Counselling PgDip

University of Westminster, London

The Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling is a part-time course designed to provide professional training for people considering a career in counselling, psychotherapy and related mental health fields.In the first two years of training, the diploma will prepare you to be a reflective, knowledgeable practitioner, with self-awareness and competency to work ethically, safely and effectively with a wide range of clients, including Gender, Sexual and Relationship Diversity (GSRD). To achieve this, the course curriculum integrates skills practice, theory, a focus on personal wellbeing and development, research, and professional development. After completion of the Postgraduate Diploma, you can choose to take the Master's component of the course, involving a year-long Research Methods and Project in Counselling module.This course focuses on two highly influential modalities: psychodynamic therapies and humanistic therapies, which are used in a wide variety of therapeutic settings. In addition to the weekly modules, you’ll attend eight weekend workshops, exploring themes including cognitive behaviour therapy, sex therapy, working in the context of religion and spirituality, mirror work, creative ways of working, and online therapy. Thus, this training will allow you to graduate with in-depth knowledge and skills, and foster the ability to integrate different modalities in your therapeutic work. There is an additional focus on inclusive training that welcomes differing perspectives, thus promoting empathy for different cultures and ways of living. You’ll directly engage with a variety of different identities such as sexuality, gender, ability, culture and ethnicity, bringing to life the lived experience of a diverse range of clients and allowing you to consider the impact different levels of (dis)advantage and privilege have on your clients. This is important if the field is to better meet the challenges of supporting diverse clients, and will allow you to graduate with the confidence to challenge oppressive structures as a practitioner.The Counselling PG Diploma has met the criteria and quality standards laid down by Pink Therapy as a safe place for Gender, Sex and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) identified people to train and with a curriculum that is inclusive, evidence-based and reflective of current thinking about GSRD Theory and Practice.After graduation, students can register with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) as a registered counsellor working towards accreditation.