Psychology MSc Vs Counselling and Psychotherapy MA

Hi guys,

I'm looking for any advice that anyone might be able to give. I'm a mature arts graduate looking to make a career change to working in mental health.

I've done a fair bit of research and have been accepted into Psychology MSc conversion distance course for Northumbria and waiting to hear back from Glasgow and Leicester. My original goal was to eventually pursue the counselling psychology doctorate after my MSc and gaining some further experience, however after reading posts on here and more research I'm also considering the MA at Leeds in Psychotherapy and Counselling.

My issue isn't the length of time involved with either option, to get onto the MA at Leeds I would still need to complete a year of level 3 counselling studies and then substantial supervised hours even after the 3 yr MA to become accredited (albeit only by BACP). My partner is not British and we've been planning to move abroad, most likely back to his home country South Africa, due to family reasons. This is where my quandary lies. Obviously I have a limited amount of masters funding from the UK which I want to use wisely. Am I better off doing the psychology masters in the UK and then continuing my counselling psychology training in South Africa? Or am I better off doing the MA at Leeds and having some sort of employability. My main concern is that psychotherapists aren't a protected position in the UK, let alone abroad and I want to spend my master's funding well. Hope that makes sense!