Quit NHS and retrain as a counsellor

Re being a counsellor I would do your research specifically in your area. How many jobs are advertised, how many private counsellors advertising/full, are you in an affluent area where people can afford counselling . Also What style of counselling - therapeutic/cbt/psychodynamic etc

There’s a few training routes - accredited courses are usually 2-4 years and involve additional expenses such as volunteering to achieve training hours and counselling/supervision costs. Iapt training through NHS, training through a company like relate or doing a degree.

I trained as a person centered counsellor around 15 years ago it cost around 4k in courses fees for a BACP accredited course which took four years I also did an additional year to turn it in to a degree costing 3k. Along side I did 3 years of unpaid counselling 2 days a week to achieve my training hours/ gain experience. I worked three twelve hour days to fund this/pay bills.

After qualifying I applied for many jobs but no luck I ended up working in a support style role in local authority where I used my skills in a different field. Same story increased pressure, staff cuts/restructures, low morale. Ended up leaving and now work in a totally different field.
I did do some private work for a couple years but only ever managed to get around 5 clients at anyone time so not enough to leave my job.
As far as I’m aware of the twenty or so people on my course none of them are working as counsellors

Its crazy that there are apparently to many counsellors when people are begging for them and on waiting lists for years

No, you'd be quite mad to quit and retrain for a job about which you admit you know nothing at all, may struggle to get through the training of (my sister said very few people got through her diploma and later degree course on time, because many of each year's cohort didn't continue or were told to take time out to work on their own issues before continuing) and which is very hard to make a living from, unless you're entrepreneurial and/or develop a specialist practice.

I know a lot of counsellors/therapists, and the ones who have had longtime careers have either specialised and worked for the equivalent of the NHS (my sister works in addiction therapy) or moved into training. I do have a friend who is a couples' therapist who has a waiting list, but she's getting a bit burnt out from it.

Any sideways moves within the NHS? Quality improvement; education? Look for any secondments. They can be useful stepping stones.

There is no money in counselling, sadly - as PP said it’s a side hustle at best (and very saturated).

Counsellors may be replaced with Chat GPT AI - it’s already hard to get work so I’d be wary if you need the income. It may be best to look for other NHS work - with redundancies it’s possible all openings will be internally filled.

I don't think you need to harden up but you need a strategy - a sideways move perhaps. Do you need a reasonable salary and pension? If you do - counselling is not the way to go. I have taught counselling - most if my ex students are using it as an addition to an existing role, working very part time (no jobs) or volunteering.

YANBU at all

23 years here, and there is yet another restructure coming up. I’ve had enough, I’m in a constant state of limbo and we just can’t get any proper work going because we never know if we’re going to have staff to take things forward

Try using ChatGPT etc for career advice - I’ve found it helpful