Career advice, any counsellors here?

[Question10]

Hello

I am looking to retrain to become a counsellor. I’m currently looking at training courses and I’m finding it really confusing. There are courses from level 4 diplomas to master degrees. I would love to hear from anyone in the profession and what qualifications you have/how you trained??

Thank you!

Oh and also ... do you enjoy the job?

Anyone??

I was considering this career path but have been put off by the number of qualified psychotherapists I see still in their previous day job when I’m trawling LinkedIn for my recruitment job. I think there are more counsellors than there are clients.

Yep.
Usually you have to do a level 2 or 3 course as an introduction to see if it’s for you.
I did a level 6 course. If I had my time over I’d do a level 7 course.

I work in private practice and I love what I do.

IDontBelieveYou thank you for replying. Would you mind telling me how long it took you to train and how much it cost? Sorry, I know that’s quite personal.
Why do you wish you did a level 7?
I have been looking at an MA but it would take 5 years and cost 15-20k.
A level 4 diploma at a local college would be 3 years and around 5k. There’s such a disparity!

@IDontBelieveYou sorry forgot to tag you above

@SpottedOnMN this is interesting and scary 🤦‍♀️

The good counsellors I know who are earning a decent living are members of the relevant professional body, which is a good place to check for training requirements etc

@Lumene thank you. I have looked at BCAP accredited courses but they cost so much. I guess I’m just surprised how much it costs!

I think to be a counsellor, you’d have to be registered with bcap-I wouldn’t even consider seeing someone who wasn’t. I thought about this career, too, but to qualify you also have to do therapy yourself, at your own cost, and you have to do loads of ‘practise’ therapy hours under the guidance of an experienced Counsellir, again with no payment. I could not afford the time or money to do that, unfortunately.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3635992-I-would-like-to-become-a-counsellor-advice-welcomed

Hi, someone asked this question the other day and myself and a few others replied. I hope the link above works as I haven't tried to include a link before. Hope it helps :)

You don’t have to be registered with BACP. There are other membership bodies that you can join. I am with BACP.

You don’t have to have any qualifications to be a counsellor. You could set up tomorrow. It’s not a protected title. You can do a £29 Groupon “course”, a £5k diploma, £10k batchelor’s degree or a £15k masters: which is going to give you the best grounding to be dealing with potentially some very troubled people (not everyone who has suffered horrific trauma is aware that they have. Some clients come with “anxiety” and then you realise they have very serious issues).

Training of any value is expensive and as a posters above points out, it’s not just the course fee. A good course will insist you undertake weekly therapy for yourself throughout, plus you will need to do at least 100 ideally many more placement hours and usually pay for clinical supervision out of your own pocket.

Have you done a degree already? If not, you can get a tuition fee loan. I had one for my batchelor’s degree and can get another to top up to a Master’s.

If you do look into it further, make sure any training you undertake includes trauma training. No counsellor should be practising without that in my opinion.

My degree took 3 years (I did a level 2 and a level 3 short course before that) and cost roughly £3.5k a year.

@MyLittlePetitPois thank you so much 🙏🏻.

@IDontBelieveYou this is really helpful thanks. I already have a degree and a teaching qualification. I could get a post graduate loan of 10k which would help but overall course fees for masters are 15-23k ... the ones I’m looking at.
My local college do a level 4 diploma and say this will lead to work if I join the BACP or another body. I guess I’m wondering what the catch is!

It can lead to work. You’re unlikely to get paid work until you’ve become accredited by BACP or similar. That’s a minimum of 450 placement hours, a fair number of which need to be post-qualification. Jobs are few and far between which is one reason why I have my own practice.

While you can earn decent money, there is huge outlay to have a good grounding. If you pop me a PM I’ll reply with where I studied.

@IDontBelieveYou I have sent you a msg thanks 😊