Course summary

Overview The Foundation Degree (FdA) in Integrative Counselling, offered by Iron Mill in Exeter and Poole is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). The programme is designed to qualify competent, confident and creative counsellors, who stand out from the crowd as highly professional graduates, well resourced for entering the workplace. The programmes are exiting, vocationally relevant and with a clear focus on up-to-date counselling theory and practice. The FdA in Integrative Counselling prepares graduates to practice as professional counsellors, and resources those who are aiming for future personal accreditation with the BACP. Graduates will also be eligible for direct progression onto the BA (Hons) Integrative Counselling, to top up to a full honours degree in just one year of study. The BA (Hons) in Integrative Counselling is open to FdA graduates, and also open to experienced applicants who may have qualified as a counsellor many years ago, and who wish to refresh and update their professional skills and gain an advanced university validated qualification in one year (see entry criteria). Key features

• This advanced, two year, professional degree programme is delivered at Iron Mill College, in Exeter, and in Poole

• Focuses attention on the importance, quality and depth of relationship as the central component of therapeutic work

• We are in the process of applying for Accreditation to include OPT (online and phone therapy) Core Training into the programme. If successful, up to 30% of teaching will be delivered online

• Worcester rose to become the number one English university (excluding specialist institutions) for sustained employment, further study, or both, three and five years after graduation in the 2022 Government-published Longitudinal Educational Outcomes survey, having been in the top 10 in 2020 and 2021. 96% of our graduates are in work or further study 15 months after graduating (Graduate Outcomes Survey 2022).

• For almost three decades, the University of Worcester has been educating professionals to work in the health and social care sectors, from Nurses and Midwives to Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists, Paramedics to Physician Associates. Each year, hundreds of professionals graduate from Worcester and go on to make a significant contribution to society. The University’s new medical school welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2023. The Three Counties Medical School will help to address the pressing need for more doctors in this left-behind part of the Country.

• The University of Worcester has been ranked in the top 5 in the UK for Quality Education in the Times Higher Education’s University Impact Rankings every year since its inception in 2019. The University has also been ranked in the top 5 in the UK for Gender Equality in all years of the rankings and currently holds the number one spot (2023).