Course summary

• Meet the BPS Stage 1 requirements for progression to becoming a health psychologist.
• Gain a wide range of knowledge, skills and values.
• Use these to develop your career in a variety of health-related settings.

Complete the course with the skills to progress onto stage two training in health psychology – as long as you have eligibility for BPS’ graduate basis for chartered membership (GBC). Stage two includes the BPS-accredited Doctoral Programme in Health Psychology – which once completed, provides eligibility to apply for registration as a practitioner health psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.

How you learn

All our courses are designed around a set of key principles based on engaging you with the world, collaborating with others, challenging you to think in new ways, and providing you with a supportive environment in which you can thrive.

The course content includes social determinants of health, research methods, understanding behaviour and clinical practitioner skills. You’ll study biopsychosocial determinants of acute illness, behaviour change interventions and adjust to long-term conditions and bereavement. You’ll then learn more advanced research methods and undertake a research project.

You learn through

• online study
• group work
• problem solving
• practitioner skills workshops
• research conferences

Modules combine online learning with one day a week on campus. This provides flexible learning opportunities to enable a diverse range of students to study alongside employment and/or family commitments.

Our course leaders are experts in clinical health practitioner work in private practice and in the NHS. You’ll be introduced to a range of applied skills that you’ll practise during on-campus study days

• motivational interviewing techniques
• conflict resolution skills relevant to working in multidisciplinary healthcare teams
• consultation and collaborative treatment planning
• solution-focused counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• the communication of bad news
• critical self-reflection and ethical reasoning

 Future careers

This course prepares you for a career in

• psychology practice
• psychology academia
• public health
• research
• education
• industry
• health promotion

Previous graduates of this course have gone on to work for

• the NHS
• the social care sector
• universities, in teaching and research
• drug and rehabilitation services
• consultancy
• private practice

 Modules

Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.