Counselling (DCouns)

Keele University

The Counselling Doctorate programme meets the needs of professionals/educationalists wishing to attain the highest level of professional and academic achievement. The programme of taught modules combined with the research component allows students to undertake study and research that is clearly relevant to their professional practice, will support them to contribute to professional knowledge in their field of practice and will enable their career development. A professional doctorate provides a rigorous programme of advanced study and research, equally rigorous to the purely research orientated PhD. The taught modules which occupy the first two years of the programme, provide opportunities to develop students’ skills and knowledge in key areas to facilitate career development, whilst the research component allows for development of skills in critical appraisal and the ability to develop the rationale, methodology and methods for research studies. The modules also allow development of other transferable skills such as project management, problem solving, information management and academic writing. The Counselling Doctorate utilizes the expertise of the academic team across the whole of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences as well as experts from the clinical field to support the student’s development, research and scholarship many of whom may be nationally and internationally renowned researchers in their own field. Within the Doctorate, students may wish to exit at key points prior to completing the whole programme and in doing so may be awarded either postgraduate diploma or masters in health sciences. This design is intended to provide flexibility for professionals studying whilst working in high pressured health service roles. The learning outcomes below describe what you should be able to do if you make full use of the opportunities for learning that are provided to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, and skills. In addition, by completing the Counselling Doctorate programme you will have the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility, leadership and largely autonomous initiative in complex and unpredictable situations in professional environments. Learning outcomes Evaluate and reflect on the core skills that are required for effective communication at an interpersonal and organizational level. Critically assimilate the current political challenges in health and social care and the role that culture, power and politics plays when communicating with organizations in this context. Critically analyse and appraise the key elements of productive team working, including effective management of workforce conflicts, and how these can inform planned change processes. Identify and apply strategies for implementing a change process and for networking across boundaries to build relationships and share information, plans and resources. Critically reflect on the key characteristics and skills of an effective leader and how these can be used to implement change in the workplace. Demonstrate a critical awareness of the principles of research and evaluation.