Counselling and Psychotherapy (Professional Training)

Professional Counselling training at the University of Salford first started in 1992 and now comprises a range of counselling and psychotherapy training offered by the Counselling and Psychotherapy department.

The MSc/PgDip in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Professional Training) comprises two taught years (studying two 30-credit modules per year) leading to a postgraduate diploma award, and a third (final) year to complete an MSc award (completing a 60-credit dissertation). Both awards qualify graduates to work as professional counsellors, as defined by the BACP, in the public and voluntary sectors and in private practice. The awards are both accredited by the BACP and we adhere to BACP’s Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions (2018).

These programmes aim to produce practitioners who:

• are capable of working effectively with a wide range of clients, together with a range of psychological problems of varying degrees of severity.
• are capable of making autonomous professional decisions in complex circumstances.
• are capable of offering online/phone therapy to clients.
• have a critical understanding of the theoretical knowledge which underpins practice.
• have the ability to critically appraise research evidence.

During the course, you will study modules such as Introduction to Person-Centred Theory and Practice, Introduction to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Research Methods in Counselling and Psychotherapy and Mental Health for Counsellors. If you are studying towards the full master’s, you will complete a dissertation which gives you the opportunity to undertake an in-depth, evidence-based exploration of a key area relevant to your own practice.

The mode of study is part-time. Students are required to attend classes on one day per week (either Monday or Tuesday, depending on year of entry). There are 30 teaching weeks in our academic year. Classes normally start in September and end in June. Please be advised that there is an 80% attendance for all scheduled classes in all years of the programme. The structure of a typical course day for the PgDip is:

13:00-15:00 - Lecture/Seminar
15:00-15:30 - Break
15:30-17:30 - Skills Groups and/or Group Supervision
17:30-18:00 - Break
18:00-19:30 - Personal Development Groups

Additionally, students are required to attend their placement (usually counselling three clients per week), supervision and personal therapy. Students may need to set aside one other day for these activities. Applicants should be aware that there will be an online/phone therapy training day facilitated online. Applicants are advised that suitable technology/devices (including adequate internet connection); technical ability to work online; and a private space to attend online training sessions and online/phone therapy sessions will be required.

All programme staff are qualified counsellors, registered with BACP, UKCP or HCPC and many have their own private practice. As part of BACP accreditation, more than half of the team are also accredited and all undertake significant CPD over the academic year. Small group skills and supervision and PD facilitation are a part of the course and staff professional experience lends greatly to the learning experience. 

Applicant profile

Applicants are required to have completed a LEVEL 3 certificate in counselling. This must be a taught course (not online) and be of at least 90 hours duration. The certificate can be a college or university-level course and should be one that can lead directly to a diploma-level professional counselling training. Certain counselling degrees also include the equivalent of a counselling certificate as part of the programme. The certificate in counselling or counselling degree must include an assessment of counselling skills through assessed observation and/or assessed recordings to meet the entry requirements.

We offer a Graduate Certificate in Counselling course that fulfils the entry requirement to have completed a certificate in counselling when applying for the PGDip/MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies. 

Please note that you can still apply for the PGDip/MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies (Professional Training) while in the process of completing a counselling certificate as we can make an offer of a place conditional on the completion of a counselling certificate as course long as there is acceptable evidence of the completed qualification before the start of the programme.

If you have any queries about your eligibility for this course, please contact the Postgraduate Admissions Tutors: pg-counselling-admissions@salford.ac.uk

Please note that this is a very popular MSc programme and we are closing to new applications earlier each year. Therefore, please apply early for the next intake.  

All applicants are interviewed prior to being offered a place. The interview process involves an individual interview.

For those who meet our entry criteria and we then invite to interview, this does not indicate a place can be offered for the coming September as, especially later in the academic year, we may be approaching our maximum number of offers at that point and offers made will then be for the following September.

DBS check

All applicants being offered a place after a successful interview must complete a new DBS check, which will be administered by the University. You will be contacted about this by email when an offer of a place is made.

English language requirements 

International students must provide evidence of proficiency in English - IELTS 6.5 band score or above are proof of this. If your current English language qualification is below this level, you may be able to take one of the many pre-sessional English courses.