Counselling and Psychotherapy (Humanistic Approaches)

At a time of mental strain on populations, as a counsellor and psychotherapist you will be at the forefront of responding to these societal needs and you will be changing peoples’ lives. This course is more than an academic programme and will transform you academically, professionally and personally. 

Academically, this course focuses on enabling students to develop a firm grounding in understanding the humanistic theories of counselling and psychotherapy and to develop core academic skills of critical analysis and reflection. Professional counselling skills will be developed and applied in clinical placement. On a personal level, the programme will be transformable in terms of building self-awareness, confidence and understanding relationships. Those personal benefits are transferable to any relationship or employment which involves people.  

Key characteristics

The course has five ‘pillars’ to meet the training, practice and competencies required for students to work professionally as counsellors and psychotherapists. These run throughout the three years, which are: 

• Theory and Development 
• Clinical Skills & Reflective Practice 
• Personal Development 
• Professional & Ethical Development 
• Research 

Our pillars have been mapped* against several external reference points from professional agencies, which align with key industry competency frameworks and curricula, i.e., BACP, QAA, and SCoPEd 

Aims of the course

• To provide you with the opportunity to gain a professional qualification, leading to professional registration as a counsellor or psychotherapist. 
• To provide opportunities for you to develop a psychological understanding of your interpersonal processes and learning style.  
• To provide an opportunity for you to increase your employability prospects by strongly emphasising the development of clinical counselling skills and reflective and ethical practice.  
• To provide you with opportunities for personal, professional, and ethical development through critical self-awareness. 
• To provide flexible learning opportunities and widen participation. 
• To provide opportunities for you to develop your understanding of health and social care settings, contexts, and frameworks.  
• To provide flexible learning opportunities that stimulate an enquiring, analytical and creative approach, encouraging independent judgment and engagement with research and innovation. 
• To provide you with a coherent and challenging programme to facilitate counselling skill development to meet market demands. 

Benefit from our employer partnerships

Our course is underpinned by strong professional partnerships so you can be confident it delivers the skills and knowledge that employers are seeking. You will also gain essential practical experience whilst on placement. Placement hours are subject to change.

We give you the opportunity to take part in insight visits which will shed light on how relevant organisations across the health, social care and educational sectors operate. You may find yourself shadowing a health care worker, sitting in a support group, participating in different wellbeing groups such as meditation, mindfulness or art therapy, or undertaking personal therapy to gain new perspectives on how the theories work in practice.

Thanks to our strong network of contacts, the course features guest lectures by influential figures from the profession, including Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) and Children and Young People Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies (CYP IAPT) practitioners, art therapists, drama therapists, and mental health practitioners. These will give you a broad vision of what might be involved in the therapeutic settings you could encounter in your future career.

Be inspired by our expert teaching team

You’ll be motivated, challenged and supported by our teaching team. All are specialists within their therapeutic fields, so will keep you up to date with the latest thinking and practice.

Our staff include influential researchers, published authors and high-profile practitioners who have active roles on the leading professional bodies. They undertake a wide range of research which places us at the cutting edge of policy change and helps to shape the future of the profession. The team is frequently commissioned to run specialist programmes which underpin national policy on mental health.

Working together to learn from each other

Successful counselling and psychotherapy professionals have to be adaptable, versatile and prepared to work in multi-agency teams. You will therefore have opportunities to learn with, and from, students from other disciplines through our Inter-Professional Learning agenda.

This is important in preparing you to work alongside other professionals after graduation so that you can achieve positive outcomes for your clients. We adopt this approach right from the start of your course, where you will attend a major conference with other new Health and Social Care students representing courses ranging from nursing to social work.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

You will learn from lecturers who have a wealth of knowledge and experience and who bring their latest thinking to your studies. You will have interactive teaching sessions including lectures, small group seminars, counselling skills workshops and personal development groups. We ensure you have the right level of support to succeed, we are responsive, approachable and empathic in supporting your learning needs. 

How you’re assessed

You will be assessed mainly through assignments via essays, posters, presentations and reports. There are no exams on this course.

In addition to direct teaching by faculty staff the University also makes use of blended learning through which students will be able to enhance and progress their learning. Through the university’s online portal, University of Derby Online (UDO), students can access the university virtual learning environment which forms an important part of the delivery of the programme and provides a facility through which tutors can supply lecture notes and presentations, links to learning resources and information and announcements pertinent to studies.

With careers advice an integral part of your studies, this course equips you to compete effectively in the graduate careers market. After graduation you’ll have a wide range of options and could progress to roles within health and social care, counselling, psychotherapy and psychology.

This course enables you to be eligible to register for one of the counselling and psychotherapy regulatory bodies such as the BACP or NCPS. 

If you would like to take your qualifications to the next level and become a professional counsellor and/or psychotherapist, we offer a full range of postgraduate programmes including accredited MSc courses in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy and Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. 

These could pave the way to rewarding counselling and psychotherapy positions within the NHS, schools, colleges and universities, and any organisations which employ therapists as part of their occupational health portfolio. Some of the students who complete our postgraduate programmes also go on to develop their own private practice or advance to research degrees.

However, the transferable skills you gain on the BSc (Hons) Counselling and Psychotherapy (Humanistic Approaches) also mean that you could pursue careers in a wide variety of other professions where excellent people skills and emotional intelligence are valued, including nursing, social work, education, coaching, mental health, human resource management and marketing.

Postgraduate study

This course is also suitable if you wish to study at postgraduate level on courses such as:  

• MSc Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy 
• MA Art Therapy 
• MA Drama Therapy 
• MA Dance Movement Therapy 

Other post-graduate routes may also include social work, education, youth work and mental health nursing.

2026 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2026 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

Additional entry requirements

• Interview: Yes view interview details
• An Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service certificate cleared by the University is required for this course. We will contact you with information on how to complete this once you have applied

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to

Additional costs and optional extras

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

Minimum numbers

Please note that this course is subject to minimum numbers in order to run.