Person-Centred Counselling (Taught)

Our Person-Centred Counselling programme is the starting point for a career providing life-changing therapy. This programme is grounded in Carl Rogers’ theory of human potential, and training in this approach opens you to the self-knowledge needed to offer clients the deep connectedness at the heart of the therapeutic relationship.

Our full-time route allows you to complete an MSC in 18 months, with an option on the final 60 credits coming from either a Dissertation/Counselling Related Research Study, or a combination of a shorter Dissertation/Counselling Related Research Study and our Specialist Certificate for Counselling Children and Young People. Our part-time options give you more flexibility over 3 years for an MSc.

Our PgDip
This qualification is validated by, and meets the professional training requirements of, COSCA (Scotland’s professional body for counselling and psychotherapy) with the diploma consisting of a minimum 400 tutor contact hours and 100 client hours.

Attendance, after the 4 day induction, is 1 full day each week on campus for part-time, or 2 full days each week on campus for full-time study. Learning on the PG Diploma prepares you to work within the counselling profession and is quite different from learning in other subjects. The emphasis is on experiential and relational learning which is central to the course operation and ethos. You’re encouraged to take responsibility for your own learning, to see learning as a tool that will help you achieve your goal of becoming a person-centred counsellor, able to confidently and comprehensively fulfil your personal and professional duties.

Students are expected to be on placement as part of their training. All students will be offered a placement at The Bounds, our counselling and research centre, after successful completion of the programme’s ‘readiness to practice’ process. Students will also be supported by staff to approach agencies that offer counselling placements if they wish this additional/alternative opportunity.

(Full registration on the PG Cert/PG Dip or MSc is required alongside ‘readiness to practise’ and a current Protecting Vulnerable Groups certificate (PVG) before students are able to undertake a practice placement).

A significant aim of the course is to support and encourage the development of 'reflexive practitioners’, able to offer and use constructive feedback. Through the process of self, peer, and tutor assessments, the programme members will have the opportunity to realise and understand the impact of their personal power and responsibility in the process of becoming recognised as professional counsellors.

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

• Confederation of Scottish Counselling Agencies (COSCA)