Welcome to the Birkbeck Counselling Association (BCA) — a vibrant, evolving community rooted in over 30 years of psychodynamic training and psychoanalytic theory.
The Power of Making Connection
Our origins are deeply linked to the pioneering work of Ellen Noonan 30 years ago. She played a key role in establishing the first psychodynamic counselling training at Birkbeck College. Her vision laid the groundwork for generations of counsellors and psychotherapists whose professional journeys began within this unique and rigorous tradition.
The Birkbeck Counselling Association (BCA) is made up of former students and current students who have studied or are studying psychodynamic counselling, and staff at Birkbeck. While Ellen Noonan inspired the training, the association itself was founded by its members — a collective effort to stay connected, continue learning, and foster a sense of belonging within our therapeutic community.
This is a space for exchange, reflection, support, professional development and growth. Whether you’re just beginning your training or have many years of practice, we welcome you to be part of this intergenerational network of connection and care.
Let’s honour our shared roots and continue growing — together.
The History
The first training course was a two year diploma in student counselling. By the middle of the 1980s a companion diploma in adult counselling was added. A second adult diploma, focussing on organisational dynamics, was soon added forming a total of three diploma level counselling trainings run simultaneously. Upon completion of the diploma graduates could undertake an advanced year of counselling practice. In 1995 the counselling diplomas and the independent third year were redeveloped into a single multi-stranded MSc level training. In 2001, a second MSc, Psychodynamic Counselling with Children and Adolescents, was started.
Our Ethos
From its inception, the Birkbeck Counselling Association (BCA) has embodied a distinctive ethos:
- To promote the application of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic ideas across a range of occupational and professional settings, drawing upon the understanding of individual, group, and organisational processes that are a unique feature of counselling training at Birkbeck, as well as other relevant courses offered by the College.
- To support members in sustaining and developing contacts and networks—both socially and professionally—including the potential for client referrals.
- To offer a variety of meetings and events that foster ongoing learning and continuing professional development (CPD).
- To create spaces for members to share and reflect on experiences of good practice across a broad spectrum of work contexts.
- To assist individual members in their application process to register with the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC).