MSc in Psychotherapy

The MSc in Psychotherapy in DCU is a four-year part-time professional training programme at Level 9 NFQ (120 credits). Students may exit after two years with a Graduate Diploma in Psychotherapy (60 credits; although do note that the Graduate Diploma is not a professional qualification, and on its own cannot be utilised to seek professional accreditation or to practise psychotherapy). The MSc programme is an integrative psychotherapy training programme, focused on working with individual adult clients; not for working with children adolescents or relationships/couples, as this would involve further or more specialised training. Our programme is integrative in comprising of and holding instruction and in-formation within the theories and practice of humanistic, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioural, and systemic approaches. The MSc programme fosters an inquiry-based attitude in psychotherapy theory, practice and research. This integrative psychotherapy programme provides students with an opportunity to work psychotherapeutically with a diversity of clients with complex and multifaceted needs and intends to hold equality, diversity and inclusion as a core principle for staff, students, clinical training and thus clients. 

1. How is the course accredited?  The MSc in Psychotherapy is accredited by Dublin City University and therefore provides graduating students with an internationally recognised Level 9 qualification.  While psychotherapy is a designated health service profession that is in the process of being regulated by CORU (the Irish regulatory body for health and social care professions), as statutory registration is not in place in Ireland as yet, DCU has course accreditation from two professional organisations, the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy https://www.irish-counselling.ie/ and the National Association for Professional Counselling and Psychotherapy http://www.napcp.ie/.  Psychotherapists registered with professional organisations such as the IACP or the NAPCP are recognised by many state and private employers in Ireland.  Students considering applying for accreditation with other organisations, within Ireland or beyond, need to inform themselves of those organisation’s requirements, and are advised to contact them in advance of taking our programme for clarification about whether and how they can get accredited after completion of the MSc. As an IACP accredited and informed course, we direct students and are guided in relation to their accreditation processes

2. How and when are lectures scheduled?  The DCU academic calendar runs over two semesters, each semester normally running over a 12-week period (from September in semester 1 and from January in semester 2). Typically, during the academic year there are ten 3-day blocks of face-to-face teaching either online or in person (28-30 days per year).  For the first two years of the programme, there will be four 3-day and one 2-day blocks in semester 1 and the same in Semester 2; these blocks normally occur about every month weeks cross the eight months of the academic year (September to April), usually on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays (however, this schedule is open to revision from year to year, and students will be given advance notice of an upcoming revision to the typical schedule). The 2026-27 Calendar has not yet been decided.

There are a reduced number of teaching days in the second semester of year three and in year four (The time commitment reduces from year 3 onwards (18 days for year 3; 13 days for year 4) However students also attend individual research supervision meetings during this part of the programme (approximately two or three times a semester) beginning in semester 2 of year 3.  Face-to-face lectures, workshops, skills practice and tutorials are delivered in the School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health in DCU https://www.dcu.ie/snpch (Glasnevin campus). All teaching is supported by our online learning platform Loop.  A sample timetable for year one is provided below as an example of how class times are normally configured. As this is a clinical training programme, students are required to attend a minimum of 75% of all classes within each module, or else they would be asked to repeat the module the following academic year which would constrain their progression to the subsequent year of the MSc. 

In academic year 2025-26 most latter years (not first year) have one teaching block per semester delivered online, as IACP regulations allow for up to 30% of teaching delivery to be provided online. This also allows students experience and practice online practice, skills and the environment as since the Covid pandemic online/hybrid clinical work is expected of placements and employers in psychotherapy delivery and practice. 

3. What are the entry requirements and how do I apply? For admission to the MSc. in Psychotherapy, entrants will normally:

• Have a relevant level 8 undergraduate degree (on the NFQ: National Framework of Qualifications; or its equivalent outside of Ireland; for example, in an interpersonal personal health care discipline/discourse such as social care/work, psychology, nursing, education, etc.)

• Have a minimum of one year's (by closing date for applications – February 28 in the application year) recent relevant professional experience in a clinical caring or mental helping role, which has included some clinical training and supervision (for example, voluntary counsellor/helpline work, social care, nursing, special needs teaching or guidance counselling, psychology assistant or pastoral care experience). The majority of this experience needs to have been working with adults and be based on real time verbal communication (in person or by phone/video, but not text or email communication). 

• Be able to demonstrate reflective capacity, personal readiness, and professional suitability for psychotherapy training.

• Successfully undertake a selection interview.

Further details and direction to the online application portal is available at this link: https://www.dcu.ie/courses/postgraduate/school-nursing-psychotherapy-and-community-health/msc-psychotherapy. The application portal is normally open from November of the previous year with a closing date of the 28^th of February. Shortlisted, eligible applicants are invited for interview during March. Thus, please note that only applications that are fully completed by the 28^th of February can be considered. Do please note that this is a very competitive process as the number of places available on the programme is restricted to meet student/lecturer ratios (currently we have an intake of 20 students per year). 

