A degree in counselling? Worth it? Posting for traffic

[Peruviandog]

DD has a strong desire to become a counsellor, she is looking at doing a BA counselling and therapeutic practice course at the university of South Wales.

We’ve looked at the course content and I’m a bit surprised that there are only 12 hours a week of lectures. Looking at the stats, the pay as a qualified counsellor isn’t that great and lots of people appear to be working in retail after their degree which doesnt fill me with a lot of confidence that she will actually find this a worthwhile degree.

Has anyone trained as a counsellor? Are there many opportunities? Any advice or insights? I didn’t go to university so have no idea whether 12 hours a week is normal or whether this will be a ‘soft’ degree that won’t be worth the cost long term.

Any input would be gratefully received- thanks

I'm a counsellor and work for an agency, in schools and in private practice. I make a good enough living. I've never been especially financially motivated though, I was never going to make a fortune in something like law or finance. I probably make what a (not very senior) nurse makes and I have a varied and interesting career although it is true that FT counselling jobs come up quite rarely. I get to help people and I love it. We need younger people going into the profession to keep it relevant and serious - too many people (mostly women) doing counselling for free as a hobby devalues the profession. It will likely become regulated in the next few years too which will change things significantly (BACP are working on how they do that at the moment).

Most people posting here saying don't do it - I'm wondering if they are counsellors themselves. If you were asking this question on a forum of counsellors you would get very different answers. Mostly by counsellors who are proud of their profession and earn well enough.

This is depressing; I'm in the middle of applying to do a Masters in Counselling.

Is it really not worth it, do you think?

From the people I know doing it it can just be really hard to secure regular paid employment for it by the sounds of things.

One of my friends who's been a counsellor for years and now supervises supervisors or something describes it as being like a pyramid scheme...you have to pay so much for your supervision at the different levels and then only a few get to the top to make a good living out of it.

I wouldn't recommend it for an undergraduate degree, unless she is exceptionally mature. There are many routes to qualify later in life and she would need some life experience and also work experience in the caring sectors.

You don't need science A levels to do nursing. DD is currently doing a nursing degree with A levels in Business, RE and Politics

She is very young - what exactly about "counselling" appeals to her? Does she have any experience in the field at all? I think some experience, voluntarily, at least might open her eyes a little

What about an Environmental Health degree? Ideal for those who might not be sure of their end goal. Ok maybe she wouldn't want to do food safety but there is plenty of scope for occupational health safety and wellbeing. The outcome of people who take this degree are quite good if you look on unistats

The problem with a career in counselling is that it’s a very popular course and you have to do a placement for free - 100 hrs. So many agencies take advantage of the free work students provide and don’t employ qualified counsellors.
Of course, the opportunities are there but you need to be a self starter and put yourself out there.

I don't mean to be negative but an awful lot of people fancy being a "therapist" with having little idea of what it actually entails

Another counsellor here. I love my work and can’t imagine many other jobs that would give me so much satisfaction. I work part-time for an agency and also see clients privately. I qualified at 50 and did a non-academic diploma course, even though I already have a degree and Masters in other subjects. If the work is really for you, then it’s worth the effort. It can be a wonderful job. I would probably suggests that your daughter either gets some work experience in a helping role (caring work, classroom assistant, charitable sector) or considers a degree more generally applicable to a range of jobs. Therapy is, generally, a postgraduate training in any case and there are plenty of good 2-year BACP accredited courses out there. Is this degree academic or clinical training as well? That’s important - if it leads to a professional qualification it will have a placement and therapy requirement attached to it. Any and all life and work experience matters and is valuable, so she shouldn’t worry that another degree subject isn’t immediately therapy-related. Emotional maturity matters too so waiting a few years might be a great idea to give her time to figure out who she is (I’m assuming she’s 18/19). A short counselling skills course will give her more of an idea if it’s for her as a career and will be great on her CV.

The downside: it is expensive to train - course fees are just one aspect, she’ll have supervision and personal therapy too. Once qualified, it’s not uncommon to volunteer for quite some time simply to build up the requisite number of hours in order to become accredited with a professional body. I’d advise anyone doing such training to have another means of income. Also, if you’re looking for full-time work, it might not be a good choice as most jobs are part-time and doing more than around 20 hours of face-to-face client work is very intense.

She's need to accept she'd need to work privately as the nhs really recommends cbt as the main therapy and Herbert aren't many counsellor jobs in the nhs these days xx

I have close friends who trained for years and years in different aspects - psychodynamic, CBT. One works for the NHS using the skills in a non counselling specific role alongside some private clients. The other doesn’t use the qualifications at all. A pyramid scheme is a good description.

