PMCNSPCT - MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy

The MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy is a core practitioner training with 450 hours of face-to-face teaching, aligned with the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement, the BACP SCoPEd framework, and BACP registration requirements, providing a clear pathway into professional practice. On completion and a supervised placement of 100 client contact hours, graduates meet the eligibility criteria for BACP registered membership (MBACP), subject to passing the BACP Certificate of Proficiency.

The programme supports students in developing therapeutic skills for one-to-one work with adults within a relational integrative framework, drawing on person-centred, cognitive behavioural, and psychoanalytic approaches. Students explore the historical and cultural foundations of these approaches, integrating theory with practice to develop their own integrative relational framework. The therapeutic relationship, as the primary vehicle for change, is central to the course philosophy.

Students develop knowledge of professional standards, legislation, and ethical practice, learning to work competently both face-to-face and via digitally mediated therapy, with attention to digital inclusion, accessibility and confidentiality. Aligned with the University’s ESJF framework, the programme encourages critical reflection on therapeutic theory and practice from an intersectional and anti-oppressive perspective. Students are encouraged to systematically reflect on how identity, power, and inequality shape psychological development, sense of self, and lived experience, and how these factors influence understandings of distress, relationships, and the expression of psychological difficulties. Students are encouraged to critique the assumptions of therapeutic models, attend to epistemic justice (whose knowledge is valued), and develop formulations that integrate social context alongside intrapsychic and relational processes. By situating theory and practice within social, cultural, and relational contexts we seek to foster ethically attuned, socially informed, and relationally responsive therapeutic practitioners.

Developing research skills is also a central component of the MSc. A dedicated methods module introduces qualitative and quantitative approaches, while the final year project allows students to design and conduct an empirical study that contributes to counselling and psychotherapy practice and knowledge.

The MSc Counselling course is grounded in a collaborative, relational, and student-centred approach to education. Students join the course with diverse life experiences, identities, and perspectives, which are valued and seen as central resources for learning. The MSc tutor team views learning as relational and dialogical, emerging through active student engagement, reflection, and collaboration. Tutors and students engage in reciprocal learning characterised by openness to challenge, feedback, and multiple perspectives, embodying the principle of mutual recognition.

A core emphasis is placed on the use of self, supporting students to develop awareness of their inter and intra relational patterns, and embodied responses, and to understand how these shape relationships with self and others. This self-awareness is central to ethical counselling practice and enables students to work in the best interests of clients by recognising the impact of power, difference, and social context on both the client and the practitioner. The tutor team strive to create a safe, supportive, and reflective learning environment, enabling all students to access opportunities for growth. At the same time, we recognise that elements of the training may be triggering and bring up painful personal material.

Students are therefore encouraged to develop responsibility for recognising their own triggers, emotional responses, and personal processes, and to consider how these are managed within learning environments. This includes learning how and when to share personal material appropriately, maintaining an ethos of respect for self and others, and attending to the impact of one’s disclosures and behaviours within the group. Students are supported to remain in relationship with themselves, peers, and tutors, and to address conflicts or concerns openly and constructively as they arise.

Inclusive education is embedded throughout the course including accessible materials, inclusive assessment design, and support for diverse educational backgrounds, ensuring equitable access to learning resources and opportunities, and using teaching and assessments methods that support diverse learning needs and educational backgrounds as well as equipping students for working in contemporary therapeutic settings in room and remotely.

Teaching is delivered predominantly in person, with up to 30% synchronised online teaching, supported by the University’s Weblearn platform, where students can access course materials, lecture recordings, assessments, and learning activities.

A strong sense of community is fostered through experiential and discussion spaces, including semesterly community sessions in line with BACP requirements, where students and tutors can address course-related issues. Student feedback is also regularly gathered through surveys and in-class discussions to enhance the learning experience. We aim also to cultivate belonging both within the course and through extracurricular activities, such as department research seminars and talks. Students are also supported in becoming active members of the wider professional therapeutic community through BACP membership, attending conferences and workshops, and extending their learning beyond the course.

