Psychology with Counselling

Course Overview

Our BSc (Hons) Psychology with Counselling with Foundation Year has been designed for students who will benefit from an additional year of academic support at the start of their degree studies. The course provides you with an entry point into other counselling related qualifications such as psychotherapy or Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Once accredited, it will also give you eligibility to enrol on the British Psychological Society’s independent route to training as a counselling psychologist and can support applications for a Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.

During your foundation level you’ll gain the skills and confidence you need to complete your undergraduate degree with confidence. You’ll learn study skills in areas such as numeracy, research methods, and working collaboratively. You’ll also study two introductory modules in psychology and counselling.  After your foundation year you’ll study the main psychology curriculum areas such as social, cognitive, biological, and developmental psychology and research methods. Alongside this, you will also have the opportunity to take counselling specific modules including; Counselling Psychology, Core Counselling Skills, Health and Psychological Well-being, Psychological Assessment and Managing the Therapeutic Process.

Studying this specialised undergraduate counselling course with Arden will provide you with multiple future career and study options. You’ll have access to modern, digital learning tools as you study and you’ll also have full support from our dedicated academic team, who are internationally respected industry practitioners, published authors and PhD holders in the field of psychology.

Course details and modules

Arden’s foundation year modules have been designed to give you a tailored and fully supportive introduction to university study. This first year of study will prepare you for success in higher education by introducing you to the academic skills and subject-specific knowledge required to excel in your chosen degree subject.

On the course you’ll study subject modules that have been created specifically to help you gain career focused skills in professional counselling. Your studies will culminate with choosing an area of counselling practice on which to focus and produce your own research project at the end of your final year. By the time you graduate, you’ll have the confidence and ability to apply your knowledge of psychology to a range of exciting career paths and further learning opportunities.

Throughout the course you’ll have one-to-one support from your lecturers and academic skills tutors, as well as frequent invitations to online coffee mornings with your fellow students and staff and personal academic tutor support sessions. You’ll also be able to start developing industry links and networks by attending sessions with guest speakers from a wealth of areas, including policing, the NHS, and the UK Fire Service. Above all, our academic team, who come from a range of professional and cultural backgrounds, will help you learn through real-world context, helping you understand how your new skills are best applied in practice.

Academic Experience

On this course, you’ll be taught by a range of psychology experts. Many of our academics are research active and have published in academic journals, presented at national and international conferences, and authored book chapters on applied psychology. We also have former and continuing practitioners within the team whose expertise centres on the application of psychology in real-life contexts, such as organisational, educational, prison, health care, and clinical settings. As a whole, the team is highly active in the professional psychology community by running workshops and taking part in charitable events for organisations such as MIND.