To retrain as a psychotherapist?

[RochelleGoyle]

Morning all. Looking for advice from anyone in the field or aligned professions really. I currently work in criminal justice, have done for about 12 years. Been feeling frustrated and limited by my role for some time and recently completed a PG Cert in counselling skills to enable progression to qualifying training. It will take three years. I enjoyed the certificate course immensely and am really excited to get started on the more in depth study and skills development. I feel like I'm going in the right direction for the first time in a long while. But.

I'm not naive to the fact that counselling/psychotherapy is notoriously difficult to get into on a paid basis. The idea of working independently is appealing but daunting and to be honest, I'm not sure it's a good idea immediately after qualifying because you're still accruing hours towards accreditation and have limited experience (you work with clients throughout the training).

Has anyone here done this? If so, I'd be grateful if you'd share your experiences / any words of advice. The modality I'm training in is integrative.

Thanks. 😊

I didn't do it immediately after qualifying. I carried on with my placements for 5 years and then took a couple of days paid in different settings (rehab centres, schools, doctors surgery)

I have had no problems setting up my private practice and earn in excess of £5k a month. I'm in London and there is huge demand. I turn away at least 5 people a week.

I am now in contact with 8 colleagues within 3 miles of me and they all report the same - so I'm not special in any way

I love my job and providing you have good supervision and plan really hard at the beginning - the Counselling Directory is a great place to start to hire a room if you don't want to work at home. I have a very private shed in my garden with parking at the back so no one can see people coming or going.

Thanks @LaurieFairyCake that's really encouraging to hear. I was thinking along the same lines, i.e. keep volunteer placements going for a while to gain more experience.