I would like to become a counsellor...advice welcomed

[partyinapark]

Hi there

I want to give something back and help others. I have a keen interest in psychology and therapy and I would love to become a councellor.

I am especially keen on working with domestic violence / abuse victims.

I am not sure where to start. I know I will need to do an accredited introduction to counselling course but google is confusing me with too much information. I don't think doing a degree in psychology would help me either. I'm hoping I can get an idea of how to embark on this through you lovely people.

Courses are expensive...I wonder if I can somehow apply for funding?

How long would it take for me to become qualified?

If anyone has changed career and done this I would love to hear from you.

Thanks to anyone who replies (fingers crossed)

bump

I am doing a Level 2 course in Counselling Skills free from Bradford Distance Learning. This will allow me onto the Level 3 course and onwards. Maybe have a look into that?

Hi, I'm a fully qualified counsellor, I qualified a few years ago and now work full time in counselling, plus have my own private practice.

The introduction to Counselling course would be your first step, usually followed by an intermediate counselling course and then on to a diploma. These courses take about 4 years to complete, but qualifying usually takes longer depending on how long it takes you to build up you placement hours.

During the final year of your diploma you are required to carry out at least 100 hours of client sessions within a counselling organisation. This doesnt sound like it would take a long time to do, but most organisations would not authorise you to do more than 3 ( at the most 4) client hours a week. The hours take a long time to build up as clients often do not turn up to appointments, so some weeks you may only build up 1 hour or maybe zero hours.

The courses are very expensive and I'm not aware of any funding available. A lot of counsellors I trained with took out loans to cover their tuition fees. Most courses do allow for you to pay a deposit and then accept monthly installments - that is the option I chose to take.

There are also added costs on top of tuition fees. There are membership fees to join a professional body such as the BACP, plus once you are on your placement you need to pay for monthly supervision. Diploma courses also require you to attend your own private counselling sessions - about 40 hours, but this can vary and I know people who have been asked to do more due to personal issues which came up. There is no funding that will pay for you to see a private counsellor for 40 hours, so this will be an extra cost - although if you speak to private counsellors we will usually do a reduced fee for student counsellors as we still remember how expensive it was to train. There are also residential weekend trips away as part of the course which you will need to pay on top of tuition fees, these are usually a few hundred pounds.

Getting paid employment as a counsellor is very hard. A lot of vacancies are advertised internally and the vacancies that are advertised externally often require you to alread have experience. When starting our diploma we were advised right from the beginning that there was a high chance counselling would either be an expensive hobby as we would be working in the voluntary sector - or that it would always be a second job as full time counselling jobs are rare. A lot of people I trained with have never been able to secure paid work as a counsellor.

I hope that this helps you. I'm happy to answer any other questions :)

(Sorry if there are a lot of spelling mistakes as I'm rushing because I'm on a quick break)

Thanks Super, I didn't realise you could get free courses! I have had a look and will seriously consider doing this. It's accredited, right?

How do you find studying without actually having seminars and attending lectures etc? Are you finding it useful?

What level 3 course are you looking at, and will you be fully qualified after you complete it?

Sorry for all the questions...

MyLittlePetitPois thank you for your honest and detailed reply!

Seems that getting into counselling will be expensive and no guarantee of work after study. That's a bit disheartening because it really is something I want to do and I am not sure that financially I can :(

Taking a pay cut I can cope with but not being able to find work, at my age especially (over 40), I am not sure would be feasible...

Partyinapark -I just wanted to give you an honest answer so that you could see both sides before jumping in to it. It's not an easy course, it's not a cheap course, it's not a quick course and getting the qualification won't automatically mean you find employment.

The flip side of that though is that it is a very rewarding career if you do find work. Once you are employed as a counsellor and have a few years of experience it's very easy to find work as it's very much a not what you know but who you know industry. Also as I'm an accredited member of the BACP I do get paid very well for what I do.

One thing I will say is beware of what course you choose. Further education courses, colleges and universities are your best option. Distance learning courses are often frowned upon and I know the managers in the organisations I have worked in would not employ people who have trained on distance learning courses. Choose a BACP accredited course and you know your qualification will count.

I've just done a quick search on the BACP website for their view on this and they say -

"Online and distance learning

We believe that practising counselling skills under supervision, and with feedback from staff and fellow students, is an important aspect of training. Online and distant learning courses can offer an introduction to the use of counselling skills and theory, but do not have this relationship with staff and other students.

Any courses you take through online or distance learning will not count towards the training hours you require for BACP membership or accreditation."

