Intro

Based on the idea that mental illness is to some extent the result of repressed negative experience, psychodynamic counselling aims to expose the contents of a client's unconscious to make him or her aware of any underlying psychological conflicts.

It prioritises the therapeutic relationship and draws from the work of psychoanalysts such as Freud, Klein, Winnicott and Bion, as well as more contemporary thinkers such as Lacan, Bowlby, Kohut, Mitchell and Benjamin.

The postgraduate diploma teaches models of both long-and short-term counselling, the second of which is particularly relevant to NHS work and employee counselling schemes. It stresses the importance of developing counselling awareness through practice in workshops and provides a sound theoretical foundation to the psychodynamic approach.

The course is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and therefore recognised as preparing students for work as a professional counsellor. The university is an organisational member of the BACP as well as the Universities Psychotherapy and Counselling Association (UCPA).

Find out about postgraduate events

Key facts

Location 91快活林: Moulsecoomb

Part-time 2 years

Accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

Face-to-face therapy must be undertaken throughout the diploma with a UKCP or BCP-registered therapist who meets the course criteria

The application deadline for this course is 15 January. Check the entry criteria below for info on the application process.

Please review the entry requirements carefully and if you have any questions do get in touch with us.

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

Degree and experience

You should hold a degree or professional qualification, for example nursing or teaching.

You need to have either successfully completed our short course, Developing a Therapeutic Relationship and Counselling Skills, or an accredited, externally assessed counselling skills course.  that:

  • is at least a level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills which ordinarily involves at least 30 hours of face-to-face tuition at level 2 or level 3 (online courses are not acceptable). Please note L2 Award, Helping Skills and Introductory courses are not accepted.
  • includes both theory and practice
  • was gained within the last six years.

You must have experience of working with people in a helping capacity and access to clients throughout the course. Ideally, you will have gained some counselling experience through full or part-time employment, or through voluntary or pastoral work.

Face-to-face therapy must be undertaken throughout the diploma with a UKCP or BCP-registered therapist who meets the course criteria.

English language requirements
IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 5.5 in each element. Find out more about the other English qualifications that we accept.

Application process

We expect to offer 22–25 places for this course and hold a reserve list of four.

Step 1

  • Submit your completed application by 15 January, this includes completed references.  
  • Ensure that you accurately record all relevant completed or pending qualifications – scan and attach your certificates.  
  • Provide two references – alert your referees that they should receive an email request and to check all email folders. Please note that is up to you to follow up with referees to ensure these are submitted before the deadline of 15 January.

Your application may be rejected if you do not provide the correct information or references by the deadline.

Step 2

  • Our admissions office reviews all applications.  
  • Complete applications meeting the entry criteria are submitted to the course tutor for review and selection.
  • All fully completed applications received by 15 January will receive equal consideration.
  • Candidates will be selected for interview based on the strength of their application.
  • Applications received after this date may still be considered, if we have vacancies on the course or for a place on the reserve list.

Step 3

  • Selected applicants will be invited for interview from early February.
  • You will be asked to write a character sketch to bring to your interview.
  • You will be interviewed by two course tutors.

Step 4

  • Successful applicants will be made an offer of a place on the course in May, once all applicants have been interviewed.  
  • You will be advised if this is a reserve list place – reserve places may become available if a candidate needs to decline their accepted offer.

Step 5

  • Meet any conditions of your offer. This may include submitting evidence of the qualification you are studying.
  • Pay the non-refundable £250 deposit to confirm your place on the course. This is required within one month of your offer being made or we may offer your place to another candidate.

Course content

Course structure

The courses are taught on a semester system with two semesters each year. Semester dates can be found here on the website.

In addition to academic study, you will need to complete 100 hours of supervised counselling practice in an approved clinical practice agency, for example at the Rock Clinic or Sussex University counselling service.

You also need to undertake a course of personal therapy that lasts for the duration of the course, from October of year 1 to June of year 2, and we recommend that you factor in the cost of this therapy before your application.

Assessment consists of four essays and three case studies. You will also keep a professional log of your clinical work and maintain a personal journal.

Students discussing their work

Areas of study

The course contains four major elements: academic and professional studies, practical training, training supervision, and personal growth and development. A strong theoretical knowledge is of great importance and considerable weight is given to canonical writers. The seminars provide a broad overview of the reading material and invite you to reflect further on it.

Psychodynamic counsellors rely on their own feelings to help make sense of the moment-by-moment changes in client sessions. This process underlies the need for a certain level of self-awareness and maturity, hence why personal growth and development is the fourth key strand on the course. This is partly met through personal development groups and partly through your own counselling or therapy.

Year 1

Modules

  • Introduction to Psychodynamic Counselling Theory: Human Growth and Development
  • Themes in Professional Practice
  • Psychodynamic Counselling Workshops and Personal Development

Year 2

Modules

  • Psychodynamic Counselling Practice 1
  • Psychodynamic Counselling Practice 2
  • Critical Perspectives in Psychodynamic Counselling
  • Reflexivity and Research Methods in Counselling and Psychotherapy
  • Portfolio of Evidence: Psychodynamic Counselling (non-credit bearing)

Completion of the postgraduate diploma allows continuation (after successful application) on to our Psychotherapy MSc.

