Intro

Psychology is the study of human minds, behaviours, experiences and relationships. Real-world experience is at the heart of your learning and you’ll learn how psychological knowledge is applied to real-world personal and social issues.

Exploring the two complementary and exciting disciplines of psychology and counselling will equip you with the knowledge and skills to understand how people think, how they behave and how they can be helped to make changes.

You will examine how counsellors and psychologists use theories and evidence to contribute to understandings of mental health and distress and how we develop and interact with others.

You will engage with psychological theory, research and its applications, and focus on how counselling is used to help create change in people. As you progress you will deepen your understanding of the personal and social relevance of this lively and contested field of study.

As well as covering the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) recommended curriculum, we also offer opportunities to take a voluntary work placement in the local community as part of your course.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

UCAS code C8B9

Full-time 3 years

This new course is in the final stage of development and may change. Check back for the latest information. 

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Apply now with UCAS for 2019 entry

Course content

Course structure 

Modules tend to be structured as weekly lectures followed by seminars or practicals, alongside structured learning activities and independent study.

In the first year you will be introduced to psychology and its research methods.

In the second year you will gain a strong understanding of core psychological concepts and practices, and the applications of psychology to a broad range of everyday problems, whilst learning concepts, ethics and techniques related to counselling.

There is also the option of a community placement and opportunities for international study on our exchange programme. You can also opt to take a social science module.

In the final year, alongside your empirical dissertation, you will be able to choose from a number of options, mostly in contemporary applications of psychology, and further develop your skills and understanding of counselling.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up-to-date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you will be told about any new developments through our applicant portal.

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Year 1 

In your first year, you will be introduced to the core aspects of psychology. You will gain a thorough understanding of key psychological issues and debates, focusing on how psychological theory and research is applied to real-work issues and social problems. You will learn about the psychology of wellbeing – the social and psychological factors that can lead to happy and fulfilling lives – an essential component of counselling.

Modules

  • Psychology and Society

    This module will introduce you to the social history of psychology, and seeks to embed psychology within the social and historical contexts of its development, critically exploring how these contexts have shaped the aims, methods and outcomes of psychological theory and research.

    The module will introduce you to key issues, debates and approaches in psychology, as well as help you to develop essential skills for higher education study, including reflexive learning, critical analysis, team working and independent study.

  • Introduction to Applied Psychology

    You will be introduced to the basic approaches and theories within psychology and consider issues of application in the field.

  • Contemporary Social Inequalities

    This module will provide you with the theoretical and conceptual tools to confront normative/normalising explanations of difference and inequality. You'll understand the ways that ‘differences’ and inequalities are formed and their consequences for everyday lived realities.

  • The Psychology of Wellbeing

    This module will introduce you to the notion of psychological well-being and you'll consider research that highlights the social and psychological factors that can lead to happy and fulfilling lives. This domain is often associated with ‘positive psychology’ but in this module you will be developing a critical stance that goes beyond this perspective accommodating social, cultural, environmental and political determinants of wellbeing, life satisfaction and quality of life.

  • Introduction to Psychological Research Methods

    This module will introduce you to the range of research methods used in psychology and will enable you to develop the skills necessary to collect and analyse quantitative data. It also provides an introduction to qualitative data collection and analysis.

  • Developmental Psychology

    The module will introduce you to key theories and topics in child development and lifespan development. You'll examine issues from infancy through middle-childhood to adulthood to explore how people develop through time. The module provides an historical, biological, social and cultural context for studying child development, and life-span development to help you frame the theoretical perspectives presented.

Students in counselling session

Year 2 

In your second year you will specialise in counselling through a dedicated module, exploring mental health and distress, and key theoretical approaches to facilitating psychological change. You can also choose from one of two optional modules. The Community Engagement module will help you apply some of the theory you've learnt out in the community, developing key employability skills and making key contacts in the sector.

Modules

  • Psychology, Cognition and Social Worlds
  • Psychology, the Body and Individual Differences
  • Psychological Research Methods
  • Psychology, Mental Health and Distress
  • Counselling and Psychotherapy: Key Theoretical Foundations

Options*

  • Community Engagement: Theory Into Practice
  • Critical Analysis

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Counsellor working with a client

Final year 

In your final year you will undertake a psychology dissertation project which will reflect your own particular interests and career aspirations. You will further develop your counselling skills, learning how best to support individuals to reflect on their experiences and make positive changes in their lives.

You will also learn to appreciate how building an effective relationship between therapist and client shapes what changes it is possible for people to make. These knowledge and skills are the first step towards a career in the helping professions, but are also valued across a range of workplace environments and professions.

