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Doctorate by coursework

Doctor of Psychology in Counselling Psychology – Melbourne (Bundoora) (HDPCP)

This course is an Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC)-accredited fifth, sixth and seventh year of study in professional psychology.

With origins in humanistic and existential traditions this program embraces interpersonal process, core-conflictual-schema, psychodynamic, systems, communication and developmental perspectives of psychological distress and disorder and its treatment and resolution. In addition, this program prepares students to take on leadership roles in the supervision, teaching, and research effort in Counselling Psychology and to develop expertise in two or more of the following fields of study: supervision and supervisory processes including evaluation; transcultural mental health; individual, groupwork and systems approaches to psychotherapy; psychotherapy research. The program aims to produce counselling psychology practitioners who can:

• Competently work psychotherapeutically with clients across the lifespan in group and individual settings with the full range of client problems and disorders
• Engage in high levels of reflection and self-awareness in relation to their professional practice and contribute to the practice and ongoing development of clinical supervision, including taking on supervisory roles
• Knowledgeably use and recognise the limitations of psychiatric systems of classification
• Knowledgeably use psychometric assessment in applied work settings
• Interpret the implications of current research findings on empirically-supported therapy in relation to core concepts (metamodels) of psychotherapy and counselling
• Contribute to the practitioner/researcher literature in counselling psychology through the submission of articles for peer-reviewed publications
• Demonstrate general knowledge of contemporary pharmacological treatment relevant to psychological disorders
• Knowledgeably work in, and contribute to transcultural mental health fields of counselling practice

Internship is designed to meet the requirements of both the Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria and the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council. The principal activity of the internship must be counselling/psychotherapy. Students are required to complete four distinct supervised placements during the course of their 3 year full-time enrolment (or equivalent). The cumulative total of supervised placement hours must reach 1500 hours (200 days). There must be a minimum of 330 hours of client contact in that cumulative total. Further details concerning placements can be found in the Counselling Psychology Internship Handbook issued to students when they are accepted into the Doctor of Psychology in Counselling Psychology.

Students are prepared through their participation in research seminars to conduct research in counselling psychology, By the end of the first year of full-time study (or part-time equivalent) students must complete a research proposal, an initial literature review, and must complete and submit an Ethics application to satisfy the requirements for Masters Research Seminars A & B.

Further details concerning doctoral thesis requirements can be found in the Counselling Psychology Thesis Guidelines Handbook issued to students when they are accepted into the Doctor of Psychology in Counselling Psychology.

Admission requirements

Admission is restricted to people who have satisfactorily completed an APAC-approved fourth year in psychology at an Australian university at an A-B average or equivalent. Overseas-qualified graduates would need to have their qualifications ratified by the Australian Psychological Society. Applicants are ranked on the basis of documented evidence of past academic and professional performance/potential. Experience in the counselling field is valued and given consideration in the selection process. In addition, professional references, work experience, and the likelihood of an applicant fulfilling the personal and professional requirements of a program are taken into consideration. All other things being equal, applicants with high levels of academic performance will take precedence in selection.

Applicants would normally be students already enrolled in the Master of Counselling Psychology. Applications for the program from these students will be invited toward the end of the student’s first year of full-time study (or part-time equivalent). Students will need to achieve the equivalent of H2A in research seminar subjects to be eligible for the program. Students accepted into the program at the end of their first year of studies, must demonstrate, by the end of their second year of full-time study, they have continuing high levels of performance in their studies in all three course components before being enrolled in the course. Students deemed to have sustained this level of performance may be required to terminate at the master level. There is no provision for external study.

Course Structure

The Doctor of Psychology in Counselling Psychology degree is undertaken over three years of full-time study (or equivalent part-time study). The degree requires 360 credit points and full-time students typically progress through the degree by enrolling in 60 credit points per semester over six semesters. There are three components of the course: professional seminars (33%), practicums (17%) and a research project (50%).

First year

Second year

Third year