BA (Hons) Counselling and the Psychotherapeutic Relationship
Find out more about our BA (Hons) Counselling and the Psychotherapeutic Relationship degree
This exciting contemporary programme will give you a thorough grounding in the principles and practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy. This course is founded on Relational principles that put the quality of the therapeutic relationship at its heart. You will learn about, and integrate into your practice, a range of therapeutic approaches, as well as developing a holistic way of working that can meet the therapeutic needs of a range of clients, considering mental health needs and cultural influences. The course will also help develop your academic, professional, and research skills, and provide opportunities for personal development.
Key Features
- Work-based learning that allows you to combine theory with practice
- Flexible entry requirements
Entry Requirements
Entry requirements are flexible. An academic qualification at level 3 (or equivalent) is preferred.
Complete an enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check through Warwick. If during the processing of the DBS check it becomes clear that you have lived for six months or more in a different country in the past five years, then we will also add the condition to provide an original overseas police check from that country.
The application form invites you to provide a reflective statement and, if invited to interview, you will be assessed in a group discussion exercise and a written task. If you have not studied for some time, we may require further evidence of your study skills in order to demonstrate your readiness for this BA (Hons) programme.
The degree allows you to undertake some of your placement hours online or on the telephone. If you intend to do this, you must have a private and confidential space available from which to work. You will also need to arrange a private space from which to attend online training sessions on occasion.
The degree is designed to be fully supportive to those who are new to university study, whatever your age or or background, and we welcome people who may have felt marginalised or excluded from higher education.
Course Overview
This is a 4 year part-time degree and a recognised professional counselling qualification in which you will develop the skills and awareness necessary to be an effective and ethical counsellor in a range of settings.
A central feature of this programme is the emphasis on personal development and self-awareness, particularly in issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. Through a range of small and large group work, individual reflection, counselling practice and theoretical learning, you will develop the skills and awareness necessary to be an effective and ethical counsellor in a range of settings.
The course is firmly rooted in professional practice and you will undertake a minimum of 100 hours of practice in an agency of your choosing. This allows for rich learning and means you will already be embedded in the professional field, ready to start your career on graduation. Many of our graduates have found employment within their placement agencies and others have used them as a springboard into new roles.
Learning and Assessments
The programme is delivered by a team of experienced, practicing therapists and counselling trainers. Teaching and learning is done in small and large group work, self-directed research groups, lectures, counselling practice groups and self-development workshops. Alongside the core curriculum, you will have opportunities to identify your own learning needs and pursue your own interests. The University provides additional support with academic study skills.
There are no examinations as we use a joint, continuous assessment process with tutors and students, using a variety of different processes, including written work, observed practice, supervisor and agency reports, posters and presentations. Any work you do is self-assessed before it is assessed and marked by a tutor. You will have the opportunity to discuss feedback with the tutor.
University of Warwick was recently awarded Gold in all categories of the government's latest Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) rankings.
Work-based learning and professional practice
This is a professional course and so is an opportunity to practise and study at the same time.
In your first year, as you develop your counselling skills, you will do a case study of counselling agencies to understand policies, procedures and the issues facing agencies and their clients. This helps you prepare for your counselling placement, which you are required to take on from year 2 until completion of the course, completing a minimum of 100 hours. You will have the opportunity to work in a number of different placements giving you a rich variety of experience. Students have found placements in a variety of well supported settings, including the NHS, schools, colleges, universities and community agencies. Although it is your responsibility to find your placements, we have a strong relationship with many placement providers in the region.
The hours required to be completed by students are as follows (students must ensure they can commit to these additional time commitments):
- Course attendance is face-to-face 1 day per week from 10am to 5pm, and additional study time of at least 4 hours per week is required.
- Years 2- 4 – minimum 100 counselling placement hours + fortnightly supervision.
- Plus 20 hours minimum personal therapy across the whole course.
"It's such an experiential course which I've not come across before, with its practice side. It really puts you in that frame of mind of what it's going to be like when you do have your own clients."
