Further study after Psychology degree?

psychk

Hi, Im just looking for some advice . I have an honours degree in psychology and have been working in childcare for the past 6 years during which time I completed a FETAC special needs assisting course. I also have a FETAC in community care, my dilemma is that I know I want to help people but I dont know how! Child psychology is very interesting but it seems there is no direct path into it in Ireland. Im trying to figure out if there are any two year courses out there which are part time, related to psychology and which will allow me to work with people with mental health issues or addictions!I have helped people through holistic therapy and really enjoyed making a difference. All of the counselling courses Ive looked up are at least 3 years and most are full time. I need to do a post grad which is part time as I need to keep working to fund it!! I know the mail is confusing but any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks

JuliusCaesar

ABA? CBT? Odysseus will pitch in with the addictions courses, I think...

hotspur

The vast majority of counselling courses are part-time.

There is the MSc in CBT for children and adolescents in UCD which is a part-time 2 years Masters. It takes in every 2 years and doesn't take applicants for 2013.

NUIM have a MSc and Doctorate in Psychological Science focused on behaviour analysis and therapy.

The majority of Masters in counselling programmes are more than 2 years. There is a psychoanalytic psychotherapy one which is 2 years and can be done part-time at Independent Colleges.

There are at least some counselling courses at undergraduate level which are 2 years and part-time such as IICP in Tallaght.

I'm not sure when you say child psychology if you are drawn to educational psychology or clinical / counselling psychology / psychotherapy which you can then specialise in for children. Mind you, educational psychology, clinical psychology, and counselling psychology are full time postgraduate courses.

The reality is that part-time post-graduate psychology courses which are PSI recognised don't appear to exist unless you are doing a research PhD part-time.

Would you be interested in doing a MSc in applied psychology in TCD, UCD, DBS etc.? In and of itself it is not a clinical qualification, but the hours can be accommodated while working despite nominally being full-time. They are kind of stepping stone courses for people who wish to get into clinical or get some work as an assistant psychologist.

I can't recommend doing any addiction counselling course. Unless you come from that background and it is definitely all you want to do it seems to be unnecessarily restrictive.

Those are some random suggestions. If you want to work with mental health then it looks like you may wish to train as a therapist. Then the question is whether you want that to be in the context of being a psychologist (clinical or counselling) or are willing to train as a counsellor / psychotherapist outside of psychology.

Odysseus

I think Hotspur hits the nail on the head. Around addiction studies I generally recommend DBS's MA; but it does limit you unless you really want to work in that area. The Addiction Services like most of the HSE are about to be hit witrh the next round of cuts; so work in the area will be tight for the next few years.

psychk

Thank you so much this is really helpfull.. I wouldnt really have an interest in doing the applied psychology because Im hoping to get something concrete and recognised and I feel Id just have to add on to them with other courses after that, .. I love working with children but I discovered that to do child psychology Id have to train full time in educational psychology which I think I need a teaching qualification to do, or train in clinical psychology which like you said are both full time and just not an option for me at the mo. The course you mentioned in UCD sounds interesting , Ive a feeling I checked it out before and it was very expensive but Ill def look into it and see, did you mean they are not taking applicants until 2013?

Also just a quick question, what exactly is a research PHD and do you need a masters qualification to do one? I always hear about people doing them but dont quite know what it is!!

Thanks again!

psychk

Thanks, Ive looked into these before but its very hard and expensive to get work exp and supervision with CBT it seems ABA seems to be a full time one.

trace51

The MSc in ABA in NUIG is listed as a full time course but teaching is only one day a week, I think you are expected to be in an ABA setting while you are doing the course though, it wasn't a requirement when I did it. The HDip and MSc in ABA in Trinity is similar, teaching is one or two days a week and you are expected to be working in an ABA setting, you can get voluntary placements but it sounds like that wouldn't suit you. Considering your background you could probably get work on a supervised home programme easily enough though.