how do you become a bfing counselor and what does it involve?

[mamacoffee]

Looked at the nct site, unless I seriously misunderstood it would cost 5000 quid and take three years, please tell me I've misunderstood!! I can't pay that when all I want id to help ppl...

There are several organisations that train BFCs- NCT, LLL, BFN and ABM are the main ones (are there any more?). Your best bet would be to contact each of them and have a chat about how it works. They are all slightly different in their approach although the end result is pretty similar. Have a look and see if there are any BFCs nearby that you can call for a chat, most of them will be more than happy to share the workload

I don't know if NCT subsidise or pay for the training, I know a few NCT counsellors and none of them mentioned having to pay £5k for their training. They'll be able to give you all the details anyway.

Here is some info on LLL training, ABM here and BFN here.

Best of luck, it's a brilliant thing to do and whoever you train with you will be doing fantastic work to help mothers in your local community.

thank you thats really helpful! am glad to know that i may have got it wrong!!! i only looked up the NCT college and the above was their current special offer price sounds like i need to do more digging :)

Sorry, mama, sadly you are right about the cost to train as a bfc with NCT (though the exact cost I am not sure of, as there are subsidies, and if you have not done higher education before you can sort out a loan - and if you are in Scotland watch this space as things may change soon there). The cost is because all the training is accredited by a university and because tutors are paid. There may be other options in the near future which are not accredited.

There are other options in bf support - peer supporting, for instance, as well as the training with other organisations.

thanks tiktok. it seems really expensive, why would someone pay so much? are there other roles that this qualification can lead to? maybe i'm looking at the wrong sort of role for me- i just want to volunteer and help a few people, i'm not looking at making a career of this.

You probably want to look at peer support roles then. In my area they are called busom buddies, usually attend on of the local support groups and also visit new mums in the hospital to give details of the help available etc. My friend recently did the training course to become a busom buddy iirc it is free. They are called different things depending on your area.

It's much cheaper to train as a BFC with the other organisations but you don't get a university qualification at the end- it just depends what suits you best and whether you mind about not having an official qualification.

thank you everyone. i think i probably need to look at peer supporter roles, although a qualification is a nice to have it sounds like its not essential just to support others. many thanks for your help.

I'm Currently training with ABM and its £100 for the two years, definitely worth a look!

oh thats great, thank you chestercake

Sorry to hijack op, but I have been considering this myself and had a few questions!

Are there viable career options as a bf counsellor, or is it mostly voluntary? If I were to do it, I'd be happy to do an element of voluntary work, but at some point in the future I hope to leave my current job and have the opportunity for a career change and basically I wondered if bf counsellor work pays! If paid work, who do you work for and do jobs come up very often. I think I'd only ever be looking at doing it part time.

If you're looking at going into it as a career, is the NCT course the best one to go for or are the others as good practically speaking, just don't have the university affiliation? I'm not bothered about doing a university course personally, but would want to do the course that equips you best for the job and also is viewed favourably by any potential employers. I like the look of the ABM course and would love to do the voluntary work on their helpline, but wondered if it is the best course to do?

Thank you and sorry again for the hijack!

no problem blushingmare would be interested in the answer to your question just so i can understand why teh NCT course is designed in the way it is! (ie the only way it makes sense to me to charge so much and have the course uni accredited is for their to be a career at the end of it!)

there to be a career

i did actually study at oxford

It's mostly voluntary work but I think with some of the orgs there is the potential to earn a little (I'm sure I heard something about NCT antenatal classes, Tiktok will be able to confirm) or at least claim expenses or apply for grants. I don't think you could make a career of it though, unless you went private, but then there's the fact that you'd be charging for a service that others offer for free. Also you wouldn't have the backing of an organisation that would keep your training and reference materials up to date.

There are/were BF roles in hospitals, some may require you to be medically trained. I've seen adverts for jobs that would suit a BFC but I expect there's quite a lot of competition. It's probably all up in the air at the moment due to the re-shuffling and doing away with PCTs.

It used to be that you could go on to study as an IBCLC after a certain number of hours of doing BFC but I think that's now changed so that you need some kind of medical qualification.

Because it is quite flexible, it's usually easy enough to fit around working. Being a BFC is a lovely thing to do but don't expect to make any money out of it! You could always train as a doula or baby-wearing consultant as the roles would complement each other quite well. A lot of BFCs have a home business doing baby-related things like cloth nappies etc.