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The practice module provides experiential learning opportunities to develop foundational relational competencies. We aim to foster the capacity to reach context-specific judgements about what is happening in the relationship and what to say alongside a heightened awareness of now the self is impacted by the other. Learning opportunities will be structured and facilitated by academic teaching on sub-topics such as the therapeutic frame, relational listening, advanced empathy, uses of supervision, self-disclosure and the use of self and reflective practice. Consideration will also be given to encultured and social experience as it emerges in the therapeutic dyad.
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The theory module provides a foundational introduction to the theoretical framework of the taught integrative approach. It also provides a comprehensive overview of issues of ethical and professional practice, including an introduction to professional frameworks and current mental health systems. After introducing the overall integrative framework, the module provides a thorough grounding in Gestalt theory, introduces the theory of personhood outlines in psychodynamic approaches and shows the points of interconnection between them. The encultured and social nature of personhood will also be introduced in terms compatible with the overall relational stance of the training.
MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy
Master's Degree, Postgraduate, September 2024
Key Details
- Part Time - 4 Years
This programme is accredited by the Universities Psychotherapy & Counselling Association (UPCA), an organisational member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
Newman University offers the following postgraduate courses in Psychotherapy:
MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy (4 Years – Part Time)
This course is for students wishing to qualify as a UKCP/UPCA registered Psychotherapist.
MSC in Integrative Psychotherapy
This is a UPCA accredited training which provides students with the academic, clinical and personal learning necessary to achieve registration as a UKCP-registered psychotherapist. Graduates from this programme go on to work as psychotherapists and counsellors in a range of public, private and voluntary sector contexts. The programme prepares students to work effectively with a wide range of adult clients.
The MSC in Integrative Psychotherapy combines rigorous academic learning of relevant theoretical and practical knowledge alongside a strong emphasis upon developing reflective capacity and personal competence. Alongside their academic learning, students are required to complete a clinical placement from their second year onwards where they will do a minimum of 450 hours of supervised client work. They will also attend ongoing personal therapy across the four years for a minimum of 160 hours.
Integrative Approach
Integrative psychotherapy is an approach which bring together theoretical components from different pre-existing models and combine them into a new and effective whole. The Newman approach carefully integrates gestalt and psychodynamic therapies into a base relational stance whilst adding in selected elements of cognitive behavioural therapy and constructivism. Students learn their integrative approach in stages across the course of the whole programme, progressively expanding the breadth of their clinical and theoretical knowledge so they have more options for understanding and responding to client distress. The overall integrative approach places a strong emphasis upon a multi-level sense of the therapeutic relationship.
Qualifying as a UKCP Registered Psychotherapis
Full professional registration as a UKCP psychotherapist can be achieved by successful completion of all taught parts of the MSc, completing 450 hours of supervised professional practice in a placement setting, minimum 75 clinical supervision hours and 160 hours minimum of personal therapy.
Whilst it is expected that all students entering the programme will aim to complete all four years and achieve psychotherapy status, it is possible to exit the programme at the end of year 3 with a higher national diploma in counselling and pursue independent registration with the BACP.
**This course is subject to revalidation for September 2024**
Completion of this course allows you to become a UKCP registered psychotherapist. It provides a comprehensive training in a broad base of skills and theories which will enable you to work with a wide range of clients. The Birmingham Newman psychotherapy course has a strong regional reputation and has been running as a professional-body accredited training for many years.
This programme meets all the taught component requirements for professional registration as a psychotherapist including psychotherapy theory and practice, human development, models of mental health, ethical and professional practice, working with specific clinical presentations and research skills. Alongside the 1 day per week classroom learning, from the second year onwards you are required to complete a supervised counselling placement of 450 hours alongside a minimum of 75 hours of clinical supervision. The programme consists of 180 credits at level 7. All modules are mandatory except for those exiting with a postgraduate diploma at the end of year 3.
Teaching is a mixture of the academic and the experiential with students participating in lectures, seminars and case discussions. All training will be delivered by Senior Lecturers, Lecturers, Visiting Lecturers and Skills Support Tutors. The programme is coordinated by the programme leader (James Sedgwick) responsible for the overall training. Teaching staff who take responsibility for individual modules are referred to as Module Leaders. Every student is allocated a personal tutor who will oversee their passage through the training. All staff are registered/accredited members of UKCP, BACP or BPS and have a range of relevant professional backgrounds.
Students are required to attend university for taught sessions one full day per week. You are also required to come to university at other times, for example, for tutorials, other meetings and to use the library. Students are also entitled to at least one personal tutorial per semester.
A minimum of 80% attendance per module is required. Only in exceptional circumstances, will a student with lower than 80% attendance be allowed to progress without retaking a module.
Additional commitments (these aspects of the training are self-funded)
- Personal Therapy: Total of 160 over 4 years, minimum 30 hours per year
- Clinical supervision: 1:6 ratio (1 hour supervision for every 6 hours of clinical work)
- Clinical placement: minimum 450 hours (in total)
It is expected that students will undertake a considerable amount of reflecting, reading and note-taking between sessions in order to:
- prepare for/consolidate lectures
- write assignments
- reflect upon client work
Teaching Days
MSc Year 1 – Monday (10am – 5pm)
MSc Year 2 – Monday (10am – 5pm)
MSc Year 3 – Thursday (10am – 5pm)
MSc Year 4 – Thursday (10am-5pm)
(Please note that these are reviewed annually and are subject to change)
Students will be required to undertake a range of assessments on the course such as;
- Coursework (including essays, reports, case studies, portfolios)
- Oral exams (Viva)
- Assessment of practice
- Presentations (including clinical case material)
- Research dissertation
The MSC provides professional training to become a qualified and registered psychotherapist. Most students intend to go on to work in either the private, public or voluntary sectors as a psychotherapist or counsellor. Some students will use the qualification to enhance their skills and employability in related sectors where job roles entail a strong helping component.
