Anyone know about counselling training? Or FE in general (Issues at college)

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Hi, I could do with some advice/guidance due to an issue at college.

My questions are:

1. Should I go to a different college for level 3? (After reviewing this post the answer is clearly yes!)
2. Should I put in a complaint?
3. Is this course content normal/standard?
4. Does anyone else relate at all to my reactions to different types of therapy?

I've been taking a level 2 counselling skills course. Just to see, really, but after the first few weeks knew I wanted to pursue it.

Not going into details of life history here but it is relevant that I went through many years struggling with complex trauma, no real help from NHS, was eventually helped (outside NHS) so very much by being able to talk through everything, make sense of things, and be treated in a way Rogers would recognise as essential.
I also have autism, late diagnosed, although no struggles with body languange or other things that would prevent counselling.

Course is almost over. As well as generally learning counselling skills, to my surprise the course has also involved looking at the basis of other types of therapy including CBT and REBT. It has become clear that our tutor is massively in favour of these therapies over counselling.

All was going well until a couple of weels ago when we started looking at CBT. We watched a video of it being practised by Beck. Even watching the video gave me this huge internal reaction of feeling frustrated, invalidated, and not listened to. I was totally aware of where this reaction comes from and kept a lid on it, and I'm aware it was a strong reaction/overreaction.

However, when we were discussing it afterwards and I'd had a chance to coherently form my thoughts, I did ask about whether it would be used/how it would be applied in circumstances where essentially faulty thinking wasn't the root cause of someone's distress. Another (knowledgeable in psych and social issues fwiw) classmate was sort of backing up my question and we used an example to explain. I thought tutor might offer some guidelines about where CBT was or wasn't useful, or something like that. Instead she asked me what I thought the person would need in the situation example we'd given. I suggested maybe some empathy... and she bent over towards me and cut me off saying sarcastically "Oh, we'll just say 'there, there, shall we?"

Embarrassingly I was so shocked and upset, that even though I managed to respond and the discussion continued, I had tears rolling down my face (again a part of my brain hugely self aware of why my reaction was so strong). Ended up having to quietly leave the class (autism overwhelm probably part of this, but its so very rare it happens usually. Been months.) In a different situation I'd have brushed it off but the classroom had been this really supportive safe space so my guard was down.

Anyway. This week we covered REBT. Another video to start. An even more strong internal emotional reaction from me, same reasons as with CBT but my God! I could hardly sit still with the frustration at watching the interrupting, mansplaning, no time for reflection Ellis practising REBT. It made my skin crawl.

More discussion afterwards, and more general about comparing types of therapy etc. Tutor did say different people suit different types of therapy, but also raved about how brilliant she thinks Ellis and REBT are. What concerned me were two comments in particular - one, that there's evidence for CBT but not other therapies (this is not true. Will spare the essay now but we actually covered this is my psych degree!). And the worst - on the subject of CBT/REBT being superior - "after all, what good does sitting around talking about things actually do?"
Um, fair enough to have that opinion but from a teacher on a counselling skills course?!

I will add that I can see the value in CBT and REBT techniques (I've apparently been using them on myself for years!) but there are so many people needing therapy who need a safe space to talk things through, need to be empathised with and heard... I can't imagine using CBT techniques in a "pure" form. And if I'd wanted to I'd have trained directly in CBT, not signed up to study counselling skills.
(I also find it dispiriting, when the NHS focuses on CBT at the expense of all else, leaving many without appropriate help, that someone teaching counselling skillls should be trumpeting CBT (et al) so unnecessarily!)

Congratulations on taking the level 2 course, it is quite intense at times and a big commitment.

From experience of living with someone doing the course I would just like to check that you have your own counsellor outside of the course, so you can run through these sorts of issues that come up for you with them? If you don't already see someone regularly for that I suggest it would be helpful to you to start to do so on a weekly basis if you can as you progress through this course.

The sarcastic response from your course tutor was not professional and not what I would expect from a trainer running this course and completely out of line.