Once you qualify and look for work anywhere from the NHS to private organisations will require you to be a member of the BACP.

That is really helpful information Petit

Would it be possible to complete the 4 years training whilst working part time, do you think?

What I need to look at is whether I can actually afford to do this. How much each course is going to cost per year...all the extras too...I don't know where to start with that really

Most people also work while studying, so you would certainly not have to give up your job to study.

As I said earlier, most courses allow you to pay a deposit and then pay for the course in monthly installments. I qualified a few years ago now so I'm not aware of current costs. If you look for courses local to you though that should give you an idea of the costs involved.

The extras like private counselling / residentials / superivsion will be in the diploma stage. Most private counsellors and supervisors will reduce fees for counselling students - I don't know anyone personally who would say no to this request from a student.

I would say to look for an introduction to counselling course local to you and definitely go ahead with that. This would allow you to see if the career is for you. Plus once on the course the course tutor will recommend your next steps so you know that when you go on your next course it will lead to a recognised qualification. I'd recommend a face to face course rather than online.

Once again, thank you Petit

I am increasingly determined that this is the route I would like to explore and hopefully go down. I will look for courses local to me to start off introduction course.

Can I ask on a personal note - why you decided on councelling? And do you find it rewarding? I want to help people (women especially) but I wonder if hearing other peoples sad and distressing stories might be too much to bear at times?

I received my excellent training with Relate. It cost me nothing.
Don’t know how they fund it today

I first qualified as a counsellor 10 years ago. A local charity arranged the training (an accredited diploma) and I paid a nominal fee (about £150) on the understanding I would then provide 3/4 hours volunteer counselling a week for their clients for a minimum of 2 years. I actually volunteered for 8 years in the end so they got good value from me. Some of my fellow trainees are still volunteering there and find it very rewarding.

Petit has given you excellent advice about the costs of training in this field. Not many people can make money out of counselling. There are many more qualified counsellors out there than paid roles.

After completing my Diploma I got the learning bug and eventually completed a part time 4 year MSc in Psychodynamic Pyschotherapy. With fees, fares, text books and personal therapy and all the other associated costs it probably cost in excess of £40,000. It was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done and changed my life for the better but if monetary gain had been my primary goal it would have been a terrible investment.

A distance course would be a very good starting point to start learning about theories of counselling but face to face tuition, discussion, support and skills practice are absolutely essential before you ever sit in front of a client.

I don't have a big or amazing story about how I got in to counselling, I liked the look of it and I went for it. It was hard work and I stuggled to make ends meet when I was studying but all the hard work paid off in the end.

It is an extremely rewarding career. I love seeing the difference in clients from the first session to the last. The feedback they give is amazing and you can't explan how it feels when someone tells you in their final session that it was something you said that helped them to make the decision they werent going to end their life.

It can be frustrating at times and there are times when you do get upset. That's what supervision is for and that's why the training to become a counsellor is so intense.

You have to mentally strong enough to care about people (we wouldnt be in this job if we didnt genuinely care about people) but you also have to realize you can't fix things for people, cllients need to be the ones making the changes because when therapy ends they need to have the skills to cope with life and not become depedent on the counsellor.

My mum went back to education, trained for years to be a counselor ( and to much expense) OU, Foundation course & degree. She did years of volunteer work but couldn't get a full time job, even part time job. It's a over saturated market, at least where we live.

She spent years in volunteer work, getting expenses at least, before burning out. I feel sad she spent so much time & effort on something she couldn't make a actual living out of.

In terms of employment I think it depends on where you live - everyone I know who wanted to make a living as a counsellor has been able to do it but you do need good networks, resilience and a good business head. Most people I know have some form of private practice, often in conjunction with part time employment.

In terms of training, there are universities offering good degrees which you’d get funded for, the beauty being you then wouldn’t pay off your fees until you were earning a reasonable salary. Don’t do online or distance learning, it won’t count towards your training hours with registering bodies like the BACP and your quality of learning will be poorer without the experience of being part of a training group. I’d find a course that focuses on one particular approach rather than an integrated modality simply because learning in depth about one approach will give you a good grounding and you can pick other bits up through further CPD as you go.

Have you thought about being an IDVA?

Just Googled IVDA and yes... This is something I would be very interested in. Is the training for this different to normal counselling?

Thank you everyone for contributing. Sad about your mum, Alice. This is what worries me.

I just had a brief look at women's aid training which has a range of courses, foundation course was 12 days/300 hours. I think you'd have to volunteer or have 6 months experience as a support worker before you could complete the training. Such a worthwhile role though.