Retraining to be a therapist/counsellor - am I mad?

It’s a difficult one. I am a therapist, and I retrained in my 40s. I’m now in my early 50s, and I have a full and thriving self employed practice, however it is a very low income in comparison to my skills and effort, and there is a maximum number of clients you can work with on a weekly basis without burning out / doing a rubbish job. Ongoing costs are high, especially room rent. One of the reasons I am nearly always full, is that many therapists don’t offer in person work.
there are also plenty of therapists not able to fill their practice / get work.
If you are doing a generic CPCAB level 4, I’m afraid you are much more likely to fall into the “not getting enough work” category. There are some that do, but you are more likely to be successful if you do degree or masters level training, or if you train in a modality you will be employed in (CBT, systemic psychotherapy, or children).
If you plan to be in private practice, you also need to be able to effectively market yourself, as there are a huge number of people training.
It is absolutely possible to have a successful practice, to thrive and to love the career. I do. You do need to be realistic about what you will earn at the start, and be prepared for costs of running a business.
Also if you can, do a training that will make it easier for you to work.
hope that helps a bit.

edited to add: I charge a lot more than £45, have a waiting list, and only work during school hours. I have a level 7. I agree with PP that some parts of the market are flooded, but not all. Everyone I trained with is thriving.

I also agree about a flooded market. My local area has loads of qualified therapists. I found mine through a referral from work mental health service.

This describes it pretty well. 😜

I don’t want to see the OP burn through her savings to qualify in something that will never truly pay her a living.

I did level 2 & 3 almost 10 years ago and didn’t continue level 4 because I felt it was a significant increase in time, cost, and a lot of effort for a not very impressive return. I think the future looks even bleaker now than it did back then. People have less money to spend on counselling these days, and if they desperately need counselling why would they spend lots of money when there are cheaper alternatives available? If I were you I would save (or invest) my £15K.

Hi op...fwiw, I've done L2 and L3. I'm at a kind of crossroads too. I think I might continue to look at options for qualifying.

Have you joined the counselling tutor FB group? Imho lots of good advice on there.

I really love it and want to carry on but obviously it has to make sense as a decision, financially and time-wise.

I have worked as a counsellor for 35 years - first for the NHS and for 11 years with my own private practice in Kent. I prefer to work for myself as the NHS became all about form filling for the client. I've been very lucky and have had a steady flow of clients through three counselling platforms. However since November I haven't had one enquiry and getting worried. I do think this is to do with AI - also the proliferation of on-line counselling places like Betterhelp. I've always preferred face to face. Also I do think the market is flooded with counsellors!
Certainly it would be hard to live off the money which is so uncertain now. I'm ok as I have the state pension now but if you're needing to pay a mortgage etc it would be very difficult.
The only other thing I'd advise would be to specialise in a particular area to attract clients. Good luck!

The 2 people I know who trained as counsellors (left teaching to do so) describe it as a very expensive hobby! Neither make much money doing it and see it as something to fill their time whilst waiting for their (wealthy) husbands to retire.

Do you want a hobby or a good income? Do you have a garden room/space at home you can practice from?

I did the same as you. Really enjoyed level 2 and 3 but just couldn't justify the cost of level 4 and all that went with it. The ones in my cohort that took it forward were the ones that qualified for student finance. I didn't due to not having done a first degree but paying myself for an MBA ( before finance was available for masters!)

I think that’s the way things are going. Fewer, higher cost private providers for those who can afford to pay. The rest of the market scooped up by ‘Better Help’ and other low-paying online providers.

Many counsellors combine private work with working for charitable organisations, such as Relate. But, as I have attempted to describe on this thread, such organisations are now finding it increasingly difficult to survive…

Have you looked into specialist types of therapy, for example working with children or working somatically? EMDR? Or do you have to get the qualifications you mentioned before you can do those things?

I did the level 2, 3 and Level 7 BACP accredited post grad diploma (part-time) finishing in 2021. I didn’t have much experience after graduating and that’s probably why I struggled to get work. There are just hardly any jobs and I never saw private practice as an option because being single I couldn’t take the risk on having an unreliable income. Some former peers are doing well being self-employed, working in affluent locations being the main driver. Most work doing something unrelated to counselling, like I do.

The Diploma training is tough - academically, emotionally, and it’s often not easy to get a placement. Group work can be intense and bring up a lot of difficult feelings, as can doing the actual counselling. But the personal development aspect made it worthwhile. I always think, when facing big decisions, if I don’t do it, will I always regret it? You know yourself better than anyone else.

I wouldn’t do a Level 4 because as a PP said, it’s pretty much useless these days.

I am not remotely defending giving bad advice to women experiencing domestic violence - that should not happen - and I am sure that there were counsellors who allowed their own personal views to influence their practice. As can happen anywhere. But that is what supervision and training is meant to address, all of which costs money to deliver.

Relate National was a large organisation delivering many thousands of hours of counselling per year. Is it really better that it no longer exists as an independent organisation? And doesn’t it going into administration tell us something about the resilience and stability of the sector overall?

Costs typically include supervision, materials, indemnity insurance, professional memberships, ongoing training. And then probably a space to work in.

I don't agree that no-one wants counselling at 11am on a Tuesday. There's demand at all times of day. You do have to have some sort of cancellation policy though.

@Spiritedlight
I am on your side in all this, honestly and just sharing my experiences of the sector.

It is very tempting to look in from the outside and think that an organisation must have been out-of-touch or getting it wrong in some way but it did everything possible to try to survive. The problems were more symptomatic of a declining financial model.

A post above mentioned not wanting to charge people £45, but the problem is that £45 is barely economic unless you are a one-man-band working from your own home or online. If are paying any kind of overheads, or the costs of supervision, or allowing for cancellations and lull periods, then the profits rapidly evaporate. No one wants counselling at 11am on a Tuesday and they all want to be able to cancel if something else comes up.

It is really difficult to make it pay.

My comment probably. I'm sure there was upset but the damage that was done to countless women was incalculable.

That was in reply to someone else.

It was bought from the administrators after having experienced dwindling finances for several years and selling off its assets in an attempt to survive.

The demand was there but it was not profitable.

Do you have a source for that or are you extrapolating from a few people’s reported experience?

I had no experience of the national organisation but my local Relate had very high levels of satisfaction feedback from clients and well-qualified counsellors who were regularly supervised.

This thread is about the sector as a field in which to work and a national organisation going into administration was hugely upsetting for many, many people.

It’s so depressing that people think that AI counselling over human will be a good idea for all.

As for the @Spiritedlight i looked into it a few years ago and felt like the effort was a lot and that i didn’t think see a big difference in pay for that effort. Nevermind trying to get work etc.