Entry Requirements
You must have a first degree in any subject (minimum classification 2:2) or equivalent. Applicants will usually have completed a face-to-face level 3 qualification in counselling skills. Those with a 1st degree, but without a level 3 qualification, are encouraged to apply for the Newman Introductory Certificate in Counselling and then, on successful completion, apply for the MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy. Applications will sometimes be considered from those who can demonstrate significant transferrable skills from using counselling skills in a workplace or voluntary setting.
Applicants who meet the criteria may be invited to demonstrate their personal and academic suitability for undertaking professional training at interview. This will usually take place on line.
Newman’s Record of Prior Learning (RPcL/RPel) policy can be applied to any applicants who consider they have qualifications or experience that may warrant them being granted exemption from elements of a particular course.
Applicants will need to obtain an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance prior to starting the course. For more information on your Enhanced DBS application please click here.
International Students
Newman University is not licenced by the UK Government to sponsor migrant students under the Student route and is therefore unable to accept applications from international students at present.
Course Fees
The course fee for those starting in September 2024 is £4,225 per year.
The University will review tuition fees and increase fees in line with any inflationary uplift as determined by the UK Government, if permitted by law or government policy, in subsequent years of your course. It is anticipated that such increases would be linked to RPI (the Retail Price Index excluding mortgage interest payments).
Postgraduate Loans
You can apply for a postgraduate loan when enrolling on a full masters’ degree (180 credits), to use as a contribution to the cost of studying and living expenses. For further information visit the postgraduate loans website.
Additional Costs:
The following costs are in addition to your university fees:
- Personal Therapy: Minimum 160. Typical cost between £40 – £75 per session. Students are required to undertake an absolute minimum 30 hours of personal therapy per year in order to meet professional body requirements.
- Clinical Supervision: Minimum 75 hours typical costs between £40 – £75 per hour with an independent practitioner. Supervision required at a ratio of 1:6 (1 hour of supervision for every 6 hours of clinical work)
- An audio recording device and / or memory cards or other approved equipment for the storage of audio client audio and / or video records (price: various)
- Annual membership fees to Universities Psychotherapy & Counselling Association (UPCA) (mandatory) normally around £21 per annum.
- Annual indemnity insurance (payable from year 2 of the MSc –) – estimated typical cost of £50-80 per annum.
- Initial Enhanced DBS clearance fee and update levy cost, typically about £40
- Travelling costs to and from the university and clinical placement
- Books (cost variable)
Course fee discount
Newman alumni are eligible for a 10% discount when enrolling onto a full Master’s degree programme.
Postgraduate Loans
You can apply for a postgraduate loan of up to £12,167, when enrolling on a full Master’s degree (180 credits), to use as a contribution to the cost of studying and living expenses.
For further information visit the postgraduate loans website.
Modules
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The theory module will build on the theory of personhood and pathology established in the first year and introduce an interlinked set of conceptual frameworks which will support change-focused work at psychological depth. Aspects of psychodynamic theory and practice including key concepts such as transference/countertransference will be introduced alongside a comprehensive human development framework. Students will learn how to conceptualise the relationship between current distress, immediate developmental transitions and key moments from across the individual life span. The neurological substrata of psychological distress will be introduced and students will have an opportunity to explore and reflect upon cultural and social variation in expected developmental attainment.
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The practice module supports the student to develop a range of intermediary clinical and practical competencies as they begin their clinical placements. The learning for the module will include opportunities for reflective and interactive learning but will be primarily based around detailed group discussions of individual case material with the discussion group leader placing a particular emphasis upon identifying and supporting the students next area of development. Students will be expected to develop the capacity to link their moment-by-moment sense of the client and clinical decision making to an overall sense of the case. To this end they will receive significant input on the art and practice of psychological formulation. Discussions will particularly focus on the capacity not merely to relate to or understand the client but to support change.
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The theory module aims to prepare students with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage more advanced clinical practice. It completes the phased teaching of the Newman integrative approach by introducing key concepts and working strategies from cognitive behaviour and constructivist approaches to clinical work which support clients to make more deliberate and experimental changes. Students will also be invited to learn, appraise and critically reflect upon the ethos and frameworks of psychotherapy integration as a prelude to completing the knowing assembly of their own integrative approach. Alongside this theoretical learning, students will learn to apply and critique existing best practice knowledge from within the field on working with more complex client difficulties. Material on working with different character and personality level difficulties will be introduced with an eye on application.
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The practice module supports the student to develop a range of intermediary-to-advanced clinical and practical competencies particularly as they pertain to more open-ended and in-depth working. There is an expectation that students will be more proficient at advanced interventions and will be supported in their first steps in trying more experimental or creative change-focused interventions as they undertake their learning of CBT and constructivism.
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The research module aims to introduce students to the principles and practice of original research with a view to seeing a piece of supported research through from start to finish. Initially students will be given an overview of the different types of research before being introduced to components of the overall process including writing an ethics proposal, conducting and producing a literature review, research ethics and key methodologies. Students will be supported to select a research focus in line with appropriate criteria and produce a publication standard piece of research with the support of a tutor.
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The practice module provides the student with an opportunity to integrate and apply the learning of the whole programme to date via enhanced case presentation and group discussion. There will be an opportunity to talk in more depth about using the complete integrative approach with specific client populations.
Additional Information
General Academic Regulations: Terms and Conditions for students attending our courses