Family Therapy | Study at King’s | King’s College London

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We are proud to have been awarded an IoPPN Excellence Award in 2018 for student satisfaction in the Postgraduate Taught Education Survey (PTES).

Take the next step towards a fulfilling career as a family therapist. Our course gives you the theoretical knowledge and clinical skills to be confident working across adult and child mental health settings.

Through extensive supervised work with families, you’ll build on the knowledge you gained during intermediate level training. With small class sizes and supportive tutors, you’ll come away ready to tackle new challenges – whether in your existing career or as a registered systemic psychotherapist.

Interested in the Family Therapy Grad Cert? find out more on the Family Therapy Grad Cert course page.

Key benefits

Register with the UK Council for Psychotherapy as a systemic family therapist when you complete the course
Access a huge range of resources, including all the main mental health journals
You’ll be well supported by tutors and clinical practice supervisors
Apply your skills on placement with our partner organisations
We’ve been awarded the IoPPN Excellence Award in 2018 for student satisfaction

Teaching

If you’re joining the course from the Family Therapy Grad Cert, you’ll already know most of the teaching team.

If you’re new to King’s, you’ll find a supportive group of tutors and lecturers with years of clinical and academic experience. We have experts in a range of areas, such as eating disorders, but we also bring in specialists from outside the University.

Key information

Application status Open

Duration One year FT, September to September, two years PT.

Study mode Full-time, Part-time

Credit value UK 180/ECTS 90

Programme accreditations Leads towards registration with UK Council for Psychotherapy as a systemic family therapist.

Course intake 8 FT, 20PT.

Course leaders

Dr Grace Heaphy, Course Director

Charles Bell, Programme Administrator

e: familytherapy-administration@kcl.ac.uk

t: 020 7848 0693

Further details

Course contact for further information

Postgraduate Admissions Team, Admissions Office tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 7000 fax: +44 (0) 20 7848 7200

Programme email:

familytherapy-administration@kcl.ac.uk

Programme tel: (0)20 7848 0693

Course contact form Postgraduate admissions

Awarding institution King's College London

Faculty Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

Department Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Division of Academic Psychiatry

Locations

Select location

Explore campuses

Why study Family Therapy at the IoPPN? Here's why!

In the heart of London

Find out more about the Family Therapy at the IoPPN. Hear from Course Leader, Dr Grace Heaphy, and current Family Therapy students and Alumnus of this fantastic course.

Watch more videos

Course detail

Description

This course is suitable for people from a wide range of backgrounds including psychologists, social workers, or nurses. You’ll need to have completed your intermediate level training in family therapy or systemic practice.

You’ll build your theoretical knowledge through lectures and tutorials, taught by experts in each field. As your knowledge grows, you’ll explore a topic in more detail through an empirical project or a systematic review in your dissertation. Then apply your knowledge in practical settings – whether on placement or in your own work environment.

The course is accredited by the UK Council for Psychotherapy. We follow their guidelines for your training, but we also try to go beyond the basics to prepare you for any eventuality. Our clinical groups are across adult and child services and we cover a number of specialist areas, including psychosis and mood disorders.

If you join us full-time, we’ll arrange a placement for you at a service related to your career goals. If you’re part-time, you’ll spend some of your time in your own organisation, but you’ll also have the chance to experience another service through the course.

“Our students come from a range of backgrounds, from all over the world. Some are in post already and join the course for career enhancement or progression. Some may even change profession altogether.”

Dr Grace Heaphy, Course Director

Further literature

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply/enquiry-form.aspx

For information on open events visit http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn/study/prospective-students/opendays.aspx

Course format and assessment

Format

The Developing Therapist

Seminars / Tutorials (40 hours) | Field/lab/studio/ supervised learning (400 hours) | Self-directed study (160 hours)

Embedding the Evidence into Practice

Seminars / Tutorials (300 hours) | Self-directed study (300 hours)

Dissertation – Family Therapy

Seminars / Tutorials (50 hours) | Project Work (520 hours) | Self-directed study (30 hours)

Contact time is based on 30 academic weeks with supervised clinical practice over 48 weeks. Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Please note for part time students the contact hours will be split evenly over the two years

Assessment

The primary methods of assessment for this course are written examinations, coursework and practical work (presentation of clinical work- Viva Voce). The study time and assessment methods typically give an indication of what to expect. However, these may vary depending upon the modules.

Extra information

Course accreditation

The Family Therapy MSc confers eligibility for application for registration with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy.

King’s College London is regulated by the Office for Students.

Further information

For further information on this course click here.

If you are interested in attending our course and would like to arrange a visit to the Denmark Hill Campus, please email our administrator for details:

familytherapy-administration@kcl.ac.uk

Structure

Year 1

Required Modules

Dissertation (60 credits)
Embedding the Evidence into Practice (60 credits)
The Developing Therapist (60 credits)

Optional Modules

There are no optional modules for this course.

Entry requirements & how to apply

Family Therapy Msc Entry Requirements
Minimum UK requirements	2:1	A Bachelor's degree with 2:1 honours in a relevant subject e.g. psychology, medicine, social work, social science, mental health nursing studies or education and/or professional qualification in a mental health-related programme. Applications from candidates who have achieved a comparable academic level through past studies and where previous study, work or experience has made the applicant a suitable candidate for admission may also be considered. In order to meet the academic entry requirements for this programme you should have a minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree with a final mark of at least 60% or above in the UK marking scheme. If you are still studying you should be achieving an average of at least 60% or above in the UK marking scheme.
International requirements		Visit our admissions webpages to view our International entry requirements.
English Language requirements	Band D	Visit our admissions webpages to view our English language entry requirements.
Professional Requirements		Applicants must have an intermediate level Family Therapy qualification and be working in a clinical setting involving regular patient/client contact.

