University course

I would like to study to become an art therapist for children and an unsure, would a psychology undergraduate degree, or psychology with counselling be best for this?

Hi @Katva21
It’s great to hear that you’re interested in this area - Art Therapy is a really rewarding career path! 😁
Typically, to become an Art Therapist you’ll need a postgraduate/masters degree in Art Therapy or Art Psychotherapy. Each university differs but usually to apply for a Postgraduate Art Therapy degree you’ll need an undergraduate degree in Art and Design or another relevant subject (social work, teaching psychology, etc.)
In terms of deciding between a single honours Psychology undergraduate degree, or combining this with Counselling, that’s completely up to you, however combining with something like counselling would help to broaden your knowledge and skillset, which will open more options to you.
At Chester we offer both single honours Psychology, and also Counselling Skills and Psychology. I’ll link these below so that you can read into the differences between the two if you’d like to. We also offer a postgraduate Art Therapy degree! I’ll link to this below too. I know it’s early to think about a Postgraduate degree, but it might useful to plan backwards by looking into entry requirements as this could help with your query about undergraduate study.

I’d recommend researching a couple of universities which offer Psychology and Counselling degrees and narrowing down to a couple that interest you the most. Once you have a couple of places in mind it’s a good idea to book onto some Open Days so that you can visit in person and compare different places and what they offer. When visiting in person you can chat to Psychology departments and admission teams about your career goals to get some advice.
If you have any questions about studying psychology, art therapy, or the University of Chester just drop a comment below – I’d be happy to help 🙂
Best wishes
Becky