Should I Do A Non-Accredited Masters or an Accredited Diploma in Psychotherapy?

gahalarules

Hi All

I am so confused, I need your help....

I want to move into counselling/psychotherapy and am struggling to pick a course to do so.

I have a BA from UCD in Sociology (with an elective in Psychology for 1 year) so thought this might negate the need for me to do a foundation course in the area.

My problem is this - do I do a Diploma course (the one I'm looking at is IICP) for 2 years which is recognised by the IACP, or a Masters course (DCU) for 4 years that is not?

Does either one mean I can practice at the end of it?

Also, on the DCU thing, there are THREE masters courses in the Counselling/Psychotherapy field....which one is best??

I know you guys are busy but any help would really be greatly appreciated as this is a life-changing decision for me and I want to make the right one!

Thanks :-)

hotspur

Both will enable you to practice as a psychotherapist. Doing one of the DCU ones may future proof you however.

There are more regulatory bodies than the IACP, look at the sticky in this forum on statutory regulation for a list of them. Doing one of the DCU ones will get you into both the IACP and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy. Just because the IACP only lists x number of recognised courses doesn't mean you won't get in with another one. And if you can join the ICP then you probably wouldn't be that interested in joining the IACP anyway.

One of DCU's courses is actually run by Turning Point in Dun Laoghaire, it is accredited by DCU, that's the M.Sc. in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy. Graduates from that tend to join IAHIP which is part of the ICP.

I don't really get the deal with DCU offering both a 4 years Masters in Psychotherapy and a 3 year MSc in Counselling & Psychotherapeutic Practice. I'm not sure what the difference is.

Be aware that DCU tended to specialise in couples therapy and transpersonal therapy. Maybe one of their courses still does. Also be aware that IICP specialise in reality therapy. You may or may not want to train in these modalities.

Your BA with some psychology electives may get you away with having to do a foundation in some places, but not with others. So you may have to do a foundation course. I am assuming that this is all for starting in 2011 because you're a bit late for 2010 really.

Bottom line - doing 2 year IICP will get you into the IACP and you can practice. If statutory regulation comes in then you might find yourself underqualified. How IICP manage to get their 2 year course accredited by the IACP is something of a mystery to me actually when all the others take longer.

gahalarules

Thanks Hotspur.

Yeah, it's probably for next year at this stage. Although there are some places on the MSc with Turning Point for this year....I've been trying to contact DCU to find out what the difference is between the two courses.
If both are accreditable, I would rather do the 3 year one!

The Turning Point MSc is around €25k total which is a lot of money, but I'm considering doing it. There are no fees posted for the 3 year MSc so who knows??

If I can't get on to a course this year would I be better off doing a foundation course for the year either way, to increase my chances of acceptance onto a Master's course for next year?

One final question - if I did do a diploma initially, do postgrad courses allow any credits on these or would you generally have to start a masters from scratch?

Thanks

JuliusCaesar

gahalarules wrote: »

The Turning Point MSc is around €25k total which is a lot of money, but I'm considering doing it. There are no fees posted for the 3 year MSc so who knows??

You could email them or, heavens forbid, actually PHONE them. They'll tell you the fees if you ask. I'm sure they do actually know the fees for the MSc.

gahalarules

Thanks Julius

I should have clarified, I've left several messages on various DCU administrative staff's phones and emailed.....

Thanks for the advice though - I'll take it in the helpful manner in which I'm sure it was suggested :-) :-)

hotspur

You may find that you need a foundation course to get onto any of the Turning Point / DCU ones, couldn't say for sure, but that ought to be the case.

DCU also does an access programme which is a foundation course for entry into their psychotherapy courses. But any foundation course should do.

I think you can exit the DCU and Turning Point one with a graduate diploma if you wish, but doing an extra year for a Masters seems sensible. If you did the IICP one and got a diploma (not a graduate diploma mind) then I don't see how that could contribute credit wise to getting a Masters anywhere.

There are other psychotherapy course options out there besides the ones you mentioned btw.

gahalarules

Thank you very much Hotspur! You were a great help :-)