Course Description Document

Course Title	Psychological Practitioner in Homelessness (PPH) (2025-26)
Course Code	9532
Award Title	Postgraduate Certificate
Awarding Body	University of Southampton
Teaching Institution	University of Southampton
Regulated by	Office for Students
Accreditation	None
Regulations	The Regulations of the University can be found on the University's Governance Webpages: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/about/governance/regulations-policies
Location of study	This programme is delivered online.
Length of the course	Distance Learning - Online
Tuition Fees	Fees for students can be located by the student fees page. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/studentservices/money-matters/student-fees/index.page

Course Overview

Are you passionate about making a real difference in the lives of those facing homelessness?
Our cutting-edge PGCert Psychological Practitioner in Homelessness is designed for people who work in homelessness services, offering the first programme nationally in psychological approaches in homelessness services. Develop the key interpersonal and intrapersonal skills necessary to effectively engage service users in working psychologically to address current difficulties, including foundational counselling skills and low intensity therapeutic interventions.
Please note that this course does not train you to be a qualified counsellor, rather this is a specialist course for those working in the homeless sector to enhance their interpersonal skills and knowledge, in line with the National Homelessness Skills Framework for Frontline Roles created by Homeless Link in 2024.
This course is for those who are currently working in the homelessness sector. You will be expected to utilise the knowledge and skills you learn in the course in your working role. Front line homelessness workers (including experts by experience and volunteers) who hold a good first degree (first or second class), or equivalent, from an approved University or institution of higher education will be able to study the PGCert.

Aims of the Course

You’ll learn about homelessness service provision, how to identify and address systemic barriers to effectiveness, increasing the quality of how homelessness services are configured and delivered. The leadership and evaluation skills you’ll gain will equip you with transferrable skills across settings and enable you to think strategically to make impactful change. Practical skills in reflective practice, developing peer programmes, and incorporating lived experience into service design will allow you to enhance psychologically informed practice within your organisation.
Through this course you will:
Learn core therapeutic counselling skills, and considerations for applying these in a homelessness setting, to effectively engage with a diverse population with complex needs.
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of issues that people experiencing homelessness often face, which often contributes to repeat homelessness.
Develop understanding and skills in psychological theory underpinning behaviour change models and low-intensity psychological interventions, applied in a homelessness setting.
Understand the role of lived experience and peer mentoring within homelessness and how to deliver this through peer programmes.
Learn about reflective practice models and working reflexively.
Develop a systems thinking approach, and understand systems change through learning about the impact of government policy and approaches such as Psychologically Informed Environments (PIEs).

Course Structure

The tables below provide a list of the modules that make up your course.

Each module is worth a specified number of credits, you can take a combination of core/compulsory modules enable you to cover key subject knowledge. Some courses have option modules which enable you to develop your own interests.

Your programme requires a certain number of credits. The number of option modules you can take depends on the number of core/compulsory modules and this is also influenced by the regulatory requirements for professionally accredited courses. Some courses also have pre and co-requisites, and these are included in individual module information.

Your learning will be led by the latest research, and modules can change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline. You can always find the most up-to-date information about your modules and who is teaching them via the information on our webpages and, post enrolment, via the Faculty hub.

If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an option module, it may not be offered. If an option module will not be run, we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

The core and compulsory modules available on your course are as follows:

Part I
Code	Module Title	ECTS	Type
PSYC6183	Engage and Assessing in Homelessness 2025-26	10	Core
PSYC6180	Evidence Based Interventions 2025-26	10	Core
PSYC6181	Reflect, Supervision and Support 2025-26	5	Core
PSYC6182	Systems, Context and Change 2025-26	5	Core

Learning and Teaching

Your overall workload consists of contact hours, independent learning, and assessment activity, with each ECTS credit taken equivalent to 20 hours of student effort. Whilst dependent on the option modules you select, the information available on our webpages gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities.

When not joining online lectures, seminars, discussion forums or webinars you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve completing any recorded activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research, preparing coursework assignments and presentations, and for other types of assessments and examinations.

Full information about contact hours is provided in individual module information.