As this is a professional training programme, students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with professional BACP standards and to demonstrate the psychological robustness required for therapeutic practice. Therefore, a student’s readiness and fitness to practise are assessed not only against their academic performance, but also in relation to their professional conduct, emotional resilience, self-awareness, and capacity to work safely and ethically with clients demonstrated throughout the duration of the therapeutic training programme. Students are taught specifically in the therapeutic skills and personal and professional development modules on the programme how to meet the Readiness to Practise an Fitness to Practise requirements to ensure they practice safely and ethically in line with PSRB standards.  

Please note that both placement modules (P7W00 and PY7W01) are not credit bearing for this course, but successful completion of each module is required to graduate with either a PG Diploma or MSc qualification. Therefore, all students are required to complete a clinical placement in which they accrue 100 hours of therapeutic practice with clients, in line with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy supervision requirements for trainees, in order to graduate with a PG Diploma or MSc. Students are provided with a clear overview of when placements are expected to start, how they find placements, the MSc’s placement database and what support is provided by the Placement Officer and counselling team throughout their training.  

Students are actively expected to look for their own placement although much support for monitoring placements is provided by the course team.

The aims of the MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy are to:

1. Provide a core professional practitioner training aligned with the QAA Benchmark Statement for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the BACP SCoPEd framework, meeting eligibility requirements for BACP individual and registered membership (subject to successful completion of the BACP Certificate of Proficiency) and offering a clear pathway into the counselling professions.
2. Ensure that students gain a thorough understanding of relevant healthcare, professional practice policies, and legislation to enable them to work in an ethical and safe manner with clients and maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
3. Support students in developing a clear understanding of, and adherence to, the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions.
4. Support students in developing a comprehensive and critical understanding of core counselling and psychotherapy approaches, person-centred, CBT, and psychoanalytic, including models of the mind, distress and pathology, the therapeutic relationship, and theories of change, while considering the historical, cultural, and contextual foundations of knowledge within each approach.
5. Enable students to build a relationally informed, integrative therapeutic framework that combines person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, and psychoanalytic approaches, and to confidently apply this framework to therapeutic practice.
6. Support students in developing the competencies required to establish and maintain effective therapeutic relationships with clients, including working with rupture and repair.
7. Support students in developing inclusive, culturally responsive, anti-oppressive, and ethically informed therapeutic practice, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to engage effectively with diverse populations and respond flexibly to clients’ differing needs, expectations, and experiences.
8. Support students to develop a critical and theoretically informed understanding of Online and Phone Therapy (OPT), including its ethical, legal, technological, and psychological foundations, and how these shape safe, effective, and professional therapeutic practice.
9. Equip students with skills to work ethically, safely, and competently both in-person and via technologically mediated therapies with clients.
10. Enable students to integrate theory, ethics, and self-reflection in assessing suitability, managing risk, and maintaining therapeutic effectiveness and practitioner wellbeing within Online and Phone Therapy.
11. Equip students with the ability to offer comprehensive assessment and formulation of clients’ presenting concerns, to consider clients’ suitability for therapy, and to identify and manage risk whilst recognising their own limitations.
12. Assist students in developing knowledge of common mental health problems, symptoms of psychological distress, functioning, coping styles, and the role of psychiatric medications, while understanding relevant cultural norms, diagnostic frameworks, and the language of psychopathology, in order to inform their assessment and therapeutic practice.
13. Help students develop self-awareness and reflexivity, and to effectively use feedback from peers, tutors, and supervisors to enhance personal growth, professional development, and to monitor self-care and their fitness to practice.
14. Promote students’ self-management of the learning process with a view to future training, employment, and continuing professional development.
15. Equip students with advanced analytic research skills and the ability to evaluate, conduct, and report research findings in line with professional publication and PSRB ethical research standards.

