MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies MSc

An on-campus MSc for graduates, practising counsellors and people in helping roles who want to study counselling and psychotherapy as an advanced academic discipline without a clinical placement. Explore pluralistic approaches and develop counselling-informed skills that can feed into advanced practice, further training or doctoral study.<br/><br/>Our MSc Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies is a rigorous, academic Master’s at SCQF Level 11 (180 credits). It’s designed with flexibility in mind and is aimed at those who want an advanced, research-led programme of study focusing on counselling and psychotherapy. The course does not contain a placement element, so would suit either qualified counsellors wishing to continue their professional development, or those interested in gaining a critical appreciation of the theoretical aspects of the discipline, ahead of potentially committing to a full practitioner training route. <br/><br/>The programme is grounded in a pluralistic framework. Rather than committing to a single therapeutic school, you’ll study a range of counselling and psychotherapy approaches and think critically about how they can be integrated. You’ll examine the counselling process, the therapeutic relationship, interactional and listening skills, and the ethical and professional frameworks that support safe, effective practice.<br/><br/>You’ll also explore mental health and distress in context, including diverse perspectives, power, culture, social justice and critical views of diagnosis and services. The aim is to help you understand not only what works, but for whom, in which contexts, and on whose terms.<br/><br/>Research is threaded throughout. You’ll build research literacy in a dedicated methods module, then design and complete a 60-credit independent project in counselling, psychotherapy or mental health – for example, an empirical study, case-based project or systematic review.<br/><br/>Relevant skills modules are aligned to the completion of the COSCA Counselling Skills Certificate, widely recognised in people-facing roles and a key requirement of many practitioner training programmes.