Thanks all, this is all so helpful.

The course is BA Counselling and Therapeutic Practice and consists of a mix of on campus lectures and work placement

The Counselling and Therapeutic Practice degree offers the learning and training you need to become a professional integrative counsellor. You'll gain the knowledge, skills and experience to provide counselling across all age ranges, from children and young people to older adults. You will study a range of traditional 'talking therapies', as well as creative and contemporary approaches such as online counselling.

Work placements are an important part of this counselling degree and will fully prepare you for the start of your career. You will have placements in every year of the course, including 150 hours of supervised professional practice. This meets placement criteria for individual accreditation with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

The School of Psychology and Therapeutic Studies has dedicated Placement Officers and strong links with a wide range of local counselling agencies, employers and counselling services to provide you with the supervised practice hours required.

She’s quite despondent now as she’s read the thread. Back to the drawing board I think.

Well it’s better she finds out now rather than do 3 years of a degree which doesn’t get her anywhere.....(bitter voice of experience).

I'm sorry your DD is despondent. Anyone can say that they are a therapist or a counsellor and so it's not under a statutory regulation as far as I'm aware. Perhaps she might consider social work as pp have suggested. At least this role has a clear career path and a chance of progression.

Psychology degree and then she could look at an MA in Counselling, or IAPT training. If she likes that, then a doctorate in counselling or clinical psychology- that's the only real way to guarantee a decent career in therapy.

Alternatively, has she considered social Work?

OP why are you and your daughter taking advice from people who are anecdotally referencing careers that are not their own? Your daughter needs to talk with some actual counsellors to make an informed decision.

No. I am a trained counsellor and it was pointless. Very few jobs, no.money in it, volunteers cover the roles. Private practice is unreliable unless you're city based and have PhD.

Its costs more to train than you get back in work.

I know a few others have suggested social work already but I'd really recommend it. Are you sure her subjects are not right. Her Law would come in really handy too. You get to use a lot of the same skills that you use in counselling. I done an undergraduate in Psychology but chose to do a Masters in social work after as I knew I would get to help people, use therapeutic approaches but also have more chance of a secure job.

The degree sounds pretty solid, OP. It sounds as if it might offer dual registration child/adult, also that it would include plenty of transferable skills should she decide it is, after all, not for her. It’s also clearly BACP accredited and that matters. Some roles she may consider afterwards include mental health mentoring in higher education, and some of those roles are well paid. Likewise, life coaching or another allied role could be useful. It’s an integrative course so that means she would get exposed to lots of different approaches to therapy as well.

It’s important to be completely realistic about the cost, commitment and availability of jobs. That said, if it is absolutely right for someone, it’s a wonderful job - really. Humanistic therapies are available on the NHS by the way, it’s not just CBT. If she’s got a vocation, that’s worth an awful lot. That said, people take all kinds of routes into this profession. Whilst it is not yet regulated and anyone can indeed call themselves a therapist, a good, well recognised course means your daughter can get insurance and membership with a professional body such as the BACP. She’d also be eligible to apply for a good job. Hope this helps!

By the way, it’s news to me you need a PhD these days! Psychotherapy is a Masters level qualification but people usually do a PhD because they work in an academic field related to therapy.

You don't need Science A levels for nursing. I think Mental Health Nursing is a bit different to General Nursing too. You also don't need Sociology to do Social Work.

She seems quite undecided what to do. Why not take some time out of education to get some experience? There's plenty of care work available and lots of volunteering opportunities.

12 hours is quite normal for a BA. The idea of a degree is that you spend a lot of time reading around the subject, not being taught.

I would look at occupational therapy- you can specialise in mental health, it’s in the NHS but it’s not “medical” at all, and if she really wants to do therapy later on she can always train as a high intensity therapist with a core profession.

I was going to say OT too. A significant part of some OT jobs can be in the form of counselling to help overcome barriers.

I considered counselling careers but it is very expensive and long training with low chance of a job at the end. It seems very risky.

I'm now an OT (physical but have also done mental health roles) and disagree with previous poster that it is not 'medical'. In some ways (acute physical settings) it is similar to nursing. The knowledge required in terms of medical/anatomy/medicines etc is high.

I do agree that there is a lot of supporting people in the job. Many people we work with have difficult life experiences of some sort.
I do think life experience is needed for counselling or an exceptionally mature/sensitive/reflective outlook.