The DPsych programme aims to develop highly-skilled, well-rounded, self-aware psychological practitioners and researchers who will make a valuable contribution to the profession, both inside and outside the consulting room. A successful graduate of the DPsych meets the standards and competencies set by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the British Psychological Society (BPS), and is eligible for registration and chartership with those bodies. The DPsych programme is committed to producing practitioner psychologists who are well prepared to meet the needs of each client and to utilise individualised formulation and intervention, while never losing sight of the relationship at the core of the endeavour. To support this, the DPsych gives training in three approaches to therapy: existential-phenomenological, cognitive-behavioural, and psychodynamic. The principal model of the programme is existential-phenomenological psychotherapy, one of the foundational influences in the profession of counselling psychology. Existential-phenomenological approaches and counselling psychology emphasise subjective, lived experience; recognise the importance of dialogue; and take a holistic, relational view of human nature and of psychological difficulties. Irrespective of the modality employed, we encourage and develop a “pervasive existential sensibility” in our trainees’ therapeutic work. This programme is validated by the Open University, UK. More information about the Open University validation. In January 2016, a redesigned DPsych was validated by the OU and accredited by the BPS for a five-year period.

Psychology Related fields