On completion of the programme, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate professional competence consistent with the QAA Benchmark Statement for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the BACP SCoPEd framework, meeting the eligibility requirements for BACP individual and registered membership (subject to successful completion of the BACP Certificate of Proficiency).
2. Critical application of relevant healthcare, professional practice policies, and legislation to ensure ethical, safe, and professionally boundaried work with clients.
3. Demonstrate knowledge of and adherence to the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions in all aspects of training and practice.
4. Exercise initiative and personal responsibility and be able to make confident and informed decisions in complex and unpredictable contexts and to assess and manage risk.
5. Critically evaluate core counselling and psychotherapy approaches, including person-centred, cognitive behavioural, and psychoanalytic models, by analysing their historical, cultural, and contextual foundations and applying theories of mind, distress and pathology, therapeutic relationships, and change to inform contemporary practice.
6. Confidently and competently apply core and advanced counselling and therapeutic skills in inclusive, culturally responsive, anti-oppressive, and ethically informed ways, using professional judgement to critically evaluate their effectiveness and flexibly respond to the diverse and complex needs, expectations, and experiences of clients.
7. Articulate and apply a coherent relational integrative therapeutic framework, drawing on person-centred, cognitive behavioural, and psychoanalytic approaches, and apply this framework effectively in therapeutic practice.
8. Demonstrate developed therapeutic competences in establishing, maintaining, and critically reflecting on effective therapeutic relationships, including the ability to work constructively with rupture and repair.
9. Work ethically, safely, and competently in in-room, online, and phone-based therapeutic settings by integrating theoretical knowledge, ethical and legal principles, technological competence, and reflective practice to assess suitability, manage risk, maintain therapeutic effectiveness, and support practitioner wellbeing.
10. Practise ethically, safely, and competently in both in-person and via online/technologically mediated therapeutic settings, critically analysing and applying the differences between these modalities to inform effective and professional therapeutic practice.
11. Conduct comprehensive client assessment and formulation, including evaluating suitability for therapy, identifying and managing risk, and recognising the limits of personal competence.
12. Critically evaluate and synthesis knowledge of common mental health problems, psychological distress, coping styles, psychiatric medication, diagnostic frameworks, and relevant cultural norms, and apply this knowledge to assessment and therapeutic work.
13. Demonstrate self-awareness and reflexivity, using feedback from peers, tutors, and supervisors to support personal development, professional growth, self-care, and ongoing fitness to practise.
14. Students will be able to autonomously manage and take responsibility for their learning and professional development by identifying and addressing gaps in knowledge or skills, demonstrating confidence, resilience, ethical responsibility, psychological robustness, creativity, and readiness to engage inclusively and collaboratively in professional therapeutic practice.
15. Apply advanced research and analytical skills to critically evaluate, design, conduct, and report research in line with professional, ethical, and PSRB standards.

https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/sbs/sbs-counselling-and-psychotherapy-22.pdf?sfvrsn=73b3dc81_4

The programme’s assessment strategy is designed to evaluate students’ ability to integrate theory with practice, develop professional counselling skills, and demonstrate ethical and socially responsible professional judgement. Assessments are aligned with the Education for Social Justice Framework (ESJF) at London Metropolitan University, ensuring that students’ learning, reflective practice, and decision-making are informed by principles of social justice, inclusivity, and equity.

A combination of formative and summative assessments are used including essays, counselling vlog, digital journals, podcasts, recorded theory informed peer dialogues, research reports, presentations, case formulations, case studies, treatment planning exercises, skills assessments, and reflective journals. Where appropriate, students are offered choice in some aspects of an assessment to accommodate diverse learning styles and support inclusivity.

Assessments provide an appropriate intellectual and professional challenge at level 7 and are designed in accordance with the QAA Benchmark Statement for Counselling and Psychotherapy and BACP guidelines, including the BACP Ethical Framework. Formative feedback from tutors, peers, and placement supervisors is embedded throughout the programme, alongside structured assessment preparation and feedback sessions to support reflective learning and personal and professional development.

