MA in Counselling

What you'll study Module title Credits. Psychodynamic Theories Psychodynamic Theories 30 credits Module taken in: Year 1; F/T & P/T modes Module aims: To develop knowledge and understanding of: Counselling as a discipline and its philosophical, historical and ethical underpinnings;. psychodynamic concepts that explain and describe human experience and development;. psychodynamic concepts that explain and describe counselling relationship and process;. psychodynamic perspective as a multi-paradigmatic discipline;. critical approaches to theory and practice... Indicative Content: Introduction to the major theoretical debates and concepts from the psychodynamic perspective including: ideas from Freud, Klein, Winnicott, Jung, Stern and Benjamin;. concepts include transference, countertransference, defenses, intersubjectivity, working alliance, unconscious;. diversity, difference, power relations, social constructionism;. clinical competence;. ethics;. positioning psychodynamic modality in the wider field.. Teaching Methods: Interactive Lectures. 30 credits. Counsellor Competencies and Attitudes Counsellor Competencies and Attitudes 30 credits Module taken in: Year 1; F/T & P/T modes Module aims: This module aims to develop competencies and attitudes that are essential to effective clinical practice. The practice based skills workshop aims to develop therapeutic skills, interventions and attitudes. It aims to support you in understanding their own subjectivity and how this may influence practice. You are also supported in developing links between theory, practice and self-awareness. This module aims: To develop your counselling competencies;. To support you developing capacity to understand and work with wide range of presenting issues;. To support your development of capacity for critical analysis of your practice;. To gain an awareness of boundaries, confidentiality, contracting and respect for the clients frame of reference;. To develop your ability to work with transference, countertransference and interpretation;. To develop your understanding of ethical issues related to counselling practice;. To enable you to recognise the limits of your own clinical competence.. Teaching Methods: Practice based skills workshop 30 credits. Reflective Practitioner Reflective Practitioner 30 credits Module taken in: Year 1; F/T & P/T modes Module aims: to support you in understanding the importance of reflexivity in counselling practice;. to encourage your learning about self in relation to others and in group contexts through the experiential group context;. to develop your capacity to consider the influence of cultural/social discourses and power relations on identities and the counselling process.. It provides workshops focused on developing a theoretical and applied understanding of the meaning of becoming a ‘reflective practitioner’. It aims to support you in preparing for the clinical placement in year 2 through supported workshops focusing on presenting yourself at interview to placement agencies (employability) and engaging with the wider field. Teaching Methods: Reflective practice lectures & workshops: focusing on teaching theory relating to being a ‘reflexive practitioner’ and socio-cultural positionings, and supporting students in reflecting on issues relating to applying for placements, approaching agencies, presenting at interview. Experiential groups: You will participate in a facilitated group that has no formal syllabus. This aims to develop understandings of group un/conscious processes and the student’s inter/personal relational patterns through experiential exploration within a group. This will support developing links between theory, practice and self-awareness. Personal Therapy. 30 credits. Applied Psychoanalysis Applied Psychoanalysis 15 credits Module taken in : Year 1 F/T mode; Yr 2 P/T mode Module aims : Through lectures and group discussion this module will focus on developing a theoretical and applied understanding of psychoanalytic theories. This module aims to : consider the ways in which psychoanalytic perceptions have informed understandings of contemporary social and cultural issues;. examine the influence of psychoanalysis outside the clinical context;. examine psychoanalysis in clinical practice, drawing attention to the way in which psychoanalytic ideas have affected a range of health and community interventions.. Teaching Methods : Interactive Lectures. 15 credits. Research Methods Research Methods 30 credits This core module addresses the issue of research within the therapeutic context. It mainly focuses on practical aspects of conducting a research project in the field, such as planning a project and gathering and analysing data, but also touches upon issues such as epistemology, ethics in research, and critical evaluation. Teaching relates to both quantitive and qualitative methodologies and includes quantitive and qualitative data analysis tools and methods. 30 credits. Advanced Theory Advanced Theory 30 credits Module taken in : Year 2; F/T & P/T modes Module aims: This module unit aims to: Develop advanced theoretical understandings of psychodynamic perspectives;. Develop knowledge of counselling practice in organisational contexts. Develop theoretical knowledge relating to issues of power relations and socio-cultural dimensions of practice;. Develop theoretical knowledge of psychodynamic approaches to supervision;. Teaching Methods : Interactive Lectures 30 credits. Clinical Placement Clinical Placement 30 credits Module taken in : Year 2; F/T & P/T modes Module aims: The module requires you to undertake a placement of 100 hours of clinical practice (excluding non-attended sessions) in an organisational context with adult clients. It additionally requires that you gain 50 hours of experience of the administrative / strategic workings of a counselling organisation. These latter 50 hours cannot include client hours. This module aims to develop your clinical experience and competence in working with adult clients through the undertaking of a counselling placement, through regular participation in supervision provided by the placement agency, and through participation in case management seminar workshops on the programme. The module also requires you to evidence completion of minimum of 50 hours of personal counselling during the life of the programme in order to support the development of a self-reflexive counselling practitioner. The module aims to support you in developing practice that is Self-reflective. Clinically competent and accountable. Culturally sensitive. Informed and guided by theoretical and empirical understandings. Informed and guided by supervisory process. Guided by BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice. It additionally aims to support you in developing an understanding of working as a counselling practitioner in agency contexts and managing professional relationships and responsibilities in all aspects of conduct within an organisational and training setting. Teaching Methods: Weekly Clinical Case Management Group on the programme and a weekly Clinical Placement in an external agency. 30 credits. MA in Counselling Dissertation MA in Counselling Dissertation 60 credits Module taken in : Yr 2, F/T mode; Yr 3, P/T mode Module aims: This module will provide you with learning opportunities to prepare, plan and write a dissertation. This module is supported by the learning achieved on units taken in previous years, including the pre-requisite new module ‘Research Methods’ which builds knowledge and understanding of research issues, debates and practices. This module aims to: Support you in integrating theoretical, empirical and clinical knowledge;. Support you in developing competencies to plan and organise research, undertake electronic literature searching and to critically evaluate sources and materials;. Support you in developing a critical engagement with existing research in the counselling / psychotherapy field;. Support you in considering and articulating ethical issues in relation to research;. Develop your academic and research competencies to write a research proposal and an academic thesis;. Support you in developing an understanding of researcher reflexivity.. Teaching Methods : workshops and individual dissertation supervision (3 hours per student). Method of Assessment: Formative Assessment (for feedback only ): Dissertation Proposal (1000 Words) Summative Assessment: Dissertation (10,000 words) 60 credits. Assessment Assessment for this course will be conducted through essays, practicum and viva, presentation, dissertation, portfolio, report(s) and log of hours. Download the programme specification for the 2018-19 intake. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.