Lab facilities

Mithras House is home to all our School of Humanities and Social Science courses. It has a series of ‘labs’, which may be used for teaching on your course or in your independent research work.

Life lab
A comfortable space with lounge furniture intended for qualitative research with larger groups. Due to its relaxed layout and naturalistic environment, the space is suited to research using focus groups, research using observation-based methods and child research.

The space is also used for teaching on some social science courses, as well as for dissertation research for projects.
 
City lab
A space designed for collaborative student learning. It is used by students and staff involved in the university’s Global Challenges programme, our collective mission to contribute towards solutions to tackling the pressing issues facing our world.

Design lab
A space housing our extensive collection of historic dress and textiles, which are used in some teaching on our History of Art and Design courses. It has the space and equipment to work on textile projects. Displays created by students on these programmes are on view in the social spaces of the building.

Stats lab
A specialist workspace with computing equipment for statistical analysis and projects involving video and audio editing software. The lab is accessible as a study space to students on psychology courses.

It is also available to students studying courses involving video and audio recording and editing, such as politics degrees and our creative writing programmes. The stats lab contains eight soundproof booths for recording or transcribing interviews undertaken as part of dissertation research.

VR and eye tracking lab
This lab is used for psychological research, specifically eye-tracking research and virtual reality research. Equipment includes an electroencephalography (EEG) headset and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) equipment.

Preliminary reading

Students wishing to gain some understanding of the psychodynamic approach may wish to read some of the following texts:

  • Casement, P. (1985) Learning from the Patient
  • Freud, S. (1991) Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis
  • Bott, D. and Howard, P. (2012) The Therapeutic Encounter: A Cross-Modality Approach
  • Howard, S. (2006) Psychodynamic Counselling in a Nutshell
  • Jacobs, M. (2004) Psychodynamic Counselling in Action
  • McLeod, J. (2003) An Introduction to Counselling
  • Spurling, L. (2009) An Introduction to Psychodynamic Counselling

Being entirely honest with oneself is good exercise.

Sigmund Freud, letter to Wilhelm Fliess (1897)

FAQs

Should I apply for the Humanistic or Psychodynamic Psychotherapeutic Counselling Postgraduate Diploma?

We can provide a few pointers for you, but ultimately you must make the decision. To help you differentiate between the two courses, you could attend an open day or do some reading around the relevant subject areas.

I haven't studied psychology before. Does this matter?

No, it doesn't. While counselling training draws on psychology theory, we don't expect you to have studied it formally before the course begins. We do, however, require you to have spent a minimum of 30 hours on an accredited counselling skills course.

Does it matter that I've been out of education for a number of years?

No. Provided you meet all the requirements, you should be offered an interview for the course. Many of our students are returning to study after a few years away, in fact, the average age for the postgraduate diplomas is around 40.

I use counselling skills in my job as a nurse/social worker/teacher. Do I still have to take an introductory counselling course?

Yes, unless as a formal part of your training you took an assessed module in counselling skills. If so, you would need to provide full details of the module you took in the further information section on the application form.

Will my previous counselling or therapy count in lieu of the requirement to be in therapy during the course?

No. You will need to start therapy again with an approved therapist.

I know a counselling placement is part of the course, but does the course guarantee to find me one?

No. We do have a list of clinical practice agencies which previous students have gone to and we have good relationships with many local counselling agencies but the final responsibility lies with you. During the first semester we invite a number of practice   managers/directors to come and talk about what they offer but students must make individual applications to agencies.

More about this subject at 91快活林

Careers

The postgraduate diploma has an excellent reputation in the locality and our students have gone on to hold counselling posts across the public, private and voluntary sectors. Others have progressed to further training or used their counselling skills in their existing professions.

If you enjoy the course and are interested in further study, you may want to consider our Psychotherapy MSc. All successful graduates of this PGDip are eligible to apply.

BACP logo

UPCA logo

Fees and costs

Course fees

UK (part-time, per year) 5,070 GBP

International (part-time, per year)5,070 GBP

Non-refundable deposit

To secure your offer or a place a £250 non-refundable deposit is required within one month of notification for payment. If your offer is received after 15 August, it may be possible to negotiate a date with the course leader. Please note this payment is required before you begin the course.

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

Fee information for this course for 2025 entry will be updated here no later than December 2024.

The fees listed here are for the first year of study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year. UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (depending on which is higher).

If you have specific queries about the course fee, our fees team will be happy to help. Email them at fees@brighton.ac.uk.

Find out more

What's included

Here you’ll find details of specific resources and services that are included in the tuition fee for our counselling and psychotherapy students. To help you to budget for your studies, there is also information on any additional costs that you may have to pay or can choose to pay in addition to your tuition fee.

Find out how tuition fees enable us to support all of our students with important services, facilities and resources across the university and check out our finance pages for info about fees, funding and scholarships along with advice on international and island fee-paying status.

You can chat with our enquiries team if you have a question or need more information.