Sara, current part-time Counselling and the Psychotherapeutic Relationship student
Areas of study
The core model is Humanistic and Relational with a foundation in the Person-centred approach to establish the practical, philosophical and theoretical basis of therapeutic work. From this foundation, you will be introduced to other perspectives that will enable you to integrate a range of ways of working therapeutically, including humanistic, experiential, psychodynamic and creative therapeutic approaches.
Your personal and academic learning will be well supported by peers, tutors, and specialists in academic study skills. You will develop:
- An in-depth understanding of the underlying philosophy and theories of a relational approach to counselling
- An understanding of how to apply theory to counselling
- An understanding and awareness of your own attitudes and behaviour with other people, intra and inter-personal and group processes.
- An understanding of the importance of working equitably and consciously with difference and diversity in counselling and psychotherapy, including race, culture, gender, sexuality, age, social class, and neurodiversity.
- An ethical and reflective approach to practice with supervised client work in placements
- Insight into recent counselling and psychotherapy professional developments, mental health and the work of other mental health professionals
- Confidence in how to use research, building towards doing your own empirical research project in Year 4 based on a theme relevant to Counselling and Psychotherapy that you are interested in.
Throughout this programme, you will develop your ability to work in counselling and psychotherapy, by developing your knowledge and skills in counselling practice, counselling theory and self-awareness, and becoming an independent, ethical and reflective practitioner.
As part of the course, you will learn about counselling agencies and how they run, and will start to build a professional network. Alongside your studies, in years 2 to 4 you will find a counselling placement of your choosing and gain a minimum of 100 hours of counselling practice in an agency of your choosing. This will also involve regular supervision with a qualified clinical supervisor, either within your agency or independently.
You will also undertake a minimum of 20 hours your own counselling as part of your personal development over the 4 years, and will have many opportunities to develop your self awareness.
Year 1
CE1E8 Foundational Theories for Integrative Practice
In this module, you will be introduced to the underpinning theories of relational counselling and psychotherapy. You'll gain a secure understanding of the key principles of the person-centred approach and will explore and appraise the importance of the relationship between counsellor and client in therapeutic work. You'll also learn about how person-centred counselling fits into the wider framework of counselling approaches and begin to explore how you might use an understanding of your personal context, values and beliefs to develop your own integrative approach to counselling. You will have the opportunity to begin to critically appraise the theories we introduce, exploring them in relation to their cultural, historical and socio-political context. This module also aims to begin to develop your self-awareness around themes of cultural identity and diversity.
You'll explore these concepts through formal lectures, experiential exercises, and exercises and experiences in a variety of group contexts, including beginning to apply relevant counselling skills to practice work with peers in the classroom.
CE1E9 Introduction to Relational Practice
In this module you will develop a variety of counselling skills in the context of a counselling relationship, practising these skills with peers in the classroom. You will begin to explore your capacity for empathic understanding, unconditional positive regard, and to learn to use skills that demonstrate and convey these qualities to a client.
You will also be supported to examine your own identity and background, and your beliefs, attitudes, values and assumptions about human nature and human interaction and how these might influence your capacity to offer a climate of acceptance, empathy and congruence.
We also explore the importance of contracting and examining boundaries in establishing a counselling relationship, and learn about the specific requirements for contracting in different settings, including face to face and online.
CE1F1 Contextualising the Therapeutic Relationship
This module aims to situate counselling in a professional, ethical and legal context. You will learn the importance of clearly contracting with clients and of working within a clearly defined ethical and legal framework. You will become familiar with the BACP Ethical Framework and use it to explore the process of making difficult ethical decisions as a professional practitioner, understanding the potential implications for clients and yourself. Fundamental practice issues such as confidentiality and its limits, informed consent, dual relationships, professional assessment and case formulation, anti-discriminatory practice and safeguarding will be covered. You will prepare for your professional practice placement by learning about and the variety of settings in which counselling takes place, and consider issues around working in a multi-disciplinary team. We will also consider the specific ethical, procedural and professional requirements involved in working online and on the telephone with clients. During this module, you will work together with peers in a variety of small group settings to explore contextual and ethical situations, and will apply your learning about safe and ethical practice to your work with others on the course.
