Mental Health: Principles and Applications

In this major you’ll focus on learning about some of the psychological problems that individuals can experience, and how we might intervene to address them.

It's the perfect pathway to postgraduate study in fields that require you to work one-to-one with people.

If you’re ready to make a real difference in the lives of others, this major is a great first step on your career path. You'll learn the essential skills to contribute to positive and transformative change while you explore a range of topics, from fundamental principles of learning and behaviour to the mechanisms and treatments of psychological problems. You’ll also dive into broader topics, like how society perceives mental illness, and the unique challenges of addressing mental health needs within the bicultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Career options

If you’re interested in a career working with people one-to-one to help with their psychological wellbeing, this could be the major for you. Career options include roles as an addictions worker, case worker, disability support worker, or staff welfare officer. Although you’ll need postgraduate qualifications to work as a professional psychologist, this major provides an excellent foundation for professional postgraduate study in clinical or applied fields—for example, clinical psychology, educational psychology, or counselling psychology.

Learn from experts

This major is led by Dr Carolyn Wilshire, whose research focuses on the study of neurological illness and how it impacts on our most sophisticated human abilities, like producing and understanding language, solving problems, regulating our emotions, and navigating complex social settings. Carolyn is also interested in mental health more generally.

“Some of my recent work looks at how we go about describing and classifying different kinds of mental health problems, and how we evaluate the effectiveness of psychological treatments for these problems.”

Get ready to broaden your understanding and take the first step on your journey towards helping others.

Postgraduate study

This major provides a good basis if you are interested in studying towards our clinical psychology training programme, the Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Psychology.