MA Counselling Psychology - UCC

forensic

Hi all,
Just wondering if there's anyone on here doing the MA in Counselling Psychology in UCC? http://www.ucc.ie/en/study/postgrad/...s/counselling/

I know there's no intake this year, but I'm hoping someone will be able to give me any information they can.

I've contacted UCC directly but it'd be great to hear directly from some current students.

At the moment I've lots of general questions, mostly timetable, workload, placement kind of queries.
The most important query I have though is what is acceptable as a Foundation in Counselling Skills? Would the Certificate from NUIM be acceptable?
http://adulteducation.nuim.ie/course...ngSkills.shtml

Like I said, I'm waiting to hear back from UCC but just thought I'd throw the question out there while I'm waiting. (Waiting over 2 weeks now for a response from UCC)

Thanks.

Amusicum

Hi there,

I am going to do a HDip in Psychology in September 2012, with the aim of either completing postgrad training in clinical or counselling psychology. I was wondering did you find out any more about the MA in Counselling Psychology in UCC? At the moment, I am trying to figure out the main differences between clinical and counselling psychology, as apparently the professions are converging. I know that it is much harder to get on the clinical programme, that the clinical programme is funded, that you more employable because you are trained in more elements and that in clinical psychology you are less likely to be a humanistic therapist, more likely to take a scientific perspective. I hope all of this is correct?

In any case, I would love to hear whether or not you went for the MA in counselling psychology. There is also a counselling psychology doctorate in Trinity College, Dublin.

Semele

Amusicum wrote: »

Hi there,

At the moment, I am trying to figure out the main differences between clinical and counselling psychology, as apparently the professions are converging. I know that it is much harder to get on the clinical programme, that the clinical programme is funded, that you more employable because you are trained in more elements and that in clinical psychology you are less likely to be a humanistic therapist, more likely to take a scientific perspective. I hope all of this is correct?

Well, certainly part of the higher competitiveness of Clinical Psych is the fact that it is funded, therefore is more feasible for many than Counselling Psych. Counselling doctorates tend to involve fewer placements and often require the trainee to secure their own placements, which can be an added strain.

In the UK the NHS, which is obviously the biggest employer of psychologists, tends to employ Clinical Psychs in far greater numbers than Counselling, although this is changing in some trusts and its quite common to see adverts looking for a Clinical/Counselling Psychologist with relevant experience. This is hopefully something that will continue. Counselling psychologists are nonetheless very employable in private and third sector organisations.

Counselling psychologists traditionally work with less severe mental health conditions, although this is by no means set in stone and is largely down to the individual's interests and experience. Where the training largely differs is that Clinical Psych is focussed on competencies in working in different settings/with different client groups, whereas Counselling Psych focusses on competencies in different types of therapy (for example, a typical Clin Psych course will have placements in Child & Adolescent services, General Adult Mental Health, Older Adult services, and specialist services such as Neuro or Forensic, whereas a typical Counselling Psych course will have a psychodynamic placement, a CBT placement etc). Due to this greater focus on therapeutic process many Counselling Psychologists are entitled to also advertise themselves as certified therapists in a particular discipline such as CBT or Systemic Therapy, due to their training meeting criteria for accreditation by the professional therapeutic body. It is much rarer for Clinical Psychologists to have reached the benchmark practice hours for other accreditation during training.

Amusicum

Thank you - that is very helpful. I know that I am more a psychodynamic/humanistic person than psychoanalytic (at one end) or bevioural (at the other). Sometimes I think that counselling psychology would be better for me, as it focuses on different therapies as you say, and if I did clinical I wouldn't want to focus on the very scientific part of it - I would be more interested in the Psychotherapy dimension of it. I know that some psychologists specialise in psychotherapy though, a notable example being Dr. Tony Humphries, an Irish clinical psychologist, whose work i admire. i know that on clinical psychology training programmes you have an elective placement, one of which can be psychotherapy, but as you say you might need further training after the doctorate to actually become a psychotherapist!

I don't yet have a degree in psychology but am applying for the HDip to start next September, but do want to figure out my career direction (although I'm sure it would become clearer on the HDip which discipline I would prefer). There is also the option of just doing an MA in COunselling/Psychotherapy, although I have heard numerous reports about accreditation problems, since people can literally set themselves up as counsellors after a weekend course! obviously, I know there are counselling courses that are done the proper way too, over an extended period of time, but there is always that stigma!