Year 2
CE291 Relational Processes and Working Within Diversity
In this module you will gain a wider understanding of the conscious and unconscious relational processes that may be occurring in the therapeutic space, adding an understanding of fundamental psychodynamic concepts of relationships to your existing knowledge of person-centred theory of self and practice. You will be encouraged to explore in depth the processes that may be occurring in your relationships with clients, with peers in groups on the course, and in your own interpersonal relationships. As we study a wider range of approaches, you will be encouraged to consider their application to practice, to critically compare them to other theoretical approaches, and to explore further your understanding of your own integrative practice.
This module also aims to consider theories and experience of difference, diversity and identity in relationships, encouraging you to explore the external and societal issues that impact upon relational dynamics, including themes of power, oppression and shame, and the impact of historical and institutional structures of power and discrimination. You will be asked to consider in depth your own identities, prejudices and assumptions and to explore how these are relevant to your practice and to the dynamics within the learning group setting.
This module will include a critical approach to all theories covered and you will be expected to critically explore the origins and cultural relevance of traditional psychotherapeutic theory through an anti-oppressive lens.
CE292 Ethics of Helping and the Therapeutic Relationship
This module builds on material covered at level 4 to deepen your understanding of the various legal and ethical implications of working professionally in counselling practice. You will be asked to consider ethical issues in depth, exploring the decision making process and critically exploring how ethical decisions are embedded in cultural and social contexts. You will be encouraged to understand how your own values and beliefs and cultural, social and political contexts contribute to the ethical decisions you might make and to consider the implications for clients from a variety of different backgrounds and contexts. You will consider and justify how you have applied your professional awareness of ethical principles to practice and explore how your ethical decisions may also be linked to your personal integrative theoretical approach.
CE1F2 Fundamentals of Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy
This module aims to offer an introduction to research in counselling and psychotherapy, giving you the opportunity to begin to be more familiar with the types of research that exist and to explore how professionals have researched issues in counselling and psychotherapy. You'll think about what research is and why it is important, examine ethics in relation to research, and learn academic skills such as conducting a literature search and selecting sources that are reliable and relevant.
You'll have the opportunity to think about your own research and begin to explore topics that might be of interest to you in conducting your research project, thinking about how your own life and experiences might be relevant to your topic. You'll explore how your personal cultural and social context could lead to bias in your research and think about how we might acknowledge and work with this. You'll also be asked to review your own academic progress.
Year 3
CE358 Working with Mental Health and Different Client Groups
This module will build on your understanding of the context of the professional practice of counselling and psychotherapy, continuing to explore ethical, legal and procedural issues in practice, and focusing particularly on mental health, the ways we conceptualise, categorise and treat mental health and how the practice of counselling intersects with other services and provision regionally and nationally. You will explore different ways mental health has been conceptualised historically, culturally and with reference to different theories of counselling, and to evaluate the impact that these conceptualisations have had on people from different groups and backgrounds. You will critically appraise the impact that your own understanding of and assumptions about mental health and ill health could have on your clients and your practice. You will reflect on your own mental health and how you have conceptualised it , how it has been responded to, and how it has impacted on your life and practice.
CE299 Counselling Approaches and the Reflective Practitioner
This module aims to offer the opportunity to continue to develop your integrative counselling practice, with the opportunity to further practice your counselling skills in the classroom with developmental feedback from peers and tutors, and to reflect further on your own development as a counsellor. We will study a range of contemporary humanistic and existential counselling approaches, including creative and somatic approaches to working with clients, exploring how theorists have critiqued and updated traditional approaches to counselling, and looking through a critical, decolonial and anti-oppressive lens to critically analyse the theories we study. As you widen your awareness of different theoretical ways of conceptualising client issues and the therapeutic process, you will be able to explore your own sense of how you conceptualise your own integrative practice.