All summative assessments on the programme are evaluated according to clearly defined marking criteria, which are communicated to students at the start of each module. All assessments are marked and moderated in accordance with London Metropolitan University’s marking and moderation policy. Detailed feedback is provided on assessments outlining the theoretical and practical strengths students demonstrate in their assessments as well as areas for development.

Students also document their achievements and competencies in a journal portfolio, which evidences their readiness for professional practice and supports their application to the BACP for individual membership. The integration of the ESJF ensures that students’ experiential learning, professional skills, and ethical judgement are continually assessed in a way that promotes social justice, equity, and inclusive practice.

Students' readiness and fitness to practise is assessed through a number of ways on the programme. All students are assessed by their skills tutor to determine their readiness to work with clients before beginning their first clinical placement; no placement may commence without this sign-off. The first year focuses on intensive skills practice in small and large groups and in triads, with regular observation and feedback from the skills tutor. These observations are formative and not formally assessed, providing students with opportunities to develop their therapeutic skills and prepare for client work. In the second term, students undergo a formal skills observation in triad work, which confirms their readiness to start clinical placements.

Ongoing fitness to practise on the programme is assessed against professional and personal competencies, including punctuality and at least 80% attendance, accountability and cooperation with peers and tutors, professional communication and conduct towards tutors and peers, openness to feedback, reflective practice, psychological resilience, maintenance of appropriate therapeutic boundaries, and willingness to seek support when needed.

Students are also expected to demonstrate continued personal growth, responsiveness to clients’ diverse needs, understanding of social, cultural, and personal influences on counselling, and commitment to professional standards such as the BACP Ethical Framework and other relevant codes of practice.

Students participate in two formal fitness to practise tutorials per academic year, during which their readiness and ongoing professional development are reviewed. In addition, the clinical placement supervisor evaluates the student’s ongoing readiness to practise and submits a formal report at the end of each academic year, detailing the student’s fitness to practise and professional development. If fitness to practise concerns are raised by the member of the core teaching team or the external supervisor or placement these will be addressed via the University’s Fitness to Practise policy.

The course runs over two years full-time and requires one day university attendance per week for 30 weeks per academic year. Students are required to complete a supervised clinical placement of at least 100 client contact hours throughout the duration of the course. The placement provides opportunities for students to apply the knowledge and skills developed in the programme while working with clients with complex needs and provides a firm foundation for progression to a career in the counselling professions. If a student secures a placement in an organisation that does not have a suitably qualified internal placement supervisor, it becomes the student’s responsibility to secure and fund appropriate external supervision, with support from the course team.

All students need to secure a placement in MSc Year 1 and complete their accrued clinical counselling hours and complete their placement by mid-September in MSc year 2.

This course is not offered on a part-time basis.

Accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) is not accepted for this programme.

A minimum attendance 80% of scheduled teaching and supervision sessions is required. This attendance requirement is in line with PSRB standards. Failure to meet this attendance requirements may result in either the student not passing the course or initiating the Fitness to Practise policy.

Students cannot begin the modules with prerequisites outlined in sections 22 until the prerequisite modules have been completed. In effect this means that all modules in year one need to be passed in order to progress into MSc Year 2.

Modules need to be passed with a minimum aggregate grade of 50%.

Students are expected to secure a supervised placement in the first year of the programme. It is the students’ responsibility to find a placement.

Should a student secure a placement in an organisation that does not have an appropriately qualified internal supervisor, it is the student’s responsibility to secure and fund an external supervisor.

Students are required to obtain their own personal liability and professional indemnity insurance prior to commencing a supervised counselling placement.

If a student is on an intermission, on an assessment year only, or taking a break from their studies for whatever reasons they will need to cease any clinical placement work until they return to their studies.

