A question for counsellors/therapists or for student counsellors/therapists

[Worried2222]

Just wondering if there are any counsellors / therapists around who can advise.

I have just completed the two year taught element of a Level 4 Counselling Diploma and I still need to do my 100 hour placement.

I have passed the taught element of the course, but have just found out that I have failed the recorded assessment and will need to re-sit it.

The assessment consists of a half an hour session as counsellor. The season is recorded and observed and the recording sent to an external assessor.

My problem is that I now feel very discouraged and am calling everything into question. If after two years I can fail the assessment in this way, is there any hope for my ability to be a counsellor generally?

And if I need to throw the towel in - how will I ever get over the money and time invested in the two years so far?

So I guess I am asking if you have known people to bounce back from things like this, adequately hone their skills further and go on to become competent therapists?

If you’ve not done any placement hours it would be hard to pass the skills assessment in my experience. The skills sessions with other students are fine for gaining practice but they’ll always be artificial compared to actually working with clients. You’ll relax and find your own style.

The problem with working with other students is that you have particular skills you’re being assessed against, you and they know that where a client will just bring what they bring, and you’ll learn to flex the theoretical knowledge to meet their needs. The recorded assessment also depends on the subjective view of whoever is doing the assessment, have they given you feedback and when you watch the recording can you see what they mean in their feedback? That’s probably the most important thing at this stage - if you can’t see the things they’re failing you in in your recording ask to speak or through with the assessor.

What plans do you have for gaining placement hours?

The other thing on placement is that you’ll have regular clinical supervision, that will help you develop your skills and support your self development. I would say the single most important thing for improving your practice as a therapist is your own self development - working on yourself, your self awareness and self acceptance will enable you to be with your clients in a way that all the theoretical knowledge in the world simply won’t.

A good course will pay equal attention to theory, practice (including placement) and self development.

First, it is good to be clear you are talking about being a counsellor not a therapist - they are different things.

How detailed is the feedback on your session? You need to work through it, ideally get additional supervision and practice, then have another go. Read the marking schema, are there particular things the assessor is looking for evidence of? You may have to complete the session "for points" rather than following the natural flow.

Can you tape another session and watch it through with a supervisor? This can be an incredibly helpful way to learn.

I only know therapists, but I absolutely have known people to fail, re-sit and become very good at their jobs.

OP, I am not a trained therapist but have worked in a professional role in mental health services for over 20 years, now in a purely assessment role where I get an hour to assess an provide an initial ‘formulation’.
I’ve also experienced therapy from a trainee therapist over a three year period and some of the sessions were recorded.
i would ask- what feedback have you received? What specifically is the aspect /s you have not demonstrated?
it strikes me that passing or failing after only being able to submit one half hours session is pretty harsh- my therapist submitted hours and hours. This makes sense to me as sessions ebb and flow, some were more silence than discussion, other sessions certainly offered my therapist a lot of opportunity to ‘demonstrate’ her skill and understanding of me and my issues. In my own work, i have sessions where I feel ive done a fab job, other times its difficult and I wonder where 20 odd years of experience have gone!! I take it all as reflective of all human relationships, some flow, some stick!
It sounds like you feel very discouraged and questioning not just how to move forwards but if indeed you can / should.
This is exactly how many of your future clients will feel and my best advice is to really use this, to examine your own attitudes towards adversity, self doubt, vulnerability etc etc. failing this assessment does NOT mean you are on the wrong path but that there is a little more honing and learning to be done. Are you or will you be having therapy yourself as part of your training? If not already I would thoroughly recommend, to help you move forwards through this. Good luck!

Dear @Jellycatspyjamas , @Stompythedinosaur and @Tethersend01
thanks so much for your responses. I am sorry I didn’t get back to you on the day - I am recovering from the bug everyone has and felt too tired to get my feedback out and look at it properly (it’s upsetting). Then yesterday I was out of action due to a migraine 🙄.

I am currently out but when home I am going to brave my feedback and get back to you with a proper answer.

I don't understand at all why you didn't start your placement in your final year - when I taught the course there was an expectation that you had to start the placement so you could improve practice while getting feedback

I didn’t feel ready (I still don’t!). There is one other student who hasn’t started either and a couple who have only just started.

But yes I agree - being in placement would have helped.

Did your college encourage you to do a placement? If not I think they've really let you down.

Two years ago I finished a Level 7 counselling diploma and the dreaded recording assessment was part of it. I passed (just) but a disproportionate amount of my peers didn't and they're all doing really well in private practice. Your confidence has been knocked but as others have said, being the counsellor with your peers isn't the same as when you're with clients, the conditions and contexts aren't the same. A good supervisor - not always easy to find - will help massively. Good luck with your next phase.

