(MA) Master of Arts
Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy (3 year)
Current
University of Essex
University of Essex
Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies
Colchester Campus
Masters
Full-time
None
MA C89DFD
10/05/2023
Details
Professional accreditation
Accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Admission criteria
We will consider applications with an overall grade of 2:2 and above.
It is desirable for you to have had some relevant experience in a caring or supportive role. Experience of your own counselling or therapy is also an asset.
With your online application you must submit a personal statement; this should detail the reasons for wanting to study the course, including any relevant experience (work or voluntary) that may support your application.
You must also have a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check (including child and adult barred list check) this is organised by the University.
A satisfactory Overseas Criminal Record Check/Local Police Certificate is also required, in addition to a DBS check, where you have lived outside of the UK in the last 5 years for 6 months or more.
Accreditation of Prior Experience/Accreditation of Prior Learning
In some circumstances, applicants can be admitted into year 2 of the MA Psychodynamic Counselling. This will only be possible if they can demonstrate that they have fully met the learning outcomes of year 1 or their close equivalent. Details of previous study will be required.
Alternatively, applicants who have already achieved a Diploma in Counselling which qualifies them to practise can apply to join the 2 year MA – effectively years 2 and 3 of the 3 year programme – in order to progress in their professional development, change the age-group with which they work or develop expertise in psychodynamic work.
Once students join the course they will be subject to all the other course requirements including the need to complete 150 hours of practice while on the MAPC. Prior practice hours will not be taken into account.
IELTS (International English Language Testing System) code
If English isn’t your first language, we require IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum component score of 5.5.
If you do not meet our IELTS requirements then you may be able to complete a pre-sessional English pathway that enables you to start your course without retaking IELTS.
Course qualifiers
A course qualifier is a bracketed addition to your course title to denote a specialisation or pathway that you have achieved via the completion of specific modules during your course. The
specific module requirements for each qualifier title are noted below. Eligibility for any selected qualifier will be determined by the department and confirmed by the final year Board of
Examiners. If the required modules are not successfully completed, your course title will remain as described above without any bracketed addition. Selection of a course qualifier is
optional and student can register preferences or opt-out via Online Module Enrolment (eNROL).
None
Rules of assessment
Rules of assessment are the rules, principles and frameworks which the University uses to calculate your course progression and final results.
Additional notes
None
External examiners
Mr Mike Keating
Head of Training
Wessex Counselling and Psychotherapy
External Examiners provide an independent overview of our courses, offering their expertise and help towards our continual improvement of course content, teaching, learning, and assessment.
External Examiners are normally academics from other higher education institutions, but may be from the industry, business or the profession as appropriate for the course.
They comment on how well courses align with national standards, and on how well the teaching, learning and assessment methods allow students to develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge and skills needed to achieve their awards.
External Examiners who are responsible for awards are key members of Boards of Examiners. These boards make decisions about student progression within their course and about whether students can receive their final award.
Programme aims
This programme will build on previous learning and experience provided by prior courses or trainings
- to provide further theoretical and practical training in clinical psychodynamic counselling – either with children and adolescents or with adults - sufficient for professional practice in community and other settings.
- to offer the training component sufficient for accreditation by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.
- to provide the opportunity for personal and professional development sufficient to support professional practice and conduct as a psychodynamic practitioner.
- to enrich students’ knowledge of psychodynamic theory and practice, familiarise them with commonly encountered client issues and problems and introduce them to the applications of research in the field.
- provide an in-depth understanding of the counsellor’s role and an appreciation of how counselling fits into the wider provision of therapeutic and care services for their clients.
- to enable the student to acquire sufficient experience through a supervised placement to complete a training qualification as required by the BACP.
Learning outcomes and learning, teaching and assessment methods
On successful completion of the programme a graduate should demonstrate knowledge and skills as follows:
A: Knowledge and understanding
A1: To understand at greater depth the key theoretical ideas underpinning psychodynamic counselling practice
A2: To understand the role of the counsellor
A3: To develop the capacity to be reflective about oneself, the counselling relationship and the workplace, and to learn from a group relations experience
A4: To develop the capacity to apply psychodynamic principles and techniques in individual counselling
A5: To understand key areas of difficulty in clients, their presentation and origins
A6: To understand how reseach informs practice
A7: To conduct independent study into a topic of the student's own choice
A8: To understand how the efficacy of interventions can be measured
Learning methods
Reading and theoretical seminars
Clinical seminars
Workshops on practice issues
Practice supervision (provided by outside supervisors)
Experience of a group relations
Independent study
Assessment methods
Essays, dissertation, case study, reflective report
Supervisor’s report (pass or fail)
B: Intellectual and cognitive skills
B1: To become more familiar with and be able to apply with accuracy psychodynamic concepts describing relationships, communictions and clinical interactions
B2: To identify an area of interest, to conduct an independent in-depth exploration and develop independent understanding of the subject of choice
B3: To understand how psychodynamic thinking and techniques apply in clinical practice
B4: To understand the complexity of psychosocial processes
B5: To be familiar with common symptomatic presentations and developmental issues likely to be encountered in counselling practice
B6: To develop further the capacity for reflective practice so as to be able to operate as a thoughtful practitioner
B7: To be able to describe in psychodynamic terms the impact of the course on the student, the impact of the institution on the work and on the clients, and to learn how psychodynamic counselling impacts on the individual
B8: To learn the fundamentals of psychodynamic counselling practice and to be able to take up the role effectively on placement
B9: To be able to understand and utilise research thinking in relation to psychodynamic counselling
B10: To be able to understand other approaches and to appreciate where psychodynamic counselling fits in a range of provision
Learning methods
Theoretical seminars
Clinical seminars
Experiential learning (for example experience of group relations)
Some practice workshops. Students will undertake their own therapy/ counselling which will provide a further kind of learning
Assessment methods
Essays, Case Study and Dissertation
C: Practical skills
C1: To recognise and describe accurately using psychodynamic terminology client presentations and clinical interactions
C2: To be able to adopt a psychodynamic stance in clinical work, fully taking up the role of psychodynamic practitioner
C3: To be able to use psychodynamic, reflective skills in analysing their own and others' impact on each other.
C4: To carry out psychodynamic work with a range of clients under supervision
C5: To be able to conduct a critical analysis of research papers
C6: To be able to use simple outcome measures
C7: To bring to fruition a piece of independent study applying psychodynamic thinking to an area of clinical experience.
Learning methods
Theoretical seminars
Clinical seminars
Experience of group relations
Workshops
Supervised clinical placement
Independent study
Assessment methods
Supervisor’s report
Essays, case study and dissertation
D: Key skills
D1: To communicate effectively with colleagues and with clients and to manage role and authority effectively
D2: To use e-mail, Moodle and electronic submission of assessed work.
D3: Ability to understand basic outcome measures
D4: To address client issues psychodynamically, to use psychodynamic thinking in their interactions with colleagues. To decide on specific topic for dissertation and to manage independent study
D5: To work effectively in an institutional setting, in which collaboration is the basic aim as well as therapeutic process. To manage the role of counsellor in relation to colleagues from other professions. To maintain the psychodynamic counselling perspective in non-clinical encounters
D6: To work independently, and to learn through the practice, which is at the heart of the programme.
Learning methods
Theoretical seminars
Clinical seminars
Experience of group relations
Workshops
Supervised clinical placement
Independent study
Assessment methods
Supervisor’s report
Essays, case study and dissertation