Doctor of Professional Studies in Counselling and Psychotherapy Studies DProf

The aim of this module is for students to produce a sustained and persuasive argument concerning how their personal and professional experience as senior practitioners has equipped them for the high level work required to engage with this Doctoral programme.

This is an opportunity for students to demonstrate:

• critical reflection on and review of the strands of their personal and professional experience which have brought them to this point in their life;
• the range and depth of their professional knowledge and experience;
• their ability to critically review, analyse and evaluate their own professional practice, and to manage their own learning, solve problems and communicate with others.
• a convincing case for how work already undertaken is relevant both to the level and proposed focus of the doctoral work to be undertaken on the Programme.

During the module students will critically examine their existing skills, and identify areas of development required, in order to be able to gain and utilise the necessary skills for becoming effective doctoral level researchers and for the transferrable skills required in their future careers. The content will be based on the four domains of the researcher development framework these being:

a)    The knowledge, intellectual abilities and techniques to do research.

b)    The knowledge and skills to work with others and ensure the wider impact of research

c)    The knowledge of the standards, requirements and professionalism to do research.

d)    The personal qualities and approach to be an effective researcher.

The process will be facilitated by their participation in a number of workshops which are designed to be used by them to benchmark their skill level in that particular area. In addition a series of experiential sessions will enable them to establish their confidence and ability in less concrete aspects of the framework such as creativity, critical analysis & reflection, self-management and professional engagement.

The aim of this module is for students to demonstrate their ability to contribute to their own strategic development as a researcher-practitioner, and to probe specialist areas of Counselling, Psychotherapy, and/or Psychological Trauma research and practice. Through engagement with relevant CPD activities and critical reflection, students will be able to demonstrate their development through discussion, dialogue, and critical discovery.

The context, focus and question for the proposed research project forms the basis of the content in this module. Students will develop a rationale for the project’s value, usefulness and originality and locate this in the wider context of issues, debates and methods within the disciplines of either Counselling, Psychotherapy or Psychological Trauma. Other relevant academic disciplines will also be drawn upon where relevant for informing the project scope and content. Drawing on earlier programme learning and content, a comprehensive methodological approach for undertaking the project appropriate to the research question will be developed and refined, including addressing appropriate research paradigms and the nature and limitations of specific research methods. As researcher practitioners, students will also have the opportunity to locate themselves and their practice within this framework.  The connections between the research question, objectives, and methodology (especially research design and data gathering) will be considered and debated to enable the effective interpretation of evidence and conclusions advanced. The ethical considerations of any planned research will be explored in detail together with an identification of any resources required to complete the project, a plan of how these resources can be accessed and a timetable for the completion of the project.

The overall aim of the module is to enable student to produce a range of publishable quality pieces of work that speak to different audiences, and to enable them to effectively communicate and disseminate their ideas and application to their areas of practice. The module will enable the student to produce work of publishable quality for the intended audience and according to the guidance given for the chosen source of publication. The work will contain an original contribution to knowledge, either in topic area, method, synthesis of theory and practice, engagement with conceptual issues, and its ability to record, analyse and critique an area of practice. This module aims to allow the students to develop a range of writing styles to facilitate a voice for their ideas in their chosen target audience. The work will add worth and value to the area of practice and extend the understanding of that area for the audience involved.

This module provides an opportunity for students to undertake a research project, normally empirical in nature, and focussed on their current practice. During this period students will complete a literature review; gather data to address their research question; express these data succinctly; analyse the data; draw conclusions in relation to their research question and reflect on their research and its significance, making recommendations for future practice and research.

A thesis may have elements of empirical data, or may have none. For example, a thesis dealing critically with the historical development of theory, skills or competences, may analyse how these areas of knowledge have emerged and been deployed, which may mean that no significant empirical data is included; however, critically appraising the effects that advances in new areas of knowledge might have had, could involve the inclusion of empirical data, illustrating changes in practice as a result of these developments.