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How much time will the course take up of my life?

CONTACT HOURS

360 hours of contact hours training (across 6 modules): that includes process group work, experiential learning and personal development work, video practice preparation, role play, lectures, classroom hours, personal therapy, supervision sessions, tutorials, groups tutorials, visits, supervision placements, extra preparation sessions (eg; presentation prep seminars, dissertation prep days).

What are course related hours?

Up to 1200 hours worth of course related learning (these are specified in the module specifications), practice, research, reading, assignment preparation, writing, presentations, journalling, placement activities, placement supervision and other course related activities. So, in answer to the question: how many hours counselling training on a full-time MA I would estimate somewhere in the region of: approx 1600 hours. This works out to about 30 hours a week on average across the year & up to 15 hours part-time (not including travelling). I think it is worth noting that on some weeks of the course, particularly where there are intensive workshops, that the 30 hour average is exceeded, and other weeks there is less time. It should also be noted that in order to achieve the levels of hours of contact on the course expected by the BACP, we have higher expectations compared to other MA level courses. .

Finding a good training therapist. It is not always straight-forward, negotiating a suitable price (I think therapists should have a reduced fee for trainees). Sometimes one is hindered by geography, ie not many therapists in your locale limits your options. There are other decisions that you might need to make; male or female therapist, young or old, particular denomination? I think it is sometimes good to shop around, get second opinions as in any good health care system a second opinion can be valuable, so don't always go with the first person you see. And what defines a good fit between you and your training therapist? In my experience it is not always the person you like the most, indeed, in your first meeting the smattering of a sense of some uneasiness might be a good indication. Some level of tension maybe conducive in facilitating work taking place in the negative transference. One trainee recently said; "The problem with starting to work with clients is that they might not make it easy for you, I met my first client the other day (8 years old) and he held some scissors to my face and said he was going to cut me, I was shocked and didn't know what to do. It was a shock after for me after being on the course when everyone had been so nice in role plays, and in therapy”. The implications are that working with a sense of uneasiness in personal therapy may be requisite to good preparation for the uneasy engagement that is client work. The idea that you begin therapy with unconditional positive regard is an anathema, the therapist that makes you feel most at ease may not be the best training therapist. If you want someone to treat you nicely you can go to B & Q; training therapy should be a more testing milieu of customer relations.

Applied route or Practice Route?

Practice route: for students who have experience and prior qualification (level 4) in a counselling practice capacity, these may include core health care professions where basic counselling has been part of training eg; psychology, nursing, psychiatry, social work, speech & language therapy, occupational therapy. Students doing the practice route will need to establish a potential placement, preferably prior to commencing the course. The practice component of the course includes supervised placement, 100 hours of supervised practice and 40 hours of supervision. You are also required to attend a supervision group at UoN (9 hours). Finally you will need to submit a portfolio pertaining to your practice experience. The practice component amounts to 30 credits.

Applied route: If you do the applied route you do not need to undertake a practice placement. Instead there is an intensive block period of study at the beginning of the course (of about 40 hours over 2 weeks) which amounts to the same credits as the placement component for practice route students. NB: The applied route does not preclude students from doing a placement, and building up supervised practice hours towards BACP accreditation.

What is the same between practice and applied routes?: everything else is the same. All students are required to undergo a period of personal therapy, all taught module component are the same, and all students complete a final dissertation.

Will I be qualified at the end of the course?

You will be qualified insofar as you will have a Masters level award in counselling children and young people. However, you will not be registered in the UK unless you are going to work towards registration with the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP). Most graduates of counselling and psychotherapy training continue to build up their hours for registration subsequent to completing a training course. You will need to complete 450 hours of supervised practice in order to be registered. In order to get registration you will need to develop a portfolio of practice.

Job prospects

Students do well subsequent to the course, particularly where they are able to build up practice experience. More than 1 in 4 people suffer with mental health problems. Unfortunately there are always plenty of job opportunities. CCYP graduates work in a range of settings; school counselling services, local authority, early intervention services, a CCYP student has recently gained a job at Great Ormond Street (hospital for sick children). Other domains; working with families, young people's substance abuse services, some graduates work in bereavement services, charities, telephone help lines. Two graduates are now working in CAMHS NHS services, other graduates are working with young offenders services and other low secure settings with children with anti-social disorders.

I'm an international student, what can the programme offer me in terms of my development and a career?

We have a 1 yr full-time course, or 2 years part-time. We have an applied and practice route. Usually international students do the applied route but there are opportunities for placement experience even during the 1 year course. There are more details of the course on my webpages. We don't have a specific focus on music therapy but the course is tallied with the development of psychoanalytically informed creative therapies (Winnicott, Klein, Anna Freud, Axline, Lowenfeld etc). You would be encouraged to develop your own research and writings, essays are not set, but are negotiated with tutors, so you could develop a research agenda to MA level and beyond. Nottingham city is not the most cosmopilitan city in the UK, but it is in the heart of England with London, York, Manchester, Norwich only a few hours a way on the train. Nottingham University is a top notch University. I've worked in 5 leading universities in the UK and Nottingham is by the far the most ambitious and by miles the most international (arguably the most internationally focused teaching university in the UK, if not the world). With our campus in Ningbo and soon to be campus in Shanghai, alongwith Malaysia, U of Nottingham is really at the cutting edge of global knowledge accumulation. As for job prospects: there are difficult times ahead, but a job/career in mental health is always well chosen. Mental illness is not going away, and society will always need people who can work at the sharp end; early intervention especially.

I'm an international student, what can the programme offer me in terms of my development and a career?

Whats the difference between practice route & applied route?

