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  • Humanities and social science
  • Counselling and psychotherapy

Counselling and psychotherapy degrees

At Brighton we offer counselling and psychotherapy degree 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.

We have BACP-accredited postgraduate diplomas in humanistic and psychodynamic therapy, as well as the UKCP-accredited Psychotherapy MSc. We also offer an evening access course for those thinking of moving into the field.

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More humanities and social science degree courses

I was attracted to this course by the fact that all the lecturers were experienced, practising 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 graduate

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 psychotherapy

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.

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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 the 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.

Counselling and psychotherapy degree courses

Undergraduate degrees

  • Psychology with Counselling Studies BSc(Hons)

 

This course is a level 6 20-credit module

  • Developing a Therapeutic Relationship and Counselling Skills module

Postgraduate degrees

We offer a number of options for postgraduate study.

  • Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip
  • Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip
  • Psychotherapy MSc
  • Social Science MRes

You may also be interested in these degree subjects:

Related subjects

  • Psychology
  • Social work
  • Humanities

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Brighton ranks 34th on Time Out’s 2025 list of the world’s 50 best cities, making it the third-highest ranked city in the UK.

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The University of Brighton has climbed an impressive 16 places to secure a spot in the top 30 of the latest People & Planet University League, a prestigious ranking of 165 UK universities based on their environmental and ethical performance.

Looking back on our 2024: A year of innovation, creativity and impact

As we wrap up 2024, we want to take a moment to reflect on the past year’s achievements, milestones and stories that have shaped the year here at the University of Brighton.

Counselling PGDips online event

Join us at our online event on 30 October between 2pm and 4pm to learn more about: Humanistic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy PGDip During the event you will be able to: watch live presentations have the opportunity to ask your questions.

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