First, it is good to be clear you are talking about being a counsellor not a therapist - they are different things.

I was also wondering why @Stompythedinosaur said this?

Another student counsellor here.

I agree with @jellycatspyjamas that placement is the key. Unsure whether you're studying an integrated type 'Counselling Skills & Theory' course or whether it's a specific model: Person-Centred for example, but from what I've studied, placement happens within the 2nd year - sometimes from 3rd term of 1st year depending on the course (BACP accredited) and whether there are helping organisations that will take 1st years.
Once you start placement you’ll also start receiving clinical supervision, either in a group format or 1-1. My course requires 1-1 not just group supervision, although I can access that as well.

Listening to the feedback from your assessment is crucial as well and will give you the space to reflect on it and decide whether you agree with the assessor or whether you can appeal if you disagree.
Do you feel you met the criteria of the practical assessment?

I just saw your recent posts that you didn’t feel ready for placement and still don’t. Are you working through this with your own personal counsellor?

Because I wasn't sure from the op's post if this might an area she was unclear on and I want to help? I wasn't trying to be rude or anything. I think most professional groups are careful about how their terminology is used.

Counsellor and therapist are not two different things...

Anyway, OP, is it a face to face course or online? Are you having your own therapy as part of the course? Usually the placement is an integral part of the learning, I've actually not heard of anyone completing the other elements without starting a placement as some of the written work includes writing about your clinical work.

It sounds like you need more support from your tutors to navigate this but I don't think there's any reason you can't work through this.

(I'm a qualified counsellor in private practice.)

It’s a face to face course - integrative.

Yes I think we should have been given more encouragement regarding placements.

I am having personal counselling but probably not enough as the course requirement is low and the counselling is expensive.

Apart from the recorded assessment that I will have to do again, I have the 100 placement hours and a case study to do - I have 11 months to do it in now.

Just before Xmas I applied to 4 places and didn’t hear back from 3 - the 4th wanted me to already have 70 clinical hours.

I do wonder about some counselling course establishments being happy to take students’ money but I also could have been more proactive and given in less to my self-doubt.

I wrote counsellor / therapist in my subject because I wanted if possible to hear from counsellors and psychotherapists - or any mental health professionals.

I have more to write but will do it when I am home and have re-read my feedback and have access to my laptop.

Thank you for the posts, I appreciate them.

@Stompythedinosaur happy to be proven wrong but my understanding is that both 'counsellor' and 'therapist' (not psychotherapist) were interchangeable. Especially if the practitioner is qualified in wider approaches such as humanistic and more specific techniques like CBT, which so many are. Each are umbrella terms that explain a wider range of talking therapies.
The problem with counselling still being unregulated in England (unsure about the wider UK) is that anyone can call themselves whatever they like - so many untrained therapists out there claiming to be trained when they may, at the minimum, have only studied Level 1 Interpersonal Skills.

Sorry name fail change - the posts by Pointless are my posts

Well, I agree both are unregistered terms, but I think there are some basic expectations of your training and professional registration if you are going to use the terms in most settings. Counselling is one type of therapy, but not the only type of therapy.

Counsellors register with the BACP and study to diploma or degree level. Psychotherapists and family therapists register with the UKCP and study to postgraduate level. CBT therapists register with BABCP and study to postgraduate level. These are just examples, but the registering body and academic requirements differ.

I had only pointed it out because during my own training (as a family therapist, EMDR therapist and family therapist) it was seen as important to use terminology correctly, this would be seen as part of being honest and truthful around your qualifications so clients can make choices about their therapy options. But I am not a counsellor so perhaps the culture is different.

I’m a therapist so my training experience was different - we have to do 450 client hours and don’t submit a recording.

It can be really hard to get placements and get the hours - my first placement only gave me one client for the year I was there.

If you want to do this, you need to get placement hours in, preferably with two places so you can get a feel of open ended/short term/focused work. Working in placement is so different to skills practice with peers that you won’t get a feel of what it’s like and if you want to do it as a career or not

Counsellors register with the BACP and study to diploma or degree level. Psychotherapists and family therapists register with the UKCP and study to postgraduate level.

The BACP is the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and register people who call themselves both counsellors and psychotherapist. The planning around ScopEd has muddied the waters somewhat but both terms are commonly used interchangeably.

