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  • Counselling and psychotherapy

Counselling and psychotherapy

At Brighton we offer counselling and psychotherapy courses from the outset of your training up to MSc level.

Studying to be a therapist is a powerful and often emotional journey, but graduates from our courses go on to rewarding and stimulating careers across the public, private and voluntary sectors.

At Brighton we offer BACP-accredited Humanistic and Psychodynamic Postgraduate Diplomas, as well as a UKCP-accredited Psychotherapy MSc. We also offer an evening access course for those thinking of moving into the field.

Find out about our courses in this subject

Get to know us online

I was attracted to this course by the fact that all the lecturers were experienced, practicing therapists. I wanted to feel I was being taught by real-world practitioners. I have not been disappointed, whilst the course has stretched me, both academically and emotionally, the team has been great at providing timely guidance and support throughout. I would thoroughly recommend this course to someone considering training as a psychotherapist.

Jack, Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip student, 2021

Why study counselling and psychotherapy at Brighton

Book cover for The Therapeutic Encounter

A cross-modality approach

While you must choose whether to follow the humanistic or psychodynamic approach at postgraduate level, you will share some lectures with students on the other course. You will benefit from exploring themes common to human development and understanding different approaches and theories in an open-hearted way.

Cover of book: Intersections of privilege and otherness in counselling and pyschotherapy

Practising and research-active staff

Your lecturers are all experienced psychotherapists with expertise and knowledge of specific modalities and concepts, from existentialism to attachment theory. They bring their years of training, therapy work and research into the classroom, basing their teaching in their real experience. 

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Active learning

You will learn through a mix of lectures exploring the theories, philosophies and key thinkers in the fields, as well as through experiential workshops and, on our postgraduate courses, through your clinical practice hours. Collaborative discussions and process groups with your peers are a vital element of our courses.

Explore more

UK Council for Psychotherapy logo

UK Council for Psychotherapy

Find out about different types of therapy. For example, psychodynamic counselling aims to expose the contents of a client's unconscious to make them aware of any underlying psychological conflicts, whereas he humanistic approach draws from the tenets of existentialism and gives primacy to the individual's capacity for self-determination. The UKCP can help you discover the different modalities.

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School of Humanities and Social Science

Find out about the school in which our counselling and psychotherapy courses are based – and you’ll be learning on our Falmer campus, just north of Brighton city centre.

Courses

Postgraduate

Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip

Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip

Psychotherapy MSc

Undergraduate (20 Level 6 credit module)

Developing a Therapeutic Relationship and Counselling Skills module

You may also be interested in

Related subjects

  • Psychology
  • Social work
  • Humanities

What’s happening at Brighton?

Award for life-changing music therapy tool

Award for life-changing music therapy tool

School of Humanities and Social Science academic Rebecca Atkinson has won a national award for groundbreaking research behind a new digital music therapy portal called DUET.

“I worked as a psychotherapist in the NHS, then worked for the Trauma and Counselling Service at the London Fire Brigade and in private practice”

“I worked as a psychotherapist in the NHS, then worked for the Trauma and Counselling Service at the London Fire Brigade and in private practice”

Psychodynamic Counselling & Psychotherapy graduate Christine Hopfgarten on studying at Brighton, her career since, and her new book.

Preliminary reading for prospective counselling and psychotherapy students

Preliminary reading for prospective counselling and psychotherapy students

Thinking of applying to one of our courses?

Read our counselling and psychotherapy courses FAQs

Read our counselling and psychotherapy courses FAQs

Wondering whether to apply for the Postgraduate Diploma in Humanistic or Psychodynamic Counselling, whether you need to do a placement, or be in therapy while you study?

Read more from our blog

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University of Brighton
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Lewes Road
Brighton
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Main switchboard 01273 600900

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