytical techniques related to the study of the individual. These will include elements of existentialism, philosophy, morality, character study and personality. These will link with exploration of current issues and both long term and more recent changes in what is expected of the individual.
Advanced Professional and Personal Development
Counsellors and psychotherapists are reflective practitioners who seek to maintain a high level of professional development and self-awareness. Therapeutic work will usually be overseen regularly by another therapist in the role of supervisor. Counsellors and psychotherapists are open to learning from new experiences in practice and to engaging in appropriate continuing professional development. One aspect of this process can be fulfilled by experiencing specialist experiential work with particular client groups such as confidence building, clients in addiction and facilitating groups. The more awareness of self for the counsellor, the more awareness of clients is achieved, which is paramount to developing ethical therapeutic relationships. This module will continue to build on personal awareness and development of the counsellor through experiential activities to facilitate movement and growth.
Supervision in Counselling and Psychotherapy
This module represents the skills-in-practice component of the course and aims to lay the foundations for effective and ethical supervisory practice. You will be supported to reflect on supervisory procedural issues such as: clinical responsibility, contracting, risk assessment, and professional record keeping. You will be given opportunities to reflect on interpersonal and intrapersonal processes in supervision and to critically evaluate your own interventions.
Working with Trauma
Counselling and psychotherapy courses need to equip trainee therapists to work with trauma and develop an understanding of the psychological disorders and symptoms including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Complex PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Without awareness and knowledge of trauma there is a potential risk that the therapeutic process could re-traumatise clients who have suffered trauma events. Trainee counsellors need to have an awareness of the assessments and treatments available for clients suffering from historical or current trauma.
Dissertation
This module will provide you with the opportunity to design and carry out a substantive piece of research analysis into a topic of your own choosing. You will have the opportunity to produce and in-depth analysis of the findings drawn from your extended investigations. You will have a choice of either a primary research based dissertation or a literature based one.

Learning is promoted through a variety of methods including lectures, seminars, presentations, case studies, group work, group tutorials, project work, work placement/s, observation and demonstration and independent self-directed study and research. Lectures present relevant subject information in a structured manner in order to outline key themes, issues and debates and thus provide students with the underpinning knowledge from which to conduct further self-directed learning. Seminars, group work and group tutorials offer more potential for a purposely student led interactive forum for knowledge sharing and acquisition. Individual tutorials facilitate student learning by addressing specific knowledge and understanding needs on an individual basis and remains an integral aspect of the relationship between staff and students. Throughout students are encouraged to undertake independent reading and research using both printed and electronic material to complement, widen, deepen and consolidate their knowledge and understanding. Students are assessed via both oral and written coursework (such as essays, projects, seminars, role plays, portfolio and a dissertation).

To work as a teacher at a state school in England or Wales, you will need to achieve qualified teacher status (QTS). This is offered on this course for the following level:

• Course does not award QTS