All trainers have their preferences regarding the techniques they like but the idea is you learn about them all and then see when these would best suit a client as you develop your experience and knowledge through the course. It should not be a case of 'this one is best because I prefer it' but more this one is best because the client likes solution based counselling or a more conversational approach etc. Quite often a multiple approach works so you dip into several different therapy techniques moving between them with the same client.

Yes the NHS focuses on CBT so if you want to work in the NHS when you qualify (if you continue with the other course levels) then it's good to have that skill. It is my assumption that CBT is preferred because of its quick results. It doesn't really touch any deep seated trauma though, at least not on it's own.

Sorry, just realised I missed your questions entirely off my response above! Here they are:

Your questions were:

Should I go to a different college for level 3? (After reviewing this post the answer is clearly yes!)
Maybe - one event is not really enough reason to change colleges. I would however see if the next course is with a different tutor, so a different college might not be necessary to achieve that. The course tutor name should be available to find out before signing up.

Should I put in a complaint?
This is very definitely your decision.
Is this reaction a one-off and to you only or a general tone she uses with everyone?
Did you raise it with her directly at the time or afterwards? A quick conversation about the impact of her response might be all that is required.
From what you have shared here from my perspective a formal complaint without raising it directly with the tutor first would be out of proportion/ an over-reaction.

Is this course content normal/standard?
Yes. I can only go on the little you have mentioned in your post but it looks pretty standard to me.

Does anyone else relate at all to my reactions to different types of therapy?

I think your perspective may change as you move through the course and learn more about it all. However see my comments above. Whilst empathy and discussion are all part of counselling you are doing a professional course to learn the techniques and skills to become a qualified counsellor, it's not just a chat on the sofa with a friend (I think the tutor may have thought you were not taking things seriously or being flippant which is why she was sarcastic back at you)

Thanks, @Pr1mr0se .
I hadn't really thought about needing a counsellor at this stage (15 week evening class type course). To be honest, the only thing I've felt I needed to talk to someone about was this thing with the tutor. Actual stuff/personal stuff that's brought up in the course has been fine, just thought provoking if anything. My reaction to the videos was strong but I didn't feel it was something I needed support with, just thought things through myself. But something to think about for level 3 I guess! (Had thought about it for level 4.)

Re. making a complaint - I hadn't actually thought of doing this until someone else suggested it (not a classmate). I sort of wanted to talk to my tutor but felt too scared, as if I needed witnesses! I will try to though.

Whilst empathy and discussion are all part of counselling you are doing a professional course to learn the techniques and skills to become a qualified counsellor, it's not just a chat on the sofa with a friend

I don't think counselling is just a chat with a friend, far from it. However I did think counselling was about counselling. Not various assorted therapies. (If the course was called "therapy skills" that might be more accurate.) And the first few weeks we looked at and practised various counselling skills which were counselling based not based on other methods. That's partly what made it so jarring, and so odd that I got such a response to suggesting empathy when that was something we'd been talking about for weeks!
I feel a bit of an idiot but I honestly didn't know that you cover all these different therapies, because of the name "counselling skills"! I know you can train as a PWP and do CBT so I thought this was the route to train specifically as a counsellor.

Hi, I'm just about to finish Level 3, and I've got my place on Level 4 for September. I'm also autistic.

If your level 2 is at the same stage in the year as my level 3 then you've likely finished the main body of curriculum and you're getting a bit of exposure to other bits and bobs prepping you for progression. It's mostly for funsies now the assignments are over.

Most courses at level 2 and 3 are Integrative. That means that counsellors pull from a lot of different sources and types of therapy. My experience has been mostly humanistic (Rogers etc), but we've also covered psychodynamic, a little bit of transactional analysis, compassion focused therapy, attachment theory... And CBT. From what I can tell it's like a big toolkit, and you pull whatever might work for your client out the bag. From what my tutor said, (remember I'm only level 3!) Unlike NHS CBT services where the client knows what they're in for, a counsellor might ask if the client was open to using some techniques alongside the talking therapy you're using.

