Birkbeck, University of London, MSc, Counselling and Counselling Skills

The course offers an advanced study of counselling, where students learn in some depth about 2 key approaches to counselling: the psychodynamic and the person-centred; students are shown how to understand the similarities and differences between approaches to counselling and how to apply aspects of counselling theory and practice to helping relationships, whether in formal work roles or informal social or voluntary activities; counselling skills are developed through student-centred and experiential methods of learning; other topics studied include: groups and organisations; loss and bereavement; and the study of difference and diversity; students visit a counselling agency to see how counselling works in practice and present their findings in class; students studying counselling for the 1st time should complete the introduction to counselling in year 1 before progressing to modules 2, 3 and 4 in year 2; exemption from module 1 may be granted for those with equivalent qualifications or experience; all modules must be completed in order. Year 1: Module 1: introduction to counselling.Year 2: Module 2: person-centred counselling with counselling skills (autumn term); module 3: psychodynamic counselling with counselling skills (spring term); module 4: comparative counselling approaches with observation and counselling skills (summer term).