To find male colleague's message odd?

I don't see any issue at all. I would advise against reporting it because it may not go down well at all, there is nothing inappropriate in the messages so it may raise concerns about you more than him.
He might feel you have built a friendship, which really isn't an unusual to happen during a course. If something similar happened to you with an actual clinet you would be expected to set boundaries yourself, not report them. If you don't want to be friends you could just tell him that you would rather not message each other outside of the group chat.

Stop replying.
I had similar nothing inappropriate but just odd. Never replied when I still got the odd message blocked

Absolutely. I’ve always admired my therapists’ ability to tactfully draw a session to a close, especially when it can involve stepping back from some traumatic stuff, and leaving the client in a place where they can go and continue their day, and don’t feel abandoned with difficult thoughts. For sure, maintaining boundaries, and ending a session on time, even with a reluctant, difficult client who keeps talking, is a key skill.

He is trying to connect with you. Either as a friend or - who knows- as something more. Many people seek to make friends on a training course, it’s not weird to want to do that. You’re entitled to not want to. And there is zero obligation to. But to immediately conclude he is predatory or inappropriate is unfair.

You could deal with his unwanted approach in a clear, mature and sensitive way. Just because he is a counselling student does not mean he can’t try to make friends.

It sounds odd, but I wonder if he's messaging other students on the programme? and part of what you're worrying about is based on an assumption that he's only messaging you, at least about the practise sessions anyway? The feet/shoes thing is odd but might have been meant as an ice breaker - kind of a look I'm married I'm not a threat, here's an innocuous picture of me and my wife, can we mesage outside the group type of thing. To see if you'd respond ....

In any event, you could just delete his private messages or tell him directly that you'd prefer to keep to the group chat instead of DM'ing. That it's important with what you're both training for, you can set boundaries around professional relationships

A huge part of becoming a counsellor is congruence and you can't form a deep connection with a client if you're not able to be congruent yourself. It might be uncomfortable but you have to express your autonomy to this classmate, which is that you prefer to keep all messages professional and to the main chat.

It's also worth having a little word with the tutor. I had an issue and because noone was open, noone knew that actually he had been messaging multiple women and making them uncomfortable. See your tutor as your supervisor and use it as good practice for your career ahead.

Good luck in your studies. It's an amazing career path to take :)

His first test of OP's boundaries was the 10 minute meeting that he dragged out for an hour while she tried to politely end it.

My first thought was he's a foot fetishist and he was testing you out, it was also my 2nd and 3rd thought.

He's being weird, and giving off major creepy vibes. If he's not a fetishist then he's a person without a good sense of what is an appropriate way to communicate with colleagues, and if you are that socially inept you are likely to say things that could be very upsetting for a vulnerable person.

He's made you feel awkward, liklihood is that he often makes people feel awkward. I'd shut him down firmly, don't answer any private messages and if he questions it say you will only be responding to group chats.

Could it be he's sent the message in error to you & not his friend who it was intended for & hadn't realised? Then when he received your reply has been embarrassed & though 'Shit I have to make amends' & has tried to be over friendly by asking you to practice on him so you don't think he's a sleaze

I would have imagined, as you did, that it was sent to the wrong person - but that he hadn't noticed it was the wrong person until you replied then when you did he felt he couldn't say 'that wasn't meant for you - sorry'

Just ignore it and move on (and in the future if you reply to something like this then do it with a 'not sure this was meant for me, but I hope you get your shoes back'

I don’t think you needed to respond at all especially once you’d left it 2 days.

I think you’re trusting your gut reaction, you’re not over reacting , he sounds like a creep
Ignore any messages from him , if he carries on , think about talking to your tutor,
his behaviour is very strange
If something doesn’t feel right , it usually isn’t right .
Good luck with your career, you’ll do well!

Yeah, sending someone a photo of your and your wife’s feet with the caption ‘My wife stole my trainers’ is a recognised seduction technique.

He fancies you and has terrible social skills.
Cringe!
I think id completely ignore any private messages or odd comments and pointedly only reply to public and appropriate posts.

His behaviour is very weird and you are slightly over thinking it.

I would have responded “presume this wasn’t meant for me” especially as that’s what you originally thought. Maybe it actually wasn’t and he styled it out because of you responded as if he had. Who knows.

Your follow up message was fine, maintain a professional distance as you are. If he doesn’t take the hint, discuss with your supervisor.

Sounds like it was an accidental message. Ask him if it was meant for you.

@HorsesnCourses tell him you'd prefer to keep messaging as part of the group and not dm to you. I don't think you are over thinking. On this course, there is an expectation of professional boundaries and he needs to be reminded of that. If he doesn't comply with the group messaging only, then take it further.

It doesn’t sound like a come on to me, but definitely a weird photo. I wouldn’t see the joke friend or no friend.
don’t be a people pleaser though, if someone makes you feel uncomfortable just come out with it and tell him you would prefer he doesn’t private message and keep it strictly professional on the group chat. If you don’t want to say outright just ignore his messages.

Even if this guy were a fully-qualified counsellor accredited by the BACP, rather than a trainee talking to a fellow-trainee, I don’t think sending a colleague a photo of two people’s feet and asking if she’d like him as a practice client contravenes any of the items in the code of behaviour.

Which is not to say it isn’t mildly odd, but from my sister who works in a group counselling situation and a friend who runs an accredited diploma in a specialist area of counselling for people who are already practicing counsellors, I can assure you that the way they relate to one another doesn’t always suggest flawless paragons of professionalism and compassion.

I'm with you, OP. The trainers message is bloody weird. And bizarrely random, assuming you've never had feet related chat before!
Not sure I'd want him as my counsellor ...

Don’t be polite. You don’t need to this man to like you. Don’t respond at all to messages like that. It’s weird and inappropriate. He doesn’t need to feel like he can keep sending you messages and photos. I agree that this is a warm up to a dick pic.

Counsellors are supposed to meet standards of behaviour. Its not ok for them to be weird or creepy.

''4.1 You must keep high standards of personal conduct, as well as conduct in practice. You should be aware that poor conduct outside of your practice may affect someone’s confidence in you, your practice, or BABCP.''
https://babcp.com/Standards

Please don't do this