Counselling (Professional Practice) (Hons) University of Chester

Overview

Aligned with British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accreditation standards, this course ensures you meet recognised industry expectations while developing essential therapeutic skills.

Across four years, you will study counselling theory in depth, develop the personal awareness and reflexive practice that good counselling work depends on, learn to apply your knowledge ethically and skilfully with real clients under supervision, and complete a substantial extended placement in your final year that gives you the breadth of experience needed to begin your career.

The Counselling (Professional Practice) (Hons) degree from University of Chester takes a pluralistic orientation with an emphasis on the person centred modality. This positions you well for the realities of contemporary counselling work, where practitioners are increasingly expected to respond flexibly to clients who present with diverse needs, backgrounds and preferences. You will also engage in detail with the equality, diversity and inclusion dimensions of practice, with online and phone therapy, and with the wider mental health context in which counselling sits.

Careers

Graduates are equipped to enter the counselling profession in a range of settings. Once graduates have passed the BACP Certificate of Proficiency, they are eligible to apply for registered membership of BACP and to begin practising.

Typical careers include:

• The third sector and charitable counselling services

• primary care and IAPT/NHS Talking Therapies services (subject to additional service-specific training where required)

• schools and colleges (where appropriate to the practitioner's developmental stage and additional CYP training)

• employee assistance programmes

• private practice

• counselling roles within education student services