Modules

  • Psychology dissertation
  • Developing a Therapeutic Relationship
  • Counselling Skills

Options*

Choose two from:

  • Forensic Psychology
  • Cyberpsychology
  • Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Childhood
  • Ecopsychology and Ecotherapy
  • Critical Community Psychology
  • Critical Addiction Studies
  • Mental Disorder and Anthropology
  • Sexualities
  • Psychology of Poverty
  • Psychology and the Real World

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Student in counselling session

Facilities 

The School of Applied Social Science has invested £250,000 in multi-purpose Psychology Resource Laboratories. They will provide high-tech facilities including:

  • an applied cognition lab
  • a creative methods lab for interactive experiments and focus groups
  • experimental booths for one-to-one computer-based experiments
  • mobile eye tracker, eye-tracking glasses and psychophysiology measuring kit.

You will also benefit from an open-access teaching space and a dedicated psychology technician who will support your experiments.

Take a virtual tour of our psychology labs and follow our psychology lab blog run by our technicians Joe and Marta.

Psychology eye tracking glasses

Staff profile 

Dr Zoë Boden, course leader

Zoë is a psychologist and psychotherapist who joined University of Brighton in 2019, having previously held a Senior Lectureship at London South Bank University. Zoë conducts qualitative research exploring relational and emotional experience in the context of mental health and wellbeing, particularly how relationships play a role in recovery from psychosis and suicidality. She completed her PhD in the IPA research group at Birkbeck, University of London, and has previously held research posts at University of Birmingham and the mental health charity, SANE.

Zoë teaches on a number of mental health modules on our psychology degree programmes and contributes to the Humanistic Psychotherapeutic Counselling postgraduate diploma. She also has a small private psychotherapy practice.

Matt Adams, principal lecturer

Matt completed his PhD in 2001 at Nottingham Trent University under the supervision of John Tomlinson and Mike Featherstone. The focus of his thesis was identity and social change, reflecting a longstanding critical interest in the conceptualisation of selfhood and subjectivity in social theory and the interface between sociology and psychology.

After 2001 Matt held various research and teaching posts before joining the University of Brighton in 2003. In 2007 Sage published his book Self and Social Change, which draws on key approaches of recent years (Bourdieu, Butler, Foucault, Giddens etc.) to offer an account of identity in which class and other social structural divisions still loom large, though in socially novel ways.

More recently Matt has published theoretical work on the social and psychological theorisation of various topics, and worked on the moral economies of various consumption and representation practices. Work in progress includes a growing interest in developing a psychosocial approach to the issue of human behaviour and ecological degradation, and the value of silence and illegibility for 'healthily' marginal identity positions.

Matt recently won an Excellence in Facilitating and Empowering Learning (EFEL) award for his outstanding contribution to student learning.

You can read Matt's latest article, 'Apocalypse when? (Not) thinking and talking about climate change', on discoversociety.org.

Zoe_Boden_Psych_with_counsellingDr Zoe Boden

Matt AdamsMatt Adams

Our latest news

Students highly commended at Students Union Awards 2019

Students highly commended at Students Union Awards 2019

The Brighton Student Union Awards took place this week, celebrating the amazing work that our students, staff and volunteers do each year.
Honorary Doctorate for Professor Kate Bullen

Honorary Doctorate for Professor Kate Bullen

Professor Kate Bullen, Head of the School of Applied Social Science swapped her office at Falmer for the splendour of a graduation ceremony at the University of Buckingham recently.
My work experience

My work experience

Jordan Landsborough, an Applied Psychology and Sociology BA(Hons) student, has gained work experience in the SU’s Health and Wellbeing team and with the student-led wellbeing initiative Mood Boost.
What to Expect After Accepting an Offer

What to Expect After Accepting an Offer

At this time of year, many of you are thinking about accepting your offer with us.

Read more from our blog

Careers

The course offers you the chance to gain highly developed skills to help others and is excellent preparation and a first step towards a career in counselling and psychotherapy.

You'll be equipped with psychological literacy which is also an excellent foundation for careers in diverse fields beyond the traditional psychological professions.

Having knowledge of different therapeutic approaches in addition to a psychology degree will be a significant advantage for those considering careers in mental health and wellbeing, the health and social care sector, the helping professions, and work within organisations in the statutory and voluntary sectors.

We have a long-established national reputation for the provision of professional psychotherapist and counsellor training, and long-standing links with local organisations which provide therapy and mental health services. If you wish to qualify and practice as a counsellor we offer a wide range of postgraduate professional counselling courses, which are accredited by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

Entry criteria

Entry requirements

A-levels or BTEC
Entry requirements are in the range of A-level BBB–BCC (120–104 UCAS Tariff points), or BTEC Extended Diploma DDM–DMM. Our conditional offers typically fall within this range.

We will generally make you an offer if your predicted grades are at the top of this range. If your predicted grades are towards the lower end of this range we may still make you an offer if you have a good GCSE (or equivalent) profile or relevant non-academic achievements.

International Baccalaureate
30 points.

