Take your first step towards becoming a counsellor with our BPS accredited course. Our career-focused curriculum will provide you with the knowledge and research-based practices needed to support people with a variety of challenges, including relationship disputes, addiction and mental illness.
The course is professionally accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and, providing you achieve at least a 2:2 in your degree, you will be eligible for Graduate Membership of the BPS and the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), the first step to becoming a Chartered Psychologist.
BPS accreditation is both an important hallmark of quality that is extensively acknowledged by employers in the field, and an essential stepping-stone if you are looking to progress to become a Chartered Psychologist after graduation.
Taking a BPS accredited course is necessary if you wish to pursue a career in psychology or in the wider psychological workforce. For information on the benefits of studying an accredited course, visit the BPS website.
First for jobs
The University of Worcester is first in the UK for sustained employment, further study or both, five years after graduation (excluding specialist institutions) - Longitudinal Educational Outcomes Survey 2024.
Overview
This professionally accredited course has a strong practical focus that will build your professional skills, enhance your CV and get you noticed by employers.
In your first year, you’ll study modules which explore how social and biological factors shape people’s behaviour and psychological development. This will help you understand how counselling practice can be adapted based on factors such as family dynamics, cultural norms, and socioeconomic status. We’ll also develop your knowledge of how counsellors operate, with modules teaching you key professional skills such as active listening, note-taking and how to build repour with those you support.
As you progress through the degree you will be able to focus more on your specific interests, with optional modules and research projects. This will prepare you to conduct a piece of original research under the supervision of a member of academic staff in your dissertation module.
Some of these topics include:
- Business psychology
- Positive psychology
- Trauma and violence
- Counselling skills in applied sport and exercise
- Cyberpsychology
You’ll be supported to develop your CV and widen your skillset with additional professional opportunities, such as mental health training, volunteering opportunities with local mental health charities, and specialist courses with Papyrus.
Our assessment methods are created to complement a future counselling career. You’ll complete essays, written responses to counselling case studies and deliver presentations you about what you have learnt. This will create a supportive and reflective portfolio of work that you can refer to in a variety of professional scenarios.
Placements
You’ll be supported by our Careers and Employability team, arranging optional paid and voluntary placements with many local and national organisations. Recent placement opportunities have included the NHS, the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Mind, a mental health charity.
You can also choose to participate in psychological research or join our paid ‘students as researchers’ scheme, which will provide you with opportunities to work alongside staff on live projects.
Course content
On this accredited course you will study a mix of mandatory and optional modules. This flexible course lets you explore different subjects and career paths in psychology before choosing a counselling specialism in your final year.
We regularly review our courses to reflect the latest research and developments in the subject area, as well as feedback from students, employers and the wider sector. As a result, modules may change to ensure the course remains current and relevant.
Optional modules will run if enough students choose to study them. It is not guaranteed that all modules will be offered every year.
Optional modules
Careers
Now, as much as ever, there is a need to ensure that there is enough capacity to promote psychological wellbeing and treat and prevent mental health conditions.
This BPS accredited degree is the first step towards pursuing a professional career as a counsellor. Our graduates are highly successful in securing a career in various specialist areas such as:
- Guidance counsellor
- Mental health counsellor
- Rehabilition counsellor
- Sports counsellor
- Youth counsellor
Psychology graduates can find a career in every area of society, using their numeracy, IT literacy, communication and problem-solving capabilities to add value to their professions.
By completing this BSc in Counselling Psychology, you’ll graduate as a well-organised, confident communicator, who is prepared for the world of work.
Course highlights
Teaching and assessment
Teaching is a mix of interactive seminars, lectures, one-to-one tutorials and workshops. Your assessments will help prepare you for a career as a counsellor and include case studies where you apply counselling techniques and posters surrounding psychological theory.
Teaching and assessment contents
Teaching
Students are taught through a combination of different learning and teaching methods. Lectures allow for the presentation and introduction of key topics, including both traditional and contemporary sources, which allow students to begin their learning. This is then supported by seminars that enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures. Subject specific skills are the focus of practical classes and workshops (for example, understanding statistical data analysis).
The course also has a keen focus on experiential learning, as there is good evidence that this can greatly enhance the student learning experience. Therefore, such methods will be used such as problem-based learning, whereby students will apply theory and content from psychology to address real world, global issues (e.g. the role of AI in the workplace, tackling climate change and global pandemics). Such global issues will be themes that run through the course, and as such will be covered elsewhere in other learning and teaching.
Furthermore, the role of research in the learning and teaching methods of this course will be central to all areas. Such research-informed teaching and learning will include practical research classes where students put into practice research methods they have learnt as well as focusing on research in directed study, group activities, assessments and problem-based learning.
The University places emphasis on enabling students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip them for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the Personal Academic Tutoring system enables students to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help them to flourish and be successful.
In addition, meetings with Personal Academic Tutors (PAT) are scheduled on at least four occasions in the first year. This will include two group sessions as part of modules, and individual meetings. Students are scheduled to meet their PAT’s on three occasions in each of the other years of a course.
Meet the team
Just a few staff members from the wider team of psychology lecturers.
Dr Berenice Mahoney
Dr Mahoney is an experienced academic and interdisciplinary researcher who engages in research on patients’ experiences of living with long-term conditions, along with the experiences and training needs of healthcare professionals supporting these patients. With special interests in breast cancer and allergy, Dr Mahoney works with colleagues in the NHS, industry, and is a member of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Psychology Working Group.
Dr Daniel Farrelly
Dr Blaire Morgan
Blaire is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology who teaches across a number of the undergraduate modules and acts as a research supervisor for undergraduate, Masters, and PhD students. She has also worked as the programme lead for the undergraduate Psychology courses.
Dr Berenice Mahoney
Dr Mahoney is an experienced academic and interdisciplinary researcher who engages in research on patients’ experiences of living with long-term conditions, along with the experiences and training needs of healthcare professionals supporting these patients. With special interests in breast cancer and allergy, Dr Mahoney works with colleagues in the NHS, industry, and is a member of the British Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Psychology Working Group.
Dr Daniel Farrelly
Entry requirements
UCAS tariff points required: 112
| Qualification | Grade |
|---|---|
| A-level | BBC |
| BTEC National Extended Diploma | DMM |
| T-level | Merit |
We do accept Access to HE Diplomas and other qualifications which may not exactly match the combinations above. Work out your estimated points with the UCAS tariff calculator.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please call our Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk.
Fees
Fees contents
UK and EU students
The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £9,535 per year for new and continuing students.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
International students
The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2025/26 academic year is £16,700 per year.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
How to apply
How to apply contents
Applying through UCAS
UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for full-time undergraduate courses in the UK.
Read our how to apply pages for more information on the application process, or if you’d like to apply for part-time study.
- Counselling Psychology BSc (Hons) - C843
Contact
If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.
Admissions Office
admissions@worc.ac.uk01905 855111Twenty-two years ago, Emma Banks wrote in her school leaving book “I want to be a psychologist.”
Now she is finally on her path to achieving that dream as she graduates from the University of Worcester with a First Class degree in Counselling Psychology. During her time at university, Emma became the Chair of the Mature Student Network and said she had made friends for life. Emma is now continuing her studies with an MSc in Occupational Psychology at the University.
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