About Us
PCI College was founded in 1991 to provide training in counselling and psychotherapy for mature students.
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Our History
PCI College was founded in 1991 to provide training in counselling and psychotherapy for mature students.The co-founders Liam McCarthy, sadly no longer with us, and Josephine Murphy believed passionately in personal development, and they knew that continuing adult education could be a central element in that development for many people. One of their visions was to open up third level education to a wider pool of mature students, who might not have otherwise seen themselves as getting a degree.Liam and Josephine both believed in maintaining high academic standards, and they set that standard by their own example. For them, counselling/psychotherapy is a profession that should be seen on an equal footing with any other profession, and they knew that establishing degree-level qualifications was an important part of achieving this. With this in mind, they set up the Personal Counselling Institute (now PCI College), and the BSc/Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy, to train practitioners to a high level. In 2001 PCI College became a Collaborative College of Middlesex University; this relationship that was created with Middlesex University was pioneering at the time and now the whole field is following in a similar direction.
PCI College was set up with the intention of providing students with a broad education in what is after all a very broad field. The degree Liam designed, and which Middlesex University validated, is therefore characterised by an integrative approach to counselling & psychotherapy training, introducing students to all the main schools, as well as to important topics such as Abnormal Psychology, Loss & Grief, Substance Addictions, etc. This unusual breadth of training is certainly one of the factors that attract the many students who study with PCI College each year. Another is Liam’s legacy to provide high quality, user-friendly teaching – he was an inspiring teacher himself, and he encouraged others to find and nurture the same ability within themselves. Many of the current teaching faculty in the College can consider themselves to be part of Liam’s legacy.
PCI College continues with our founders pioneering work by embracing the continued raising of academic standards in the context of proposed professional regulation, while still making training as accessible as possible; by continuing to set a high standard of personal development in training; by raising awareness around the huge range of issues that people still struggle with in this country - depression, anxiety, suicide, addictions, relationship difficulties, etc; and by promoting an integrative approach within our field, and with our fellow professionals.
We are now a leading provider of third level educational and continuing professional development courses in the fields of Counselling and Psychotherapy and Mental Health and Wellbeing. Our clients include private individuals, the Health Service, government departments, the Community & Voluntary sector and commercial organisations. Our BSc/Diploma in Counselling & Psychotherapy is designed specifically to meet the current criteria for course recognition by relevant professional accrediting bodies including the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP). In fact 14% of IACP accredited members were trained with PCI College. This Honours Degree is also validated by Middlesex University.
PCI College is committed to the provision of expert training and education in the mental health and wellbeing field, in the private education sector and tailor-made training to specialist groups, with centres of excellence in Dublin & Cork.
Letter from PCI College President
We hope that you will find programmes in this website that capture your interest.
Please contact us if you have any questions.
With Best wishes,
Eoin Stephens
College President