Changing career - Training to be a counsellor.

[America52]

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone here is a trained counsellor or if anyone here as more knowledge than I do on the subject.

Now i'm older and wiser i'm starting to look at what i'd like the next chapter in my life to be like and I feel I need a change in terms of work and career. Counselling has always been something i've been drawn to, and now I have more life experience I feel that it could be the next move. Problem is it's very expensive to train and I don't just want to jump into anything, particularly with Government cuts etc, will counselling even be accessible any more?

I've done a basic counselling skills course and loved it, but that's as far as it goes really. I've found a course provider in my area and it can be done around existing commitments and will take me a couple of years to complete. Trouble is I don't know if it will be a waste of time, are jobs readily available and where are they based? Schools/hospitals etc? I am not sure what area of counselling i'd want to specialise in yet, need to really think on it.

Ideally i'd love to open a private practice from home in years to come, but then in this day and age would this work? Who has enough disposable income to pay for counselling sessions on a long term basis?

AIBU to believe this would be a wise investment and should I re-think it?

A couple of years to train? Isn't it a degree then?

If you have only done a basic counselling skills course it will take you longer than two years to achieve a level where you can be qualified to practise.

Realistically you will be lucky to make any kind of profit from your investment for a long time if ever.

Several years post qualification I am still paying off my course fees and I work full time as well as in private practice in the evenings and weekends. I actually secured a counselling job last year but went back full time to my former role - I didn't enjoy it.
I have a fairly steady private practice but also remember you will have to pay for supervision, personal therapy and CPD as well as marketing costs.

I trained as a counsellor, but to be in with a good chance of a job at the end of it, you are really looking at doing an MA as well. There seems to be a lot more courses than there are jobs, sadly. I never felt like I wanted to commit to the expense and time of an MA, without a guaranteed job.

Yes it can be degree.
It very expensive and time consuming
as you have go for counselling your self . And do counselling your self for free.
So if you have kids be prepared to not see them very often for a few years.
If you have partner you won't see much them either. And they will have to do most of child care.
As a job offer wards well

My husband finished training to be a counsellor 2 years ago. It took 3 years to get the professional qualification and then he took another year, wrote and thesis and did 2 more modules to get a BSC.
It was very expensive. As well as course fees he had to be in counselling himself, 50 hours at E50 per hour. He had to do 100 hours of practice counselling where he had clients. They didn't pay though and he had to pay a supervisor. He also had to do 20 hours of professional development each year, which was 2 or 3 day courses at E100 each.
The whole thing cost about 20k, (Euros, we're in Ireland).
He has no intention of quitting his day job and working as a counsellor. It wouldn't pay as much as he earns anyway.
At the moment he's very busy with a stint of voluntary work but when that is finished he plans to spend 1 evening per week counselling and build up a small practice. We also look on it as a kind of pension /safety net as it's the kind of work he can do after retirement if necessary.
He loved the course and it was so good for him. He had left school early and never found his passion in his career but he really got a lot out of the course.
If you think it's something you will love then go for it. You have a long working life and it's great to be able to do something you love.

It's definitely not a job you do for the money!

I've been a qualified therapist for ten years and have a thriving private practice now but its been ten years of hard work and a couple of years volunteering/working for free to get to where I am now. I did all my training and volunteering evenings and weekends while working full time to support myself.

If you truly love the work then go ahead and train but it is expensive, time consuming and there's very few jobs available in the field. I don't want to put you off, we need more good therapists but you probably wont make any money for a good while after you qualify.

Huge thanks for all of you taking the time to respond.

gabsdot You have a long working life and it's great to be able to do something you love. What a lovely statement and so true.

IndieKate I truly loved the basic counselling course that I undertook, I suppose time will tell if I feel the same down the line, but it's a profession i've always been interested in. Are the jobs usually based in places like Universities/schools/prisons etc? In terms of private practice, how are you supposed to promote your business, is it word of mouth?

The course i'm looking at doing is this one -

*Successful candidates will achieve an AIM Awards Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (QCF) 601/2106/3

Choose this advanced course if you wish to become a professional counsellor/psychotherapist and wish to gain, through qualification, a route onto an Accredited Voluntary Register approved by the Professional Standards Authority. Since its launch in 2012, the AVR scheme is the benchmark for counsellors and therapists and can provide public confidence in your services.

This is our recommended course as it fully meets current professional requirements and is the most cost-efficient way to enter our profession. You’ll be able to offer concrete help and appropriate solutions to clients, taking an active role in assisting them heal and reach their full potential*

I cant really advise you on jobs as I've always worked for myself but the BACP website will probably have a list of them. Some of the people I trained with were offered paid work through their voluntary placements after a few years.

Word of mouth is the best kind of advertising but obviously that doesn't start until you've been working for a while. In the beginning I advertised locally and got referrals from my GP/local health centre that I built a good relationship with.

OH trained as a counsellor and now works part time with his own private practice - he retired from his career in industry 8 years ago. I work full time. It works for us, but we don't have a mortgage to pay and our kids have flown the nest. He would struggle to work full time - there isn't the work and it is too emotionally draining.

You won't be able to go from a basic counselling skills course straight to the Level 4 diploma though.

I've found I had to devote a lot of time and energy to buiding marketing links. I'm Management Chair (unpaid) of the counselling charity I did most of my placement hours with and the word of mouth networking I do through that helps, as well as the fact that I'm well known in the local area through the day job which isn't actual counselling but covers related areas.

Huge thanks IndieKate and Silvercatowner I'm probably looking at it as a long term plan. The industry i'm in at present has a bit of a shelf life and I think ten years from now it's possible i'll struggle to get much work. This would be a back up so to speak. We'd be mortgage free by then and have no childcare costs, but I think i'd probably still need to earn about £200 a week to live comfortably.

Forgetting earning money from it for a second, it's something I want to do for me. Just don't know if I can justify spending so much in training if I won't really get anything back from it.

If both of you don't mind me asking, do you/your DH specialise in a particular area or are you a "general" counsellor covering a wide range of issues?

ilovesooty It says that that course will incorporate the earlier levels, therefore it's the most cost effective one to choose. Think it will take me about 4 years to complete though.

I think it enhances a career but very few make a lot of money out of it.

I have done my Level 3 and run a counselling service within the LA. I currently have 8 volunteers, I never struggle to find Volunteers either.

I have sent a PM

I think if you wont have the pressure of having to replace a full time income to cover mortgage etc it could be a good back up plan. It can be hard to find somewhere to work as a volunteer to get your practice hours completed so if your course doesn't arrange your placement its something you need to think about sooner rather than later. Some counselling organisations wont take volunteers with no experience at all because they work with very vulnerable clients.

I specialised a few years ago and now only work with clients with one particular issue, it really helped me to get very clear on who I wanted to work with because I can target my marketing to that specific type of client.