Both are essentially membership organisations with no weight around who can call themselves what, given you don’t need to be registered with either to practice as a counsellor/psychotherapist. There’s some snobbery in the wider profession and many assumptions about training and qualifications for each, because neither are reserved professions. I’d always advise folk to ask any therapist about their specific qualifications and experience rather than making assumptions based on what they call themselves. Most of the BACP therapists I know have studied to Masters level and beyond.

I mean, nurse is also not a protected term, but if someone was claiming to be a nurse and had not completed nurse training and registered with the NMC then I would assume they were pulling a fast one tbh. Legally there is nothing to stop people using any unregistered term though, so it's definitely important to check qualifications and professional registration. It is a minefield really and I wish more of these terms were protected in order to protect people against unscrupulous practitioners.

Hi there

I assume you get feedback from this piece of work? There is absolutely no reason why you can't still become a competent counsellor particularly if you've yet to complete your 100 hours.

The experience of those 100 hours is crucial so it seems a lot to expect you to pass the recorded piece without the benefit of that practical experience.

I would reflect on the feedback, try to get a sense of what was happening for you with regard to the things they marked you down on and know that counselling is not merely a gift it is a learnt skill.

It sounds like your heart is in this so don't give up. Personally coming back from a knock back, really bearing the imperfection and feelings around not passing first time means you could develop some really robust skills.

What sort of feedback did you get? In my experience the times people may struggle in this field is when they are trying to be the counsellor rather than really settling into themselves and being themselves (obvs with boundaries) first.

It is such a hard process. Do you have personal therapy as part of your course? If not I think it can really make the difference.

Best of luck

There is also a time limitation within which you have to complete your placement hours . I am very surprised the course provided did not push you on this.

Hi OP, I’m a counsellor/therapist (and do use these terms interchangeably). I think a meeting with a course tutor seems like a good idea so you can address some of your concerns. Is your course accredited by anyone like BACP? CPCAB? It does sound like you just haven’t had the opportunity to build the skills practice you would need in order to qualify. Please don’t lose heart. I found it incredibly difficult to get a placement at first but did so eventually. I can’t decide if the assessment you failed was something your college set to sign you off to practice or something else. Courses vary so much and there isn’t always much common ground in terms of assessment. I would say ask your tutor first. Are you a student member of BACP? If so, you could also ask their advice.

Yes absolutely I am on counselling training and it seems some of the importance of training is about setbacks and how to pick yourself up and carry on. No one can do this for you OP. Could you ramp up your own personal therapy for a bit to work through this block, otherwise it sounds like you are near to throwing in the towel. What have your institution said about defers or failures? Can you speak to your personal tutor? You need to reach out. Also in terms of putting off placement, I think it's worth trying to root down to your fear here. Good luck OP!

@Pointless2 I would really recommend having as much personal therapy as possible - many therapists will offer a slightly reduced rate to trainees, or if you're otherwise on a lower income. I personally think personal therapy is one of the most important aspects of the training because the work requires so much of us in a very particular way. You will need to know "your stuff" to be able to work with people effectively.

And in general, remember everyone starts somewhere and you are really just at the very beginning as you've not sat in front of a client yet. Hopefully you'll find a placement with good support where you'll be able to develop and learn.

Thanks for your messages - (this is the OP - I’ve been writing as this and as Pointless apologies).

I think one of the reasons I haven’t increased my own counselling is that I really like my counsellor and going for cheaper counselling (but more frequent) would mean leaving him. But I recognise that more frequent counselling is important.

The assessment was an end of course assessment rather than an assessment to get onto a placement - I was signed off as being ready for placement in July but didn’t feel confident.

I still haven’t looked at my feedback properly but some of it involved staying with explicit material rather than understanding my client’s (fellow student) unconscious material.

At one point my client said that she didn’t want to talk about a couple of more painful things which had come up - and the assessor said that this was because I hadn’t created the right rapport. However in a real session with a real
client, surely we would go at the client’s pace and it would take longer than 30 minutes to create the right feelings of trust?

I agree with the point that I stayed at surface level however and I can see why I wouldn’t have passed the assessment due to this.

There was also the expectation that different modalities would have made an appearance and I didn’t do that.

He said my contracting wasn’t in depth enough - this I can fix more easily.

I can see why I didn’t pass but I also think that they expect a lot of things to be artificially crammed into 30 minutes.

He also said I didn’t show empathy - however I felt moved and like crying at one point during the session however - but he won’t have seen this on the film - when my client was upset. I listened intently. I got a bit stuck in the middle but I was what I felt was congruent about it.

I think both my client and I probably kept each other at arm’s length and I am embarrassed by my mistakes.

[I know showing empathy is not the same as being moved, but I was trying to explain that I don’t think the assessor got the feeling in the room by looking at the recording.]