I dislike CBT for many of the same reasons as you. I found it performative and invalidating. HOWEVER, our personal experience is not the same as everyone else's, and other people do find it useful. It's worth learning. There will likely be people on your course for whom CBT is the One True Therapy, this is a valid and useful part of the course for them.

I think rather than sharing your rigid opinion in class, you might want to consider exploring what's come up for you in your learning reviews. Think about what's made you distressed - is it the CBT or is it your experience with it.

From what you say, I think your tutor has handled it badly, but I don't think it's worthy of a complaint. If I were you I would ask to discuss it outside of class- "sorry something came up for me with that, but I don't like how you spoke to me during it". I had to do similar during a fishbowl exercise, something came up for me and I reacted badly but most of my classmates had a positive experience. I had to process it and eat a bit of humble pie, and basically get over myself a bit.

Personally though, I'd move colleges just on principle to get a big a variation on methodology as possible.

Thanks, @Idtotallybangdreamoftheendlessnotgonnalie that's really helpful to hear about your course. I have asked about the syllabus for level 3 and it sounds like we will be covering more methodologies. When you say you'd move colleges to get a variation in methodology, did you mean in general or because my tutor is so pro-CBT it's likely to be skewed?

I think rather than sharing your rigid opinion in class, you might want to consider exploring what's come up for you in your learning reviews. Think about what's made you distressed - is it the CBT or is it your experience with it.

I didn't share my opinion. Nor is my opinion "rigid". As I said, I'm fully aware of where my feelings (feelings, not opinion) came from. I know exactly what made me distressed in terms of personal experiences (I haven't had CBT fwiw). However I was also shocked at actually seeing CBT practiced by it's inventor, because I'd thought the issues with it were more to do with it being practiced in a pared down way in the NHS, or something like that. So I started watching the video very intrigued and ready to see this therapy (that I had heard so many bad things about) done properly and thought it would probably make loads more sense and I'd leave thinking "I get it now, I can see why it's so useful". I didn't expect to see CBT in practice actually confirming some of these bad reviews! I could see how depending on the person and their experiences it could be extremely unhelpful and invalidating.

But I didn't share any of this. I just asked a question, thinking the tutor would have interesting things to say and perhaps guidance on where CBT would be indicated and where it might not suit the presenting issue, about where it might be used in a pure form or adapted. It didn't seem outrageous to mention empathy because it was something we'd talked about a lot in previous classes, and the example I'd given (backed up by other student) involved someone actually facing something terrible happening in their life.

Where "rigid opinion" has been expressed it seems to be by my tutor!

I wondered how you got on ? I have recently learned that it’s quite common for counselling courses/tutors to take this direction I guess it’s an emotion thing 🤷‍♀️

I have just finished level 3 if you did level 3 how did you find it .?

@BlimeyJulie

What do you mean by counselling courses/tutors taking this direction? Is it common for them to be zealously pro- CBT style therapies?

Anyway - I did level 3 with the same college and tutor, because I wanted to keep going with the same classmates and many continued to level 3.

It wasn't straightforward but I was more confident in discussions etc rather than being bulldozed, which actually seemed to work out. Interestingly, the tutor had to pop out for some reason one lesson, and left us having a discussion. We had a thoughtful and nuanced discussion about where different types of therapy may be most useful, and pitfalls of CBT were raised by a few students, in terms of taking certain views to extremes. In private discussions throughout the course, several students quietly (and unprovoked by me) mentioned their own doubts about it and referred to the incident I wrote about in my OP!

We also covered more styles of therapy throughout; in particular I felt gestalt therapy/philosophy really resonated and just seemed to make sense (particularly the theory behind it, rather than specific techniques).

Those who are going on to level 4 have mentioned that the course (at a different college, this one doesn't do level 4) is entirely person centred type therapy, with CBT et al. taught by different training courses.