Students will not be permitted to take more than one year’s leave between MSc Year 1 and Year 2 of the programme.

Students are encouraged to undergo personal therapy during the programme at their own expense.

Students are expected to register with the BACP as student members on joining the programme: https://www.bacp.co.uk/membership/student-membership/

Students are required to demonstrate fitness to practice throughout the programme and before starting a supervised placement, in line with BACP guidelines:

https://www.bacp.co.uk/media/4551/bacp-fitness-to-practise-disclosures-faqs.docx

PG Certificate
PY7236 Therapeutic Theories 1 (20 credits)
PY7237 Therapeutic Skills 1 (20 credits)
PY7238 Personal and Professional Development 1 (20 credits)

PG Diploma
PY7240 Therapeutic Theories 2 (20 credits)
PY7241 Therapeutic Skills 2 (20 credits)
PY7242 Personal and Professional Development 1 (20 credits)

The programme’s teaching, learning, and assessment strategy builds upon students’ existing academic and professional experience and is designed to support students from diverse backgrounds in developing both academic and practical competencies through experiential and reflective learning. From year 1, dedicated modules foster students’ reflective skills, professional identity, and confidence, enabling them to learn from experience, receive and apply constructive feedback, and take responsibility for identifying and addressing their own learning and development needs. Students engage with core counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches, ethical and safeguarding frameworks, research methods, and advanced counselling skills, applying theory through role-play, supervised placements, and collaborative problem-solving.

Supervised work placements of 100 client contact hours provide opportunities to integrate knowledge and skills in real-world practice, with guidance from placement supervisors and course tutors, while encouraging students to reflect critically on their interactions, competencies, and professional conduct. Students are ultimately responsible for securing an appropriate placement. The programme will support students by providing information, advice and guidance on the placement-seeking process. The placements provide opportunities for students to apply their acquired knowledge and skills and are monitored by a designated placement coordinator from the course team and a placement supervisor/ an external supervisor. The placement/external supervisor plays a pivotal role in developing students’ competencies through constructive feedback and must complete a supervision contract with the student before engagement with clients can commence. If a student enters a placement that does not provide a sufficiently qualified supervisor, it is the student’s responsibility to source and fund external supervision. Students are expected to complete the 100 client contact hours by the end of Year 2 to allow them to apply for BACP individual membership, and complete the BACP Certificate of Proficiency to become a BACP registered member (MBACP) on completion of the programme.

Across all modules, emphasis on self-reflection, reflexivity, and autonomous professional development equips students to manage their own learning, work ethically and inclusively with diverse and complex client needs, and progress confidently towards BACP membership and a successful career in counselling and psychotherapy.

BACP SCoPEd Framework: https://www.pcpb.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SCoPEd-Framework-January-2022-amended-2025.pdf

Students completing the MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy and a supervised placement consisting of 100 supervised client contact hours will have met the eligibility criteria for BACP individual membership. They will also be eligible to apply for BACP registered membership (MBACP), subject to passing the BACP Certificate of Proficiency. Preparation for the Certificate of Proficiency test is embedded within the course. The course thus provides an accessible and clearly signposted pathway into a career in the counselling professions. It also provides a firm foundation for graduates aiming to progress to Doctoral training programmes.

You will be required to have:

• an honours degree with a minimum 2:2
• evidence of completing a Counselling Skills qualification (minimum Level 2) which includes ongoing skills observation and feedback
• English Language GCSE at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent)
• an enhanced DBS check for the Adult Workforce which is registered with the update service
• relevant experience- you will need to demonstrate a minimum of 6 months voluntary or paid experience which involves working with vulnerable or distressed adults in a helping capacity. Please upload a detailed CV at the point of application
• sufficient availability to complete 100 supervised client contact hours in a work placement

Applicants with relevant professional qualifications and/or professional experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis, as will any applicants declaring previous cautions or convictions.

Read our FAQs about applying for this course.