What's included in your tuition fee

  • Course books, magazines and journals are available in the university libraries. You do not need to have your own copies. See the for an up-to-date list of key subject journals and databases.
  • You will have access to computers and necessary software on campus – and can borrow a laptop from us if yours is broken or you don’t have a computer at home. Specialist equipment is provided to cover essential learning.

Additional costs

  • Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip, and Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip students undertake face-to-face therapy through their course. The cost of this is not included in the tuition fee. You can expect to pay £3000–£4200 over the course. Estimated based on £55-£60 per hour.
  • Psychotherapy MSc students are required to undertake supervised clinical practice throughout the course. The cost is not included in the fee. You'll need to budget for supervision fees of around £1,300 for each full year. Estimated based on £50 per hour with fortnightly meetings. In some agencies, supervision will be provided at no cost. Where students have to pay, the cost will only begin when supervision begins.
  • Most coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes and should budget up to £100 for printing.
  • The courses are accredited by the BACP (PGDip) and UKCP (MSc) and provide a route for accreditation and registration respectively with these bodies. Fees for memberships of BACP and UKCP are not included in the fees for the course.
  • For some assessments you may be required to print large format posters for presentations at a cost of £5–£10 per poster.
  • Most coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes and should budget up to £100 for printing.
  • Some courses include an optional placement module for which students will need to cover the costs of travel to and from the placement and DBS checks as required.
  • For a number of courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but under normal circumstances we would expect a budget of approximately £150 per year will cover the costs of particular trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
  • You’ll need to budget for printing and stationery for personal study, and books if you decide to buy your own. Budget £200 if you decide to buy your own copies of textbooks. Many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices, but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.

Location and student life

Campus where this course is taught

Moulsecoomb campus

Two miles north of 91快活林 seafront, Moulsecoomb is our largest campus and student village. Moulsecoomb has been transformed by a recent development of our estate. On campus you'll find new Students' Union, events venue, and sports and fitness facilities, alongside the library and student centre.

Over 900 students live here in our halls, Moulsecoomb Place and the new Mithras halls – Brunswick, Goldstone, Hanover, Preston and Regency.

Moulsecoomb has easy access to buses and trains and to all the exciting things happening in our home city.

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Accommodation

We guarantee an offer of a place in halls of residence to all eligible students. So if you applied for halls by the deadline you are guaranteed a room in our halls of residence.

91快活林: Moulsecoomb

Halls of residence
We have self-catered halls on all our campuses, within minutes of your classes, and other options that are very nearby.

You can apply for any of our halls, but the options closest to your study location are:

  • Mithras Halls are stylish new high-rises in the heart of the student village at our revitalised Moulsecoomb campus with ensuite rooms for more than 800 students.
  • Varley Park is a popular dedicated halls site, offering a mix of rooms and bathroom options at different prices. It is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre, and is easy to get to by bus.

Want to live independently?
We can help – find out more about private renting.

Relaxing in halls

Modern accommodation at Moulsecoomb

Mithras halls room with a view

Relaxing in halls near the campus

Student Union social space

Student Union social space at Moulsecoomb

Local area

About 91快活林

The city of 91快活林 & Hove is a forward-thinking place which leads the way in the arts, technology, sustainability and creativity. You'll find living here plays a key role in your learning experience.

91快活林 is a leading centre for creative media technology, recently named the startup capital of the UK.

The city is home to a national 5G testbed and over 1,000 tech businesses. The digital sector is worth over £1bn a year to the local economy - as much as tourism.

All of our full-time undergraduate courses involve work-based learning - this could be through placements, live briefs and guest lectures. Many of these opportunities are provided by local businesses and organisations.

It's only 50 minutes by train from 91快活林 to central London and there are daily direct trains to Bristol, Bedford, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Portsmouth and Southampton.

Map showing distance to London from 91快活林
91快活林 Beach sunset

Maps

Moulsecoomb campus map

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Support and wellbeing

Your course team

Your personal academic tutor, course leader and other tutors are all there to help you with your personal and academic progress. You'll also have a student support and guidance tutor (SSGT) who can help with everything from homesickness, managing stress or accommodation issues.

Your academic skills

Our 91快活林 Student Skills Hub gives you extra support and resources to develop the skills you'll need for university study, whatever your level of experience so far.

Your mental health and wellbeing

As well as being supported to succeed, we want you to feel good too. You'll be part of a community that builds you up, with lots of ways to connect with one another, as well having access to dedicated experts if you need them. Find out more about how we support your wellbeing.

Sport at 91快活林

Sport 91快活林

Sport 91快活林 brings together our sport and recreation services. As a 91快活林 student you'll have use of sport and fitness facilities across all our campuses and there are opportunities to play for fun, fitness or take part in serious competition. 

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Sports scholarships

Our sports scholarship scheme is designed to help students develop their full sporting potential to train and compete at the highest level. We offer scholarships for elite athletes, elite disabled athletes and talented sports performers.

Find out more about sport scholarships.

Students playing frisbee

Stay in touch

Find out about postgraduate events

Ask a question about this course

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

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