Creative Writing and Psychology

Creative writing and psychology is a combination that develops two very different but complementary ways of understanding human experience. Creative writing asks you to give artistic form to observations, emotions and ideas, working across fiction, poetry, drama and life writing to develop your voice and your craft as a writer. Psychology applies scientific methods to the study of mind and behaviour, developing rigorous empirical and analytical skills for understanding how people think, feel, learn and act.

Together, they develop both the imaginative insight and the scientific understanding that a rounded comprehension of what it means to be human requires.

At Liverpool Hope University, this four-year programme with a foundation year is set in a city with a distinctive literary and cultural heritage, taught by writers, poets and academics closely connected to the local writing community and recognised internationally for their work. You will develop your writing skills and creative practice alongside rigorous psychological training, building the portfolio and the empirical capabilities that both disciplines demand. A sandwich placement year provides professional experience relevant to your career ambitions, a year abroad adds international dimension, and work placement opportunities throughout the programme connect your studies to professional contexts in writing, psychology and related fields.

Graduates from creative writing and psychology programmes pursue careers in writing, publishing, journalism, content creation, mental health support, research, education, social services, human resources and the arts. The psychological training supports pathways into counselling, wellbeing work, user experience research, market research and healthcare, while the creative writing dimension is valuable in communications, media, publishing and professional writing. Many graduates pursue postgraduate study, including psychology conversion programmes or postgraduate degrees in creative writing, education or a related discipline.

The combination of creative and scientific thinking is genuinely distinctive and increasingly valued across the professional world.