Becoming a Psychologist Without a Psychology Degree

To become a psychologist in the UK, you normally need an accredited undergraduate psychology degree that confers the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC), followed by British Psychological Society approved postgraduate training in your chosen specialism. The title "psychologist" is not protected, but the specialist "practitioner psychologist" titles are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). If your first degree is in another subject, you can still qualify through a conversion course, as explained below.

The normal route to gaining the qualifications needed to work as a psychologist is to take an undergraduate degree in psychology and then further study and training on an approved postgraduate programme. However, not all psychology degrees are accredited by the British Psychology Society (BPS) and some people realise they wish to work as a psychologist after they have completed a degree in another academic discipline.

Why Bother?

Anyone can call themselves a "psychologist" and seek to work under that label. Equally some psychological approaches (commonly the simpler forms of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) are delivered by a range of people working in the broad area of mental health - counsellors, nurses, psychotherapists etc. If this is what you wish to do there is no need or direct advantage to taking formal qualifications or studying for a degree in psychology.

However, if you wish to work as a "Chartered Psychologist" either in private practice or for organisations such as the NHS you will need to have gained a qualification approved by the BPS. This usually includes an undergraduate degree that leads to the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) and a suitable postgraduate qualification. If you do an online search for psychologists working in private practice you will notice how often they describe themselves as a Chartered Psychologist (the status will also help in obtaining Professional Indemnity Insurance).

Alternative Qualifications

If you do not have an undergraduate degree your only option is to commence your studies at that level (this is also true if your existing degree has little or no social science content). If you have an undergraduate degree in psychology from a non-UK university then you will need to satisfy the BPS that it is equivalent in content and standard to a UK psychology degree.

If you have a psychology degree that was not accredited by the BPS or a degree in another subject (though usually in this case you will still need to have studied some psychology within that degree) you have one of two options.

You can opt to take a "conversion course" that will convert your existing qualification to the equivalence of an honours degree in psychology. These are offered by various universities (some 30 in the UK) and most lead to some form of postgraduate award (Master of Education - MEd or a Postgraduate Diploma being the most common). In the main these courses take a year but this does vary. In the main you will have to pay your own fees.

The alternative route is to opt to take the BPS' own independent route qualifications. These include various Stage 2 qualifications such as the Qualification in Occupational Psychology, Qualification in Health Psychology, and others, which provide pathways to become a Chartered Psychologist through structured supervised practice rather than through examinations. These qualifications involve considerable study and training, as well as substantial fees.

A final conversion route is if you do not have a first degree in psychology but do have a Ph.D. in psychology.

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Summary Of Options

Essentially if you wish to work as a Chartered Psychologist but do not have a psychology degree you have two main options. You can either enrol on a formal programme of study offered by various UK universities or opt to undertake one of the BPS' independent route qualifications. Both options will involve a considerable amount of additional study and cost. If you pass using either method you will then be eligible to undertake further study and training to gain the final qualifications needed to work as a Chartered Psychologist.

The Next Step