Psychosocial Studies with Principles of Psychodynamic Counselling

Psychosocial studies with principles of psychodynamic counselling sits at the meeting point of psychology, sociology and therapeutic practice. Psychosocial studies examines how individual psychology and social structure interact, exploring how social forces of class, race, gender and power shape psychological experience, and how psychological states in turn influence social relationships and institutions. Psychodynamic counselling draws on Freudian and post-Freudian traditions in depth psychology, examining unconscious processes, the role of early experience, the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship and the mechanisms through which change in therapy occurs.

Together these provide a rich and demanding intellectual framework for understanding human experience.

At Birkbeck College this programme is studied part-time, which reflects both the institution's distinctive identity as a university for working adults and the nature of this field, where many students already work in health, social care, education or community settings and bring relevant experience to their studies. Birkbeck's evening and weekend teaching model and its central London location make it accessible to people with professional and personal commitments alongside their studies. You will engage with psychosocial theory, psychodynamic concepts, clinical case material and personal and professional development, developing both intellectual understanding and self-awareness.

Graduates go on to pursue further training in counselling and psychotherapy, to work in mental health services, social care, education, community organisations and healthcare, and to build on the conceptual framework this degree provides in research, policy or organisational development. Many use the degree as a foundation for professional qualification in psychodynamic or integrative counselling and psychotherapy, which requires additional supervised clinical hours and further training. The part-time mode at Birkbeck makes this a genuinely accessible pathway into a field that takes human experience seriously in all its social and psychological complexity.