Question: counselling or psychology?

I am a mature student, currently studying level 2 counselling skills. I have previously gained a first class hons BSc and worked for 10 years in an unrelated industry. For a few years I have considered changing my career and I’m now on that path. I am doing this level 2 counselling skills course at a local college and enjoying it. I have also done volunteer roles with children and young people in a mentoring position. My question is what to do next, do I go to study a psychology conversion course with the eventual hope to do a doctorate? Or do I continue with the counselling pathway. Does anyone have the positives / negatives of both? Or experience in either? I’ve had a psychologist said I should do counselling as it’s quicker, but I don’t want to choose something for that reason if it’s not the best option for me.Thanks in advance

Reply 1

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Original post by Livvv1

I am a mature student, currently studying level 2 counselling skills. I have previously gained a first class hons BSc and worked for 10 years in an unrelated industry. For a few years I have considered changing my career and I’m now on that path. I am doing this level 2 counselling skills course at a local college and enjoying it. I have also done volunteer roles with children and young people in a mentoring position. My question is what to do next, do I go to study a psychology conversion course with the eventual hope to do a doctorate? Or do I continue with the counselling pathway. Does anyone have the positives / negatives of both? Or experience in either? I’ve had a psychologist said I should do counselling as it’s quicker, but I don’t want to choose something for that reason if it’s not the best option for me.Thanks in advance

Hiya! Current psychology student here.

I think that both routes have their advantages and disadvantages. I think that counselling is best if you definitely know you want to specialise in therapeutic work. Psychology is good if you want to study psychology to a wider level. Counselling is definitely very clinical, but in a psychology degree like the one I'm studying at Cardiff, you also cover a bunch of other stuff such as neuroscience, social psychology, cognitive psychology etc. A psychology conversion degree could lead you to lots of different careers within psych, whilst going into counselling would just lead you to just that - counselling. It's also worth mentioning that psychology at university is purely academic, looking into research rather than any applied stuff.

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep

Reply 2

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Original post by Livvv1

I am a mature student, currently studying level 2 counselling skills. I have previously gained a first class hons BSc and worked for 10 years in an unrelated industry. For a few years I have considered changing my career and I’m now on that path. I am doing this level 2 counselling skills course at a local college and enjoying it. I have also done volunteer roles with children and young people in a mentoring position. My question is what to do next, do I go to study a psychology conversion course with the eventual hope to do a doctorate? Or do I continue with the counselling pathway. Does anyone have the positives / negatives of both? Or experience in either? I’ve had a psychologist said I should do counselling as it’s quicker, but I don’t want to choose something for that reason if it’s not the best option for me.Thanks in advance

Hello, first of all it's amazing that you want to get back into studying despite already doing a degree! There are definitely pros and cons to both options, which I will attempt to outline here.

By sticking with just a counselling qualification, you could start work as a counsellor and quickly find a position and (hopefully) stable income. You also wouldn't have to pay off tuition fees, etc. However, counselling courses qualify you *only* for counselling, so you would have to be happy with that being your career path.

If you decided to complete a conversion in psychology, then you would have a significantly wider array of careers open to you. Psychology is one of the most diverse qualifications in terms of employability options, with people choosing to go into anything from clinical psychology, to teaching, to cybersecurity. However, this is a much longer path to take and as you move up the education scale it gets a lot more competitive. You would need to spend some time getting relevant work experience alongside and potentially after your MSc. A lot of people don't get accepted onto a DClinPsy in their first application round, either. But all that being said, if you have the drive to do something then you should absolutely do it. I'm a firm believer that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

So overall, it really depends on how you weigh up the pros and cons of each option and decide which is best for you at this point in your life, and most importantly which would make you the happiest. You could always do some part time counselling work during your degree, or volunteer for a charity such as Mind, SHOUT, Samaritans, or your university's Nightline if they have one.

Good luck making your decision!!
-Kat (2nd Year Psychology Undergraduate @ Lancaster University)

Reply 3

Livvv1

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Thank you for the replies! I’ve been looking into it, and the more I look, the more options and pathways there seems to be..

If I did a psychology conversion course, do you think this would also open up the possibility of counselling roles/further progression there. If I found that I didn’t want to go the doctorate route later down the line?

Reply 4

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Original post by Livvv1

Thank you for the replies! I’ve been looking into it, and the more I look, the more options and pathways there seems to be..
If I did a psychology conversion course, do you think this would also open up the possibility of counselling roles/further progression there. If I found that I didn’t want to go the doctorate route later down the line?

I would say yes! Many students go down the counselling route after a psychology undergrad/conversion course.

I would also say that going for the doctorate is not the only route into doing clinical work in psychology - I'd recommend having a look at roles such as: psychology wellbeing practitioner (PWP), clinical associate in applied psychology (CAAP), education mental health practitioner (EMHP). Trainee roles into these jobs are almost like apprenticeships - you do study while you work, but these are also other alternatives to doing therapeutic work within the NHS :smile:

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep

(edited 7 months ago)

Question: counselling or psychology?

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