CE289 Research Methods in Counselling and Psychotherapy
This module builds on your learning in CE1F2 to offer you the opportunity to further develop the skills needed to critically engage with research in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. You will gain an understanding of what research currently exists and where to find it. We aim to prepare you to conduct your own original research at level 6, through facilitating your understanding of research methods, their benefits and drawbacks, and your ability to read and understand current research papers. You will also study the theme of ethics in research and learn how to ensure that your research will be conducted ethically and appropriately. The module also aims to furnish you with the academic skills of preparing for and writing a research proposal and a literature review.
This module includes an element of online learning and an invitation to take part in online discussion groups with your peers.
Year 4
CE328 Independent Research Project
In this module, you will design and carry out a small-scale research project in the field of counselling and psychotherapy. You will gain an understanding of various research methods and of how to evaluate and choose methods appropriate to your research topic, gain ethical approval and understand the ethical implications of your research practice, and conduct a literature search to contextualise and situate your own findings. You will learn how to structure and write a research project and will present your dissertation as summative assessment.
CE349 Synthesising and Applying an Integrative Approach
In this module you will be asked to explore how counselling practitioners synthesise and apply their theoretical knowledge and backgrounds to work with clients presenting with a wide variety of issues and from a wide variety of contexts. You will be introduced to the work of a number of practitioners and explore practical themes in their work such as working with trauma, addiction, and working affirmatively with gender, sex and relationship diversity and with neurodivergent clients. You will be asked to explore how your own background, beliefs and values contribute to and impact on your integrative practice, and to explain how you might integrate theoretical learning from the course into a personal integrative approach.
CE350 Working at Depth and the Reflective Practitioner
In this module you will be facilitated to reflect deeply on your counselling practice in placement and to move towards qualification with a strong understanding of your strengths and development needs as a professional counsellor. You'll be asked to apply your learning from the whole course to an evaluation of your own practice work. We'll consolidate our learning about relational integrative practice by looking at a range of ways that this is conceptualised theoretically and exploring how we might reflect these in our work with clients. New learning this year about working with various specific client groups and presenting issues will add to your understanding of how to devise an accurate working formulation of a client and respond appropriately to their needs. You will attend peer supervision groups in the classroom in order to reflect on your practice with your colleagues. We will discuss ways of deepening our relational processes with clients and explore understandings of what relational depth might look like in practice.
The learning on this module will also consolidate your learning in previous years about working online and on the telephone with clients, ensuring that you have the required competencies and that you can work safely in a variety of contexts.
Careers
This programme is a professional qualification and will qualify you for work in the counselling field.
The clinical placements on the course are good preparation for this. Students have gained experience from placements in specialist agencies including domestic violence and sexual assault organisations, hospices, community-based charities (e.g. MIND), the criminal justice system, and student counselling services.
Developments in counselling and mental health services mean they require practitioners with a varied and deep understanding of an increasing amount of mental health issues and awareness of techniques to support clients. This course enables you to develop those skills, and is designed to prepare you thoroughly for the opportunities and challenges emerging in counselling and allied professions.
Career Pathways
Some of our graduates go on to find employment at their placement agency, others have gained roles in school settings, the NHS, further and higher education, agencies, the voluntary sector and as independent practitioners.
In the UK, many graduates enter professions where any degree would be acceptable and so alternative career pathways could include:
- Careers in Social Care - Social work, family support worker
- Advice work - Housing support worker, welfare advice worker
- Youth & Community work - Youth project worker, youth development lead, young person’s mentor
- Education - Learning mentor, student counsellor, schools' wellbeing advisor
- Charity - Community case worker, women’s refugee worker, charity graduate trainee
- Health - Sexual health adviser, wellbeing practitioner
- Community & Criminal Justice - Criminal justice support worker, probation officer
Some of these roles may be accessed directly after completing your degree, as part of an employed graduate scheme, or may require further study and professional qualification.
