Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents

Modules and Teaching

• Three years part-time, on campus, starting in October 2026

  Course structure

  You complete nine modules worth a total of 270 credits.

  • The foundation year (Year 1) covers the psychoanalytic attitude and provides an introduction to basic psychoanalytic concepts and techniques and their application to children and adolescents. It gives an overview of individual development and psychosocial issues from this perspective and there is emphasis on understanding infancy, through mother/infant observation.
  • Year 2 provides a deeper study of psychoanalytic theory and psychotherapeutic practice, including a supervised counselling placement. There is an introduction to organisational theory.
  • Year 3 is primarily a clinical year consisting of more intensive supervision in a counselling placement. Advanced seminars in counselling theory and technique and in organisational dynamics are related to the practice placement. A group relations week is also held in both years.

  For the clinical placements in Years 2 and 3, you will need to source regular (weekly or fortnightly) private psychodynamic or psychoanalytic supervision, except where supervision that meets course requirements is provided by the placement. You are required to be in personal psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy from the start of the course, and preferably for up to six months before starting. If you are considering an application you can ask for a copy of our personal therapy requirements.

  Year 1

  • Basic Clinical and Observational Skills (Children and Adolescents)
  • Development of Professional Attitude (Children and Adolescents)
  • Introduction to theoretical & organizational concepts (Children and Adolescents)

  Year 2

  • Advanced Observation Skills Infant Observation Children and Adolescents
  • Basic Psychodynamic & Organizational theory, skills & principles of practice (Children and Adolescents)
  • Basic Psychodynamic Competencies and Professional Attitude (Children and Adolescents)

  Year 3

  • Advanced Psychodynamic Competencies & Professional Attitude (Children and Adolescents)
  • Advanced Psychodynamic Theory, Practice and Organizational Understanding (Children and Adolescents)
  • Evidence Based Practice (Level 7)

• Teaching

  We encourage innovative and engaging ways of teaching to help ensure you have the best learning experience and provide a range of different modes of learning to help you juggle study with work and other commitments.

  Find out more about our teaching and teaching hours.

  What are the methods of teaching?

  Seminars, work discussion, infant observation, practical exercises and experiential groups.

• How will I be assessed?

  Year 1: two termly essays, a 'take-away' examination and a student review.

  Year 2: an infant observation assessment, case study and student review.

  Year 3: a mid-year essay, final portfolio and student review.

  Please see individual modules for more details.

  Find out more about assessment at Birkbeck, including guidance on assessment, feedback and our assessment offences policy.

Entry requirements

Our standard entry requirements for postgraduate courses are a second-class honours degree (2:2), or equivalent.

A minimum of one year full-time (or equivalent part-time) experience of direct work with children and/or adolescents in a professional role and/or helping capacity in an organisational setting is required. You should also have completed a psychodynamic counselling/psychotherapy course at Certificate of Higher Education level (Merit) or equivalent.

We ask that students are established in personal therapy with an approved therapist for at least six months before starting this course and that they remain in therapy for the duration of the course. If you are considering an application, you can ask to speak to a training adviser who can explain the course requirements for a personal therapist. Therapy must be once-weekly and in person.

We will request a short assignment from non-standard entrants.

• What are the English language requirements?

  If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests. We also accept other English language tests.

  If you don't meet the minimum English language requirements, please Global Recruitment at Birkbeck or see our international study skills page for more details about how we can help.

  Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country.

• What are the visa and funding requirements?

  If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

  The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

  • Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
  • Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

  International students who require a Student visa should apply to study on our courses full-time as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol to study part-time courses at Birkbeck (with the exception of some modules).

  As a Student visa student, you should also apply to study on campus only, as online and flexible options of study (if they are available for your course) may affect the conditions of your visa.

  For full information, read our visa information for international students page.

  Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country.

  Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

• Credits and accredited prior learning (APL)

  If you have studied at university (or have an HND or Foundation Degree), you may have accumulated credits. It may be possible to transfer these from your previous study to Birkbeck or another institution.

Fees

• Birkbeck's Lifelong Learning Guarantee

  If you've studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a reduction on the tuition fee of this course.

• Can I apply for an international scholarship?

  We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. View Birkbeck's available scholarships.

• Additional costs

  Students must be seeing a personal therapist at least once a week for the duration of this course. You will need to find your own therapist, although the course tutors can help you with this, and you will have to fund your therapy yourself. The cost of therapy can vary widely, depending on location, availability and income, but you should expect to pay £45-90 per therapy session.

  Private clinical supervision while on placement is compulsory from 2024-25 onwards, except in the event that suitable psychodynamic supervision is provided on placement. Supervision forms a core element of clinical learning during the course and supports you to meet the personal and professional development competencies for each stage. Supervision would normally be either weekly or fortnightly. The fee should be negotiated with the individual supervisor at a cost range similar to that of personal therapy.

  In some instances, you may be asked by your placement to take out personal indemnity insurance which can incur an annual cost of £55-100.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this MSc Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents, you will have gained an array of important transferable skills, including in:

• listening
• clinical thinking
• critical thinking
• academic writing
• observation
• reflexivity
• effective group/organisational participation.

Graduates can pursue career paths in counselling and education. Possible professions include:

• child psychotherapist
• counsellor
• educational psychologist
• learning mentor
• youth worker.

Birkbeck graduates from this course have gone on to be employed in various therapeutic and educational settings including in charities such as Place2Be and the Brent Centre for Young People, schools and colleges, and also in research. 

Read about how you can become a professional counsellor or psychotherapist.

Student support

How to apply

• When should I apply?

  You are strongly advised to apply now, to ensure there are still places left, and to give you enough time to complete the admissions process, to arrange funding and to enrol.

  You don't need to complete your current programme of study before you apply - Birkbeck can offer you a place that is conditional on your results.

• How can I get help with my application?

  Get all the information you need about the application, admission and enrolment process at Birkbeck.

  Our online personal statement tool will guide you through every step of writing the personal statement part of your application.

• International agents

  If you are an international agent applying to Birkbeck on behalf of an international student, please use Birkbeck's agent portal.