Anyone ever trained to be a counsellor/psychotherapist?

[thirtysomething]

Am considering finding a course for this September or next year and just wondered if anyone has any experience of training/working in this field? I've always been interested in doing this and am looking for complete career change!

I'm a psychotherapist/counsellor, did my training about 7 years ago.

My advice would be to research a LOT! Read up on all different types/theories and see if there is something that particularly interests you.
Counselling courses are generally pretty hard going with lots of personal therapy for you.

Sorry this reply is a bit all over the place but I've got a wicked headache.

Sorry if this is a dense question but where do you look for research? I can see that this might be a good career choice for DD but cannot find much info. Basically, there seem to be loads of types/theories but not much explanation about the differences between them, how to get into them, etc. How do you find work experience so that you can see if you really are suited?
I tried to speak to NHS careers but they were no help at all.

Alistairsim do you mind me asking whether you are working in private practice or are employed in-house? What sort of hours do you work and does it fit in with kids well? (mine are school-age). I've found a couple of courses - one's an MA/Diploma (2-3 years) in integrative pyschotherapy and the other is more of a specialised MA in humanistic but it takes 4 years. Did you find the academic side intensive? TIA!

Sorry it's taken me an age to reply, just having one of those days!

I'm not working at the moment as I'm too pregnant and busy with a toddler but before that I had a private practice. Working on your own has the advantage of you deciding on what hours you work but the downside is that you have to think about renting premises, insurance etc.
I think the academic side varies from course to course. I already had a degree so was used to the academic side of study and essay writing and found the personal/experientail side much more difficult.

donna - if you google BACP, you should be able to find some useful info/links.

thanks Alistair - useful to know. Am not too daunted by the academic side -it's just fitting it all in round the kids really, and finding something to discuss in the obligatory therapy sessions - will probably uncover issues I didn't know I had!

Oh yeah, the obligatory dragging-up-of-personal-ishoos!

Don't worry abut that, there's always a load of people with SO many that nobody will notice that yours involve you cat dying ten years ago.

in the current climate, and if i could go back (i'm at the end of a 4 1/2 year training) i would do a conversion psychology degree for a year and then train as a couselling psychologist.

or

i would train as a cognitive behavioural therapist

or

i would train as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist.

based purely on the fact that unless you are one of these you are highly unlikely to get work in the NHS.

in the current climate.

Sophable do you mind me asking what field you are doing your training in and how you are finding it? TIA

integrative psychotherapy. have my masters, waiting to complete training and get BACP and UKCP accreditation in december.

it is a great course. but the nhs is closing shop on all of the talking therapies apart from CBT and favours counselling psychologists over psychotherapists.

but if you jsut want to work private practise/agencies it is fine.

if i could go back i would train in attachment based psychotherapy at the Centre for Attachment Based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (islington i think).

be warned. massively high drop out rate, lots of divorces life changing stuff because of being in psychotherapy for 4 years (which you have to be to get proper accreditation. very expensive too.

but worth it because it is an endlessly fascinating job.

thirtysomething....

I remember having my "obligatory" counselling during my training and starting the session " I'm not sure what we are going to talk about for six months as I don't have any issues".......cue several boxes of tissues, much weeping, separation from my partner, and lots more .....

yup.

frankly (and forgive me, i feel i can say this given that it is what i've chosen to do) there is no random chance in choosing this as a career.

wounded healer anyone???

wow that has made me think twice sophable and laidback, do lots of people find it hard to sustain their relationships whilst doing this training? So far DP has been very supportive about me doing it, am now having second thoughts....

I would see if your local college runs an introduction to counselling course. This will give you some idea of what it is all about and will give you a better indication as to whether it really is what you want to do.

I did this last year, 12 people started, only 5 finished, and it was only a 7 week course. Due to the ineptitude of our local college they haven?t run the stage 2 certificate course since I finished the introduction so my studying is on hold but I am hoping to continue in September. But at the end of the introductory course, the tutor talked to us about continuing with the certificates, the diploma and ultimately going into practice. He said ?the course is possibly the hardest thing you will ever do in your life. It won?t only change your career, it will change your life, your relationships, the way you relate to people, and the way you relate to yourself. If you do this you have to be prepared for a lot of serious self discovery, and the fact that things in your life may turn out not to be as you?d thought. Many counselling students end up separating from their partners, partly because of the things they find out about themselves, ie the fact they suddenly have the strength to say/do things they may not previously have had, and partly because the partner often finds it really difficult to cope with the changes in their partner. It?s not uncommon for partners of counselling students to end up in therapy also.?

So wannabe, if you start of with a solid relationship and a supportive DP there is no reason why you should end up splitting up, is that what you are implying?

absolutely. but you will be different and so will your relationship. which can be a difficult process.

don't be put off....go for an introductory course.....it will give you a taste.

i have also experienced on the courses that i have done about a 50% drop out rate!

Sophable why do you think that is? Do you think it's because it's too "personal" for some people?

I think there is a reason most people don't turn to therapy or counselling until they are in crisis. It is an extremely hard, painful process. Not 'too personal' but rather a realignment of your self your relationships and your world in terms of how you perceive them. Not to be undertaken lightly and compulsory in order to be a therapist. So, I do think you have to have huge motivation in order to stick with it, and I think for most people that do, the motivation is in order to heal their own wounds.

thanks Sophable - am having a re-think but went on an open day today for a three year course and it sounded really good. I'm looking into the whole accreditation and BACP side of things - it all looks very complicated! Some courses lead to BACP accreditation and some don't and it's hard to work out swhich are the better options, as I like the sound of the one which doesn't lead to automatic accreditation!

can i join this thread please, I have been thinking of looking for something for sept. Currently recieving councelling and so want to help someone else when i've got my head sorted - which I will soon.

sophable...another reason why people don't turn to counselling/psychotherapy at an early stage is that it is expensive, and not widely available on NHS....Have you all thought of training as CBT therapists...? They are flavour of the month atm and also like hen's teeth...

notsofarnow what sort of courses have you found so far? I've been looking for a while and it actually seems quite hard to find courses which go beyond 6-10 week certificate stage. I think the best list I found was via the BACP website.

local college do 10 wk intro, a 34 week level 2 whatever that is and a 36 wk diploma course

thirtysomething....UKCP is very much what you want to get accredited with if you want to practise as a psychotherapist.

as I understand it , BACP have opted out of the governmental process of accrediting psychotherapists....be careful....ideally you want both.

mozhe....see my post further down with regards to flavour of the month.

thanks sophable - will prioritise UKCP - there are so many courses out there, hard to deciphrer which are good and which are just money-grabbing!