Helping you find the right career
Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers Consultant who offers one-to-one impartial advice and guidance. Students also have access to a range of workshops and career events. Previous events have included
- careers with children and young people
- careers in not for profit
- careers in social justice
- Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
- effective CVs & applications.
Find out more about careers supportLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window at Warwick.
Fees and Funding
Tuition fees per year for Home Students can be found at UG Home Fees - Student Finance - University of Warwick.
See PT Counselling funding information and view potential additional fees. For existing students, please see Funding Information for Part-time Continuous students.
Additional Fees specific to this programme
- DBS (enhanced) fee and admin costs add up to around £67 in total (effective from 2 December 2024 in line with Government guidance).
- Student membership of BACP £92 annually (or £46 reduced fee if eligible)
- Residential weekend approx. £325 (held in year 1 only)
- Professional indemnity insurance £54-£85 annually
- Placement supervision costs vary but are usually within the range of £60-£100 per hour (in years 2-4). Fortnightly supervision is required by BACP. These costs are influenced by market forces and may increase over the period of the course.
- Personal therapy £35-£55 per hour (min of 20 hours over the whole course)
- Travel costs to and from placements
- There is a well stocked library with the core course reading, however you may wish to purchase your own text books.
- The course includes elements of blended learning so therefore you will require access to a computer/laptop, headphones and a built in or plug in webcam.
The University of Warwick is NOT currently sponsoring students on part time or distance learning courses with a Student Visa (formerly known as Tier 4 visa) and so if you require a visa to study a part time/distance learning course in the UK which is longer than 6 months, you may wish to consult the 'right to study' page on our Student Immigration & Compliance websiteLink opens in a new window before you make an application.
Location and Dates
2026 cohort
- The course starts with a compulsory induction residential weekend held at the University, on 3 and 4 October 2026.
- Classes will take place on Tuesdays between 10am-5pm at Westwood campus, University of Warwick.
- There may also be one or two Saturday workshops each year. Further dates are to be confirmed.
Student Support
The CLL Student Support TeamLink opens in a new window supports the pastoral and academic needs of our diverse student body, including:
- Supporting the academic development of undergraduate and postgraduate students
- Ensuring a learning experience of the highest quality, both at the University and in partner colleges.
- Communicating with students in order to ensure a positive learning experience at CLL
To do this, we support you in many areas, including:
- Study skills
- Student welfare
- Technology and e-learning
- Careers and development
Life at Warwick
Within a close-knit community of staff and students from all over the world, discover a campus alive with possibilities. A place where all the elements of your student experience come together in one place. Our supportive, energising, welcoming space creates the ideal environment for forging new connections, having fun and finding inspiration.
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How to Apply
Applications for 2026 entry are now open, which will close on Monday 17 August 2026. Applications made before on 10 July 2026 are guaranteed to be considered.
Before you apply
Is this the right course for you? Come to an online taster session on Thursday 5 February 2026 12noon to meet the course director and have all your questions answered.
Note
This course requires students to share information of a personal nature, and dual relationships (where a student knows another person well outside the course) can significantly disrupt the personal and professional development of the students concerned and impact the whole group. We, therefore, reserve the right to defer an applicant’s place on the course, if there is deemed to be two or more students who have a personal relationship joining the course. In these circumstances, the applicant who made the earliest application will be offered the place first, and the other applicant deferred to start in the following academic year.
How to Apply
Applications for 2026 entry are now open, which will close on Monday 17 August 2026. Applications made before on 10 July 2026 are guaranteed to be considered.
Before you apply
Is this the right course for you? Come to an online taster session on Thursday 5 February 2026 12noon to meet the course director and have all your questions answered.
Note
This course requires students to share information of a personal nature, and dual relationships (where a student knows another person well outside the course) can significantly disrupt the personal and professional development of the students concerned and impact the whole group. We, therefore, reserve the right to defer an applicant’s place on the course, if there is deemed to be two or more students who have a personal relationship joining the course. In these circumstances, the applicant who made the earliest application will be offered the place first, and the other applicant deferred to start in the following academic year.