Access to HE Diploma
Pass with 60 credits overall. Level 3 units in psychology are preferred. At least 45 credits at level 3, with 18 credits at merit or above.

GCSE (minimum grade C or grade 4)
At least three subjects which must include maths, plus English language and science, social science or humanities. Functional Skills will not usually be accepted but may be considered where the applicant has a good spread of GCSEs.

Mature students
Mature applicants without the above qualifications should be able to show how they will benefit from the course through, for example, work or professional experience. All mature applicants are considered on an individual basis.

Studied before or got relevant experience?
A qualification, HE credits or relevant experience may count towards your course at Brighton, and could mean that you do not have to take some elements of the course or can start in year 2 or 3. 

English language requirements
IELTS 6.0 overall, 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

Fees

Course fees

UK/EU (full-time) 9,250 GBP

International (full-time) 13,284 GBP

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2019–20.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the option modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding, scholarships and other financial support provided by the university as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee paying status.

Location

Local area

About Brighton

The University of Brighton is at the heart of our city's reputation as a welcoming, forward-thinking place which leads the way when it comes to the arts, music, sustainability and creative technology. Brighton is home to a thriving creative community and a digital sector worth £1bn a year to the local economy, as much as tourism.

Many of the work-based learning opportunities offered on our courses such as placements and guest lectures are provided by businesses and organisations based in the city.

You can also get involved with city festivals and events such as the Brighton Festival, the Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton Science Festival, the London to Brighton bike ride, and the Great Escape festival of new music to name but a few. Other annual highlights include Pride, the Brighton Marathon, and Burning the Clocks which marks the winter solstice.

You'll find living in Brighton enriches your learning experience and by the end of your course you will still be finding new things to explore and inspire you.

Brighton North Laine
Brighton Beach sunset

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Set in the South Downs, our Falmer campus is around four miles from Brighton city centre. 7,000 students are based here taking subjects including criminology, English, education, nursing and medicine, paramedic science, psychology and sociology. Brighton and Hove Albion's Amex stadium and beautiful Stanmer Park are right next door.

Specialist learning facilities at Falmer include the curriculum centre used by teaching and education students, which houses over 30,000 teaching resources and clinical skills and simulation suites used by health students. Psychology students learn in our applied cognition and flexible creative method labs.

Falmer campus has two halls of residence on site, as well as a library, restaurant, cafes, and a students' union shop and bar.

The campus sports centre has a fitness suite, activity studios and a sports hall. There is also a floodlit astroturf football pitch, netball and tennis courts.

Cycle lanes link Falmer with our other campuses and the city centre and there is a BTN BikeShare hub on site. There are regular bus services to the city centre and other campuses. Falmer train station is right next to campus and a nine minute journey to central Brighton.

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Newly refurbished atrium in the Checkland Building

Accommodation

Brighton: Falmer

All eligible 2019-entry students are guaranteed an offer of university-managed accommodation.

Halls of residence
We have halls of residence across Brighton in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • You'll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
  • Falmer campus is linked to the halls on Falmer campus and at Varley Park.
    • Paddock Field and Great Wilkins halls are on Falmer campus and offer a range of room types and catering options
    • Varley Park offers a mix of room and catering options. Varley Park is around two miles from Moulsecoomb campus and four miles from the city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there's a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
    • Find out more about our halls at Falmer and Varley Park.

Unihomes and unilets
Unihomes and unilets are student houses that we let to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option can work particularly well when you're balancing learning with placements and other commitments. We have unihomes and unilet properties across the city.

Find out more about our accommodation and confirm your eligibility.

Private renting
There's plenty of support if you opt for private rented accommodation. This is an option which offers choice and flexibility – enabling you to choose where you live and who with. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. This lists accommodation offered by landlords who have signed up to our code of standards. Every summer we provide online events and resources, as well as other advice services, for students looking for a place to live and people to share with.

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Outside views at Falmer accommodation

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Extensive facilities at Falmer sports centre

Students dining at Westlain

Students dining at Westlain

Maps

house Accommodation
campus University building

Falmer campus

Stay in touch

There aren't any events for this course right now. Register your interest and we'll let you know when booking for the next event is open.

Let me know when I can visit

Statistics

These charts give an indication of how much time you will spend on different activities at each level of the course, and an indication of the balance of assessment by coursework, and written and practical exams. For courses with option modules, actual proportions will depend on the modules you choose.

Find out more about how the academic year and degree courses are organised, and about learning and assessment activities you might get to grips with at Brighton. More specific information about this course is detailed in the programme specification (linked above). You can find out also about the range of support we offer to help you adjust to university life.

Overall workload

Assessments

Unistats and key information sets

Unistats enable you to compare information when choosing a UK university course. All UK universities publish Unistats data on their website.

Programme specification

The programme specification is the approved description of each course. They are updated following course changes, and give a detailed breakdown of the content and structure of the course.

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