Practice route students complete a supervised placement (100 hours) and submit a reflective portfolio. Applied route students do not take a placement but complete a 30 credit orientation module at the start of the course in late September.

On completion of this course would I be allowed to practice as a counsellor?

At the moment it is still the case that anyone can call themselves a counsellor, the title is not protected. But to claim to be a 'registered practitioner' you need to become registered with a recognised professional body. The Briitish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy is one body. On completion of the MA CCYP course, if you do the practice route, you will have accumulated some 100 hours of supervised practice. If you want to work towards accreditation with the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (BACP) as a fully fledged practitioner, you will still need to complete a further 350 hours of supervised practice. In order to become BACP registered practitioner you will need to develop a portfolio as part of your application, you will need evidence of sustained academic development (the CCYP MA fits the bill) and evidence of supervised practice (with a registered supervisor). The CCYP MA therefore sets you on your journey to registration, but it is longer than the course. In terms of occupation and job opportunities, I would say that the even being on the MA course as a student improves your employability. The University and the course is highly respected, and it is a good reference point for applying for counselling position. In the first place many people do voluntary placements or internships, and again this starts to build your CV.

If I'm not a level 4 qualified counsellor, what can I do if I want to follow the practice route?

If you have demonstrable experience then you may be able to enter the practice route.

Where are the lectures?

All the classes take place in the Dearing building, The classroom numbers are finalised when the programme is distributed at the start of semester. There are only rare occassions when the room number changes. The staff at the front desk usually put the room numbers up on the display board in reception.

Personal therapy; where and when?

I will distribute a list of registered training therapists (BACP, UKCP, BCP) at the beginning of my first class with you. Most of the training therapists are local and many operate a sliding scale (ie they have special rates for students). Some therapists run therapy groups which usually costs less than individual therapy. All students (applied and practice route) are recquired to undergo a peroid of therapy during the course. It might be useful for you to think about being a client is important in you becoming a therapist? You are required to complete 40 hours of personal therapy. There are forms to complete pertaining to your personal therapy. Your therapist will need to sign a form saying they agree to see you, and they will need to sign off the form again to confirm satisfactory completion of therapy hours.

How are assessments carried out?

Formal assessments are mainly written assignments or by presentation. There are some components of personal reflection (eg process group reflection, personal philosophy) which are more about your personal development than demonstrating orthdox academic progress. Assignments vary in length and you will be given clear guidelines at the beginning of each module about assessment requirements. You will also be assigned a tutor for each module and you can organise to meet with your tutor to discuss your essay. You will be able to negotiate your own topic for assignment which will focus on some area of interest in relation to the module aims. With your first submission your module tutor will usually be able to read a draft of your assignment if you have any concerns about your writing. It is helpul for the tutor to know what sort of level your aiming to achieve. Submitting assignment this year will be via Web CT (which was introduced this year). This a new system to all of us, so we will see how this works out, it should make life a lot easier for everybody (that is the idea anyway). See below some information about how to reference.

What happens if I fail an assessment?

Reassessment: students who fail a module or a component of a module may be granted one further opportunity to submit assignments with a view to progression, and upon the recommendation of an Examination Board. At the discretion of the Module Convenor, the form of the re-assessment may be different from the first attempt, provided that it tests the same learning outcomes. This is termed a re-sit and is usually subject to a fee of approximately £120. Status of re-assessment marks: students should note that although re-assessed marks count towards Progression and towards Compensation (where allowed), only original marks are used in the classification of Certificates, Diplomas and Degrees. For example, a student may achieve 58 on re-assessment but only 38 at the first attempt. It is the 38 mark that will be used when calculating award classification.

Are there practice opportunities for applied route students?

Yes, please contact tutors & course leader directly if you want to do a placement and we can discuss options. We have guidelines for UNDERTAKING A PLACEMENT for those students who are doing the applied route. Here they are:

(a) have one year’s previous intensive experience in a helping role (e.g. an internship, teaching etc) where interpersonal and pastoral helping skills have can be evidenced via a portofolio.

(b) experience in personal therapy of no less than 3 months (a recommendation from the training therapist as to the suitability of the candidate to commence a placement may b e requested).

(c) have been interviewed by CCYP course leader where suitability to commence placement has been discussed and agreed by CL.

(d) have completed the necessary child protection data forms.

In the absence of enough experience to form a portfolio students would be recommended to consider a voluntary placement whereby they will have some exposure to children and young people who have mental health problems.

How do I cite and reference in my assignments?

We will look at 'google scholar' and how to do references. My experience is that Google Scholar allows much greatest access to full articles when you log on from a University PC. Compare and contrast Uni access with home access. When referring to research and researchers it is not always necessary to begin the sentence with the name of the researcher, sometimes you can put the researchers name at the end of the sentence. This can create a better narrative flow, while demonstrating that you are evidencing what you are saying. For instance how do you cite this paper on anxiety by Isaac Marks: Marks, I & Nesse, R (1994) Fear & fitness, an analysis of the evolution of anxiety disorders. Ethology and Sociobiology 15: 247-261. Here's three examples of making use of the same idea from the paper and how the reference is correctly set:

There is debate about whether anxiety is functional and when it is disabling (Marks & Nesse, 1994).

Marks & Nesse (1994) say; "too much anxiety can be disabling" (p247).

Anxiety can be functional, however; "too much anxiety can be disabling" (Marks & Nesse, 1994: p247).

NB: The page number is always needed for a quote, and the page number needs to be in the main body of the text.

Reference (notice below how the journal title is in italics, and not the title of the article. In the case of a book reference, it is the book title that needs to be in italics. In the case of a chapter from a book, it is still the book title that needs to be referenced).