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BSc (Hons)

Psychology with Psychotherapy & Counselling

Attendance

Campus

Start

Book an Undergraduate Open Day

Duration

3 Years

Start

September 2023

UCAS Code

C8B9

Delivery

Campus Taught

Foundation entry

This course is designed to help you move towards a career where you can help people to understand and work through their problems. It enables you to explore a range of psychological and counselling approaches and develop your own counselling skills on this accredited course.

The Psychology with Psychotherapy and Counselling course is a Joint Honours degree that enables you to study core Psychology modules alongside the complementary discipline of Psychotherapy and Counselling. Studying these related disciplines provides you with a range of skills and experiences along with the knowledge required to enter into a number of different careers.

Throughout this course you’ll develop excellent observation skills, critical thinking and analysis, and a range of people skills - all highly sought after by prospective employers.

You’ll learn about a range of different approaches and techniques that permit you to offer invaluable support for people dealing with a wide range of mental health issues, from bereavement and domestic violence, to sexual abuse, relationship issues and much more.

Why study with us

You may also choose to study this course at our Burnley Campus, where a greater focus is placed upon Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
You’ll have various opportunities for work experience – in voluntary positions, paid employment or on placements across the region.
You can get involved in research – whether participating or assisting – with paid internships, placements and part-time roles.

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What you'll do

While you’ll study core modules in both psychology and counselling, you’ll also have some flexibility to choose option modules throughout the course.
We offer you the chance to take a sandwich year between your second and third year – whether working on placement to build experience or studying abroad to broaden your horizons.
In your final year, you’ll take on a major psychology research project, taking an in-depth look at a topic of your choice.

Want to be a qualified counsellor?

You might also be interested in our BSc (Hons) Counselling and Psychotherapy programme which offers the fastest route to becoming a qualified Counsellor.

Discover more and apply

Module overview

Course delivery

Following the pandemic, we have found that some courses benefit from a blended learning and teaching approach. Therefore, the majority of your teaching will be face-to-face on campus aside from a small amount of online teaching where we have learnt it works best.

90%Face-to-face

10%Online

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of our published course information. However, our programmes are subject to ongoing review and development. Changing circumstances may cause alteration to, or the cancellation of, courses. Changes may be necessary to comply with the requirements of accrediting bodies or revisions to subject benchmarks statements. As well as to keep courses updated and contemporary, or as a result of student feedback. We reserve the right to make variations if we consider such action to be necessary or in the best interests of students.

Join us on campus

Book a place at our Undergraduate Open Day on Saturday 17 June. Here you'll be able to explore our campus and facilities, meet academic staff & chat to students.

Book your place

View the course facilities

Accreditations

This course is accredited by the BPS, the learned and professional body, incorporated by the Royal Charter, for Psychology in the UK. We will provide you with the breadth and depth of knowledge that allows you to graduate with Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) provided you achieve at least a lower second class honours degree.

Academic expertise

Future careers

When you finish this course, you should leave us with excellent observation, analysis, critical thinking and people skills – all highly sought after by prospective employers. You’ll find our graduates working almost anywhere there are people with social or emotional problems to be supported and resolved.

You’ll be able to pursue a future in psychology, with postgraduate study – including our own BPS-accredited master’s programmes. Likewise, if you want to move into a career in counselling and psychotherapy, you’ll have what you need to continue your studies with the relevant diploma or MA. You could also follow other recent graduates into a range of rewarding careers including expressive art therapists, teachers, social workers or nursing. Depending on the level of entry, this may require some further training and skills development

That’s not all. With the broad mix of skills and understanding, you’ll have a few less obvious career options – from education and the health and social care sector, to prisons, the police force and range of private sector organisations.

Fees and funding

2022/23

Full-time£9250 per year

Sandwich year£1000 for the sandwich year

Part-time£1540 per 20 credits

International

Full-time£14250 per year

2023/24

Full-time£9,250 per year

Sandwich year£1,385 for the sandwich year

Part-time£1,540 per 20 credits

International

Full-time£14,900 per year

Sandwich year£2,000 for the sandwich year

Scholarships and bursaries

We have a wide range of scholarships, bursaries and funds available to help support you whilst studying with us.

Select your country and see eligibility information and how to apply by selecting more info on the cards below.

Select your country/region

Both sides of this degree course involve a mixture of learning styles and environments. So, while you’ll have lectures, seminars and tutorials, you’ll also have practical sessions in various labs, experiential exercises and small group discussions based on particular approaches to help you develop your counselling skills. An important element of the course is also the ability of the student to reflect on the self and to give feedback to their peer group, which you’ll keep in a personal learning journal.

Assessment is just as varied. On the psychology side, you’ll write essays (both short and long), produce reports on the research that you’ve conducted, present as an individual or part of a group, while the counselling assessments include theoretical and reflective essays, negotiated assignments, projects, presentations, digital skills recordings and naturalistic observations. Throughout it all, you’ll have the support and guidance of an exceptional team.

Year One of the course divides your time equally between Psychology modules and those covering Psychotherapy and Counselling. Upon completing Year One, if you no longer wish to study a mix of the two disciplines through to your final year then you may transfer to any of the Single Honours Psychology programmes in the School (including for example, Clinical Psychology).

In Year 2 you spend two-thirds of your time studying Psychology and a third of your time studying Psychotherapy and Counselling. This balance ensures that you cover the core areas of the British Psychological Society (BPS) curriculum, developing the breadth and depth of understanding that enables you to graduate at the end of the final year with the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership of the BPS. This means that you are able to undertake postgraduate qualifications within Psychology and, if you wish, pursue Chartered Psychology status.

To enhance your employment prospects, you can choose to take an additional, placement year, between the second and third year of your degree. Alternatively, rather than a placement year, you might wish to take our International Year that permits you to study overseas at an international university. Either of these additional years can be used to build additional skills and knowledge ahead of your final year and to enhance your career potential.

In the final year of the course you again dedicate two thirds of your time to Psychology, including undertaking a research project in a relevant area. The final third of your time is spent developing your counselling and psychotherapy knowledge and skills. One third of the final year modules are determined by your own interests, goals or career aspirations, with an extensive range of modules to choose from.

The wide range of Psychology laboratories in the Darwin Building provides you with an enviable range of facilities in which you can gain additional insights into research relevant to your course. The Clinical, Health and Psychobiology Suite is a purpose-built teaching and research facility. It houses a central conference room, for teaching and discussion, with specialist laboratories located around the perimeter of this central room. The suite of laboratories includes: an interview/counselling room; a Stress Laboratory housing virtual reality equipment, cardiovascular equipment and a two-way mirror to permit observational work to be undertaken. Further counselling facilities are available in Brook Building, the home of Counselling and Psychotherapy at the University.

As part of the course you will have the opportunity to hear about the experiences of service users, carers, patients and public members via our community engagement and service user support groups (Comensus).