How we'll assess you

Summative assessment(s) usually take place at the end of each module, although some may have interim assessments throughout. Assessment methods might include a range of coursework assessments such as essays, reports, portfolios, performance, presentations and projects for example. The marks from summative assessments count towards your module mark.

Each module normally contains at least one piece of practice or formative assessment for which you receive feedback. Formative assessments are developmental and any results do not count towards your module mark, but they are an important part of your learning.

The information available on our website gives an indication of the assessment methods used on your course.

Staff involved in delivering the different elements of the course

You will be taught by an experienced teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on your course. The team includes senior academics and may include professional practitioners and specialists with industry experience.

Postgraduate research students who have undertaken appropriate training may also contribute to the teaching of seminars if their research specialism is directly related to the topic of the module and may also be involved in project work. All contributions will be carried out under the supervision of the module leader.

Fees

What your fees pay for

Your tuition fees pay for the full cost of tuition and standard exams.

Extra costs you may experience

Accommodation and living costs, such as travel and food, are not included in your tuition fees. There may also be extra costs for retake and professional exams.

Depending on the nature of your course, you may be able to choose modules which may have additional costs, such as field studies, travel overseas or industrial placements which will change the overall cost of your course. Details of these costs can be found in module information.

Please also ensure you read the section on additional costs in the Fees, Charges and Expenses Regulations.

The following course-related costs are not included in your fees:

Type	Details
Calculators	Where a calculator is required, all Casio Calculators are allowed but they must be Non-Programmable, Scientific models. More information is available in the Examination Regulations https://www.southampton.ac.uk/studentadmin/assessment/assess-overview/exam-regulations.page
Stationery	You will be expected to provide your own day-to-day stationery items, e.g. pens, pencils, notebooks, etc. For online courses you will also need a computer, webcam, microphone and broadband. Any specialist stationery items that you may need will be specified in the relevant module profile.
Textbooks	Where a module specifies essential texts, the Library will identify the optimal option(s) to support the module via the course Reading List. For online courses this will include e-books (ideally with unlimited concurrent usage) or a digitised chapter extract. You may request that the Library purchases electronic copies via 'suggest a book'.
Printing	In most cases, written coursework such as essays and projects are submitted online.
Anything else not covered elsewhere	You will need to have access to high quality broadband to access the learning and teaching materials of this course.
Computer discs or USB drives	You will need to have access to equipment to (i) video and audio record client work, and (ii) upload these recordings securely to the University.

Bursaries, scholarships and other funding

We award scholarships and grants for travel, academic excellence, or to students from underrepresented backgrounds.

You may be able to get a University of Southampton bursary to help with your living costs.

If you are a care leaver or estranged from your parents, you may be able to get a specific bursary.

You may be able to get a scholarship or grant that's linked to your chosen subject area or course. Please review the course web pages for more information.

Financial Support

The Student Services Centre offers support and advice regarding student finances. You may be able to access our Student Support fund and other sources of financial support during your course. You can find more information about financial support via our webpages: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/studentservices/money-matters/student-support-fund/index.page

Academic support

The Student Support Hub is your first point of contact when it comes to seeking support. The team will answer your questions or concerns about your wellbeing and fees. The team will help make sure you receive the support you need, guiding you to further support services where required. You can find more information about student support via our webpages:

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/studentservices/index.page

Two of the most important people you will meet while you are a student at Southampton is your Programme Lead and your Personal Academic Tutor. Your Personal Academic Tutor is normally a member of academic staff in your own or a closely related subject area. Both your Programme Lead and your Personal Academic Tutor will offer support and advice throughout your time at Southampton and will support you in your studies or with other issues you may have. You can find out more via our webpages:

https://www.southampton.ac.uk/studentadmin/academic-support-guidance/personal-tutor.page

Disclaimer

As a research-led University, we undertake a continuous review of our courses to ensure quality enhancement and to manage our resources. As a result, this course may be revised during a student's period of registration; however, any revision will be balanced against the requirement that the student should receive the educational service expected. Please read our Disclaimer to see why, when and how changes may be made to a student's course.