Can I still apply if I do not meet the exact entry criteria? It is not possible to compensate for not having the required active clinical experience of having a minimum of one year's (by closing date for applications – February 28) recent relevant professional experience in a clinical caring or helping role, which has included some clinical training and supervision. This condition is a core requirement and applications that cannot evidence this cannot be considered. (See above)

It is also not possible to compensate for not having the required professional experience but if you do not have a relevant level 8 interpersonal personal health care degree, it is possible to apply for consideration of other relevant personal/mental health practice and qualifications, learning and experience through completing an additional Recognition of prior experience and learning criteria (RPL) application. The RPL application is submitted only after successful online application and interview for the MSc. However, it is important to closely review what is required in the RPL application form before submitting your online application to the MSc and to include in your personal statement your intention to apply through RPL, and on what grounds. Further information on RPL entry is available from the MSc programme administrator, Lilija Prialgauskiene (lilija.prialgauskiene@dcu.ie).

4. Can I apply if I am already accredited as a counsellor or psychotherapist but want to upgrade my qualification?  Applicants who already have accreditations as a psychotherapist or counsellor with a recognised professional organisation and who have relevant educational achievements may apply to enter the programme at year two or year three, through submitting an additional Recognition of prior experience and learning (RPL) application. The RPL application is submitted only after successful online application and interview for the MSc. However, it is important to closely review what is required in the RPL application form before submitting your online application to the MSc and to include in your personal statement your intention to apply to join the MSc in a later year through RPL, and on what grounds. The RPL form is available from the MSc programme administrator, Lilija Prialgauskiene (lilija.prialgauskiene@dcu.ie).

5. What are the fees and are there any additional costs?  The programme fees are available at this link: https://www.dcu.ie/courses/postgraduate/school-nursing-psychotherapy-and-community-health/msc-psychotherapy#collapse-prospectus-requirements These annual fees are set by the university and may be open to revision. There are additional costs for personal therapy and clinical supervision, as noted below. 

6. Do I have to attend personal therapy?  All students are required to attend 80 hours of individual personal therapy over the course of the four-year MSc programme (with 25 hours for year one; students who repeat or defer a year may also have to allow for additional personal therapy work to support them and their clinical practice). This is an additional cost and time commitment to attendance at classes in DCU. Personal therapists need to be professionally accredited and meet requirements as set by DCU and the accrediting bodies (IACP and NAPCP).

7. Do I have to attend clinical supervision?  Students attend group supervision within each of the 8 meetings of the module Professional Practice Portfolio (PPP) academic blocks in DCU during the academic years 3 and 4 of the MSc and within each of that module’s 4 meetings during semester two year 2. This provided within DCU as part of the MSc programme. Students are also required to attend one hour of individual clinical supervision for every five client practice hours (60 individual clinical supervision hours in total to meet the course requirement of 300 client hours) during years 2-4, which is an additional cost and time commitment to attendance at classes in DCU.  The programme team provide guidance on sourcing a clinical supervisor as supervisors need to be professionally accredited and meet requirements as set by DCU and the accrediting bodies (IACP and NAPCP).

8. Do I get help with sourcing placements?  Students commence clinical placement following successful completion of the first year of the programme.  All students are required to engage in clinical practice during each of years two (80 client hours), year three (100 client hours) and year four (120 client hours) of the programme (a total of 300 client hours). The programme team provide guidance on sourcing a clinical placement from the current list of approved placements or in gaining approval of a new placement. It is important to note that under current insurance requirements, students cannot receive payment for these clinical hours.

9. Can I undertake the programme if I am a non-EU student or if I’m not a native English speaker?  DCU welcomes international students.  Students applying from outside the EU are advised to contact the international office https://www.dcu.ie/international to have their qualifications verified by the university and to get information on living and studying in Ireland prior to application.   Non-EU fees apply to international students whose definitions are decided by the university (see link to fees above).  International students applying to take the programme should always check their national requirements for practising as a psychotherapist as standards vary from state to state.  Students considering applying for accreditation with international organisations need to inform themselves of those organisation’s requirements and are advised to contact them in advance of taking our programme for clarification about whether and how they can get accredited after completion of the MSc. Guidance regarding English language competency requirements and testing/certification are available at this link: https://www.dcu.ie/registry/english-language-requirements-non-native-speakers-english-registry

Sample Academic Schedule (2024-25) Semester 1 DCU MSc in Psychotherapy First Year

Sample Academic Schedule (2024-25) Semester 2 DCU MSc in Psychotherapy First Year

 [RO1]Not sure if these amounts have changed since last year?