Counselling

Counselling is a professional practice concerned with supporting people through difficulties in their emotional, psychological, and interpersonal lives, using structured conversations and established therapeutic approaches to help clients understand and address their concerns. It is a discipline that draws on psychology, attachment theory, developmental psychology, and a range of therapeutic frameworks, including person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, and integrative approaches, to develop practitioners who can work ethically and effectively with a diverse range of clients and presenting issues.

At Teesside this two-year full-time programme provides a focused and intensive training in counselling principles and practice. The programme introduces the principles of cognitive behaviour therapy and its application in counselling settings, examining how mental distress can be understood within a CBT framework and drawing on evidence-based practice informed by NICE guidelines. You will develop skills in psychological formulation, therapeutic intervention, and collaborative working with clients, building both theoretical understanding and practical competence in a setting that values ethical and empathic professional practice.

The training develops the reflective capacity and self-awareness that effective counselling requires alongside the technical and conceptual skills of the discipline.

Graduates in counselling find careers across a wide range of settings in which emotional support and therapeutic work are needed. Private practice, NHS Talking Therapies services, schools and universities, charitable organisations, workplace employee assistance programmes, hospices, and community mental health services are among the most common employment contexts. The programme provides a foundation for further clinical training and supervision, and many graduates pursue additional qualifications in specific therapeutic modalities or undertake continuing professional development aligned to professional body standards.

Some also continue to postgraduate study in counselling, psychotherapy, or clinical psychology.