Application procedure

Applications must be made online using King’s online application portal apply.kcl.ac.uk and a non-refundable application fee of £70 applies.

Personal statement and supporting information

You will be asked to submit the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

Family Therapy MSc checklist
Personal Statement	Yes	A personal statement is required. This can be entered directly into the online application form (maximum 4,000 characters) or uploaded as an attachment to the online application form (maximum 2 pages). Please detail your reasons for applying for the course and your future goals.
Previous Academic Study	Yes	A copy (or copies) of your official academic transcript(s), showing the subjects studied and marks obtained. If you have already completed your degree, copies of your official degree certificate will also be required. Applicants with academic documents issued in a language other than English, will need to submit both the original and official translation of their documents.
References	Yes	Two references are required with at least one academic. Professional references will be accepted if you have completed your qualifications over five years ago.
Other	Yes	Please also include a CV with details of your clinical experience.

Application closing date

We recommend that you submit your application as soon as possible. Our first application deadline is the 31 March 2020. After this date, applications will remain open if places are available, but programmes will be closed as soon as they are full. For programmes with spaces remaining, no further applications will be accepted from non-EU (Overseas) nationals after 31July 2020 or from UK/EU nationals after 28 August 2020.

Please note you will not be eligible for an application fee refund if you apply after the first application deadline and places are filled before the final deadlines above and we are unable to process more offers.

Help and support

If you don't have a suitable qualification for direct entry to a UK university, or if English isn't your first language, our academic preparation courses can help you get ready for study in the UK.

Preparation courses

Fees and funding

Full time Home/EU fees: £12,750 per year (2020/21)
Full time overseas fees: £29,850 per year (2020/21)
Part time Home/EU fees: £6,375 per year (2020/21)
Part time overseas fees: £14,925 per year (2020/21)

Students starting their programme in 2020/21 who are eligible to pay EU fees will pay the same rate of tuition fees as UK students. This will apply for the duration of their programme, but may be subject to change by the UK Government for subsequent cohorts from 2021/22.

These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

Deposit

When you receive an offer for this course you will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit to secure your place. The deposit will be credited towards your total fee payment.

The UK/EU deposit is £500.

The INTERNATIONAL deposit is £2,000.

If you receive an offer on or before 31 March 2020, payment is due by 30 April 2020.
If you receive an offer between 1 April 2020 and 30 June 2020, payment is due within one month of receiving the offer.
If you receive an offer between 1 July 2020 and 31 July 2020, payment is due within two weeks of receiving the offer.
If you receive an offer on or after 1 August 2020, payment is due within 2 days of receiving the offer.

If you are a current King’s student in receipt of the King's Living Bursary you are not required to pay a deposit to secure your place on the programme. Please note, this will not change the total fees payable for your chosen programme.

Additional costs/expenses

In addition to your tuition fees, you can also expect to pay for:

books if you choose to buy your own copies
DBS checks
clothing for optional course related events and competitions
library fees and fines
personal photocopies
printing course handouts
society membership fees
stationery
travel costs for travel around London and between campuses
graduation costs.

Please visit our web pages on fees and funding for more information.

Financial help and support

Visit the fees and funding webpages to find out more about bursaries, scholarships, grants, tuition fees, living expenses, student loans and other financial help available at King's.

Career prospects

When you complete the course you can register with the UK Council for Psychotherapy and work as a systemic family therapist. You could look for jobs in the NHS, social care, charities, or even set up your own independent practice.

Our students have great prospects, with many gaining work soon after they finish the course. King’s graduates have gone on to work for the likes of the Institute of Mental Health and the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service.

But the options don’t stop there. Many of our graduates work abroad, either returning to their home countries with new perspectives, or living somewhere new for a change of career.

Some students join us to learn new skills for their existing career. Being able to confidently help couples and families will be useful in a huge range of health and social care roles.

Career destinations

Our graduates have gone on to work in a variety of organisations including:

South London & Maudsley Hospital (SLaM)
Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)
Austral University of Chile
Catolic Children's Society
South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
The Huntercombe Group
Institute of Mental Health
Providence Healthcare Network

Testimonials

Esther

I chose to study Family Therapy after many years working in child safeguarding social work and child & adolescent mental health. As I intended to continue working in this field, I wanted to study a specific model of intervention and the systemic model made most sense to me.

I chose the IoP partly because of the connections it had to my workplace, but also because I knew that I would be learning in a centre of excellence with experienced staff who are themselves clinicians. I knew that there would also be a diverse student group coming from all over the world which really excited me.

The course is very well designed with theory and practice being continually linked both in the classroom and the work placements. The variety of work contexts for practice is a real strength as is the input from a wide range of practising clinicians who teach different elements of the course. As someone who undertook a part-time course, I really valued the learning atmosphere and the opportunity to challenge myself academically whilst also applying what I learned to my work context.

I now work in child and adolescent eating disorders as a family therapist. I am also involved in a research trial as a research therapist; something that would not have been possible without the learning and development I undertook on the Family Therapy training.

Christopher

I chose the IoPPN as it is known to be at the forefront of mental health research and offers an intensive full time training programme in Family Therapy which is not available in other training institutions. The Family Therapy section has a strong reputation for providing a rigorous training programme which prepares students to be competent practitioners; I have colleagues and friends who have gone through the training, and they were all very positive about it. As London is culturally so diverse, I also thought it would provide a great opportunity for me to expand my repertoire of skills in working with families from different backgrounds.

The programme encompasses a rigorous clinical component which meant that I was posted to a number of placements. This provided me with the experience of working with different clients, including both child and adolescent and adult services. In addition to clinical work, it also provided me with a solid grounding in research.