UK
There are two stages to the selection process for the Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at City: 1) a written application, which is used by the programme team to short list candidates, and 2) an interview process, which is used to select the strongest candidates from the short list. The programme receives a high volume of applications each year. This inevitably means that selection is competitive and applicants who can demonstrate the strongest applications are most likely to be short listed for interview and offered a place. The team makes its decisions on the basis of evidence gathered throughout the application process.
All applicants must meet the programme’s eligibility criteria before applying, as listed below. Those who meet these criteria should submit a written application using the University’s standard application for postgraduate courses. The written application should clearly demonstrate that applicants meet the criteria.
Eligibility Criteria
Degree and GBC
A 2:1 honours degree or above which confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society (BPS) (see below) or other first degree with relevant conversion course. The evidence would normally be in the form of a letter from the BPS confirming that you are a Graduate Member and that you have been granted GBC. If you are unsure whether your undergraduate degree confers GBC then please contact the BPS for clarification. If you are currently completing a relevant BPS accredited course you will need to have applied for and been granted Graduate Membership conferring GBC with the BPS, by the commencement of the programme.
International Equivalences
If you are applying with an overseas degree, the following is an indication of international equivalents of an upper second class degree from a UK institution. Please note these figures are intended as a guide only and individual applications will be assessed on a case by case basis.
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China: Bachelor degree (Xueshi) in a suitable subject with an overall grade of 75 – 85% (depending on the standing of the awarding institution)
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USA: Bachelor degree in a suitable subject with CGPA 3.2
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India: Bachelor degree in a suitable subject with CGPA 6.5 / overall 65% / 1st Division classification
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Turkey: Lisans Diplomasi or a Műhendis Diplomasi with a minimum CGPA 3.0 or 65%
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Italy: Diploma di Laurea in a suitable subject with a minimum score of 104.
Mental health experience and therapeutic skills training
Successful completion of introductory training in therapeutic/counselling skills, other appropriate mental health training undertaken for example as a health or social care worker, or equivalent substantial relevant clinical experience. We are looking for training such as certificate-level counselling skills courses (i.e. a course which awards you a certificate on completion); other relevant therapeutic training, e.g. that offered by various levels of the NHS IAPT programme such as for psychological well-being practitioners; or other appropriate mental health training undertaken as a health or social care worker. Equivalent substantial relevant clinical experience will also be accepted.
We run a five-day workshop at City, University of London which equips you with relevant skills for application to the Professional Doctorate course, although other courses are also available on the market.
Find out more and obtain a place on the City run Counselling Skills Workshop. The work shop will be running in April and June 2022.
Substantial experience with face-to-face mental health / counselling work (usually one year minimum). This could include working (paid or unpaid) as a mental health or social care support worker / healthcare assistant in a ward or community setting; a mental health charity; a victim support unit; bereavement counselling; or relationship counselling. The experience we are looking for is more than 'befriending', and is different from having worked for example in healthcare roles other than mental health. You need to show you can talk about a patient / client case, conceptualise the person's problems, and put this within the context of the person's life history and environmental system.
Research
The capacity to undertake research to doctoral level. This will be evidenced through the submission of a research proposal, and through consideration of your prior research learning and experience. In developing your research proposal you should consider the following.
Your research should make a valuable contribution to the body of knowledge within Counselling Psychology. In general, you should focus your research in an area that has clear applicability to clinical practice. This requires the consideration of how service user populations might benefit from the outcome of the project, and how service delivery might be enhanced. You should be able to ask yourself whether practitioners are likely to be engaged by the topic of research and whether it will add to the knowledge base underpinning the clinical practice of Counselling Psychology. The British Psychological Society has produced guidance on impact for doctoral study research. You are encouraged to read this before applying.
For this purpose it is important to understand that the existing body of research in Counselling Psychology in the UK, due to the relative youth of the discipline, is currently relatively narrow, internally focused on the profession and its practitioners, and overly focused on small scale qualitative projects. Rather than perpetuate this in doctoral projects currently undertaken in universities, the drive from the profession now is to broaden the considerable annual research effort and outputs into areas that are applicable to, and will be valued and esteemed more generally by, applied psychologists working in many different settings including the NHS, forensics, the independent sector and Third Sector services. Methodology choices should also be more widely considered.
Where you plan to carry out your research should also be thought about carefully. There is a common belief that to do research on clinical populations in a service setting (especially the NHS) will be difficult and take time to get the necessary approvals. This is largely a myth. Where there are large, well-organised research and development departments, considerable assistance is often afforded to trainee researchers; student projects are often expedited; and service managers and clinical leads are eager to sponsor research in their services. We encourage trainees to carry out their research in conjunction with one of their clinical placements.
You are also required to submit an original research proposal as part of your application. The proposal should not be one that has already been submitted as part of another programme of study. The proposal should be no more than 1000 words and should include the following: Research Question, Methodology, Ethical Considerations, Analytic Strategy and Potential Implications for Counselling Psychology Research and Practice. Submission of this proposal would not necessarily be considered a final choice of research topic if you are successful in your application. Guidance is available in the programme specification.
APL/AEC (Accreditation of prior learning / existing competence) Requirements
In certain circumstances we will welcome an application from a suitably qualified applicant directly to Year 2 of our course. For entry into the second year, you must have successfully completed on an HCPC approved and BPS-accredited DPsych in Counselling Psychology programme an amount of training which in our view gives equivalent experience to Year 1 of our programme, and of course hold the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership. One of your referees will be required to be from that programme.
As the majority of our students choose to proceed to the second year, we only have a small number of places available to external candidates each year.
It may also be possible to receive APL for certain modules in Year 1 of the programme. A common request is for APL for our module Cognitive Behavioural Approaches in Counselling Psychology. Module APL will only be granted for study at Level 7 (typically High Intensity diploma).
Any exemptions against practice requirements will only be granted on the basis of competence gained following achievement of eligibility for the GBC.
DBS Check/Occupational Health
All students commencing the Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology are required to undergo an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (previously known as an enhanced CRB Disclosure). You are advised to visit the DBS website for further information. The amendments to the Exceptions Order 1975 (2013) provide that certain spent convictions and cautions are 'protected' and are not subject to disclosure to employers, and cannot be taken into account. Guidance and criteria on the filtering of these cautions and convictions can be found on the Disclosure and Barring Service website.
Students are also required to complete an Occupational Health questionnaire prior to admission and to attend an Occupational Health appointment in the first weeks of the course to ensure you have health clearance to practice. Immunisations are required in order to protect both potentially vulnerable service users and the student on clinical placement. Successful applicants will be given specific details of your mandatory appointment during your induction.
The DBS check and occupational health procedures are designed to check whether you are suitable to do our programme. The costs of them are borne by the programme. They do not assess or give any guarantees about whether someone completing our programme will be registered by the HCPC.
