Entry onto this course requires the student to have completed a level 2 counselling skills course

This course will teach the student where counselling, psychotherapy and counselling psychology has its roots and how it has developed into the social science that it has become today.

You will have the opportunity to learn about the different types of theories that have developed, including the works of Sigmund Freud, Hans Eysenck, R.W. Bion, Peter Marris, Albert Ellis, Murray Parkes, Carl Rogers, B.F. Skinner, Eric Burn, John Bowlby, William Worden, Carl Jung Melanie Klein and Pavlov. This will take the student into the realms of different therapies, including Group Counselling, Bereavement, Loss & Grief, the Psychodynamic Approach, Client/Person Centred, Rational Emotive Therapy, Behavioural and Cognitive Therapy, Transactional Analysis and basic Child Development.

There are a total of 10 units in this module and each is followed by a written assignment that you will hand in to the tutor for comments and grading. The course also uses continual assessment in which students can discuss the work of the theorists in the group and match the various theories to their own life experiences.

The course includes various activities that can be done at home. An integral part of the theory course is the course journal, which allows the student to analyse their own feelings about how studying counselling theory has made them think about their own life experiences and how it has affected them as an individual person. It also helps the student understand how the theory is applied to the assignments and related to the various questions.

This course is studied fortnightly with one unit being covered at each lesson. The course takes a total of 20 weeks.

After the successful completion of the theory course the student will be awarded their certificate in counselling theory.