Introduction
The Higher Diploma in Arts in Counselling and Psychotherapy will provide students with a broad graduate-level education and grounding in the theory and practice of counselling and therapy. The course offers students a practical training in therapeutic skills and an understanding of the ethical implications of therapeutic work. During the course, students will be guided in developing a capacity for reflective selfawareness through personal therapy and group experiences.
This Higher Diploma is aimed at noncounselling and/or psychotherapy graduates. It is, primarily, an academic qualification, but will set its graduates on the path towards becoming accredited members of professional counselling and psychotherapy bodies. The course also prepares students to follow a variety of educational and career paths by helping them to achieve their full critical potential and equipping them with a range of intellectual skills.
Key Features of the Programme
- Conversion style course for noncounselling/ psychotherapy degree graduates
- Delivered on a modular basis, typically students will attend classes on two evenings per weeks and attend weekend workshops once or twice a month
- Focused on personal development through personal therapy, process group work and theoretical study
- Sets graduates on the path towards supervised clinical training at Masters level
- Central to the course is experiential skills training
- Of interest to those who would like to learn counselling skills and understand their basis in psychotherapeutic practice
- Enhances students current work practices e.g. health and social care professionals, teachers, Gardaí, community workers, voluntary sector workers and many more
- Orientation is primarily humanistic/ integrative but it also introduces students to the principles of psychoanalysis, family therapy and to research skills.
Programme Structure
- The Higher Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy is run on a modular basis during evenings and weekends and will normally take students two years to complete
- During that time students will take academic lectures as well as be in training groups based on experiential learning. Research methodologies and the range of contemporary issues that face professional counsellors and psychotherapists will also be amongst the topics studied
- Students attend and participate in process group work on one evening a week throughout each year, as well as attending academic lectures one/two evenings a week for two 12-week terms and approximately 12 Saturdays over the academic year
- Each year students participate in two feedback meetings with their trainers to assess not only their skills and academic knowledge but also their suitability for progression on to supervised clinical training at MA level
- Students are required to be in their own personal psychotherapy for the duration of the Higher Diploma. This confidential arrangement, including the time of sessions and fee, is arranged with the therapist.
Suited to: All graduates.
Comment
Postgraduate School of Arts
The Postgraduate School of Arts is dedicated to the mission of DBS to provide students with the opportunity to develop themselves academically as well as personally through study within the arts, humanities and social sciences. The School of Arts has built an excellent reputation at undergraduate level in areas such as psychology, psychoanalysis, counselling, philosophy, film studies, psychotherapy, drama, journalism and social science. Within the School of Arts the Department of Psychotherapy currently offers six programmes: MA in Psychotherapy, MA in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, MA in Addiction Studies, Higher Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Higher Diploma in Arts in Psychoanalytic Studies and the BA (Hons) in Counselling and Psychotherapy. The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences offers a Higher Diploma in Arts in Psychology and an MSc in Applied Psychology. The Postgraduate School of Arts has the objective of being a centre of excellence for education and research in the areas of the arts, humanities and social sciences. The Postgraduate School wants to provide students with a unique learning experience that is supported by a dedicated staff who are all very experienced and highly qualified in their field. We intend to maintain an educational environment in which the professional and personal aspects of the student-staff relationship are balanced in such a way that the learning experience is very enjoyable and in which the transmission of knowledge and skills find their optimum level.
The Postgraduate School of Arts is connected to an international network of academics and academic institutions. We are committed to maintaining and extending this network of collaborative relationships and to transmitting the benefits of these relationships to our local communities through our research, participation and indeed above all, through providing these communities with an opportunity to avail of an educational experience that is unique.