Retraining as a therapist/counsellor - any advice?

[Studentforlife]

Any advice on retraining to become a therapist/counsellor?

Cost, where you trained, time took to do it, worth switching so late in life?

At 51 is it worth it? I have life experience behind me, a lot of it, and feel that you can probably work as a therapist until you can't speak or hear anymore...into your 70s if you want to. In a flexible working environment that, once you've built up a practice, could even be your own.

Interested on people's thoughts. Positive and negative. Thanks.

[JennieTheZebra]

Speaking as a MH nurse, we’re absolutely drowning in people who retrained as “therapists” and now can’t get work. They’re not qualified to work for the NHS (you need lots of experience and higher qualifications for that) and so they’re left scrabbling for whichever private clients are left-honestly, very few make a living out of it.
I don’t want to be mean, but do you really think a conversion course in “psychology and mental health” will qualify you to work with vulnerable people? If you’re serious about this then you need patient facing experience-and lots of it. I would get a job as a MH support worker. Sure, it’s not well paid (usually £20-25k) but at least you’re being paid, rather than paying for it, and it’s all valuable experience.

[Studentforlife]

@JennieTheZebra Thank you. That's interesting. I think you might be picking up from a post I subsequently deleted because it was a ramble of thinking out loud with too much information. I have reposted here with the basic questions I am looking for answers to. Just to answer your question - No I dont think a conversion course in “psychology and mental health" qualifies me and that isn't what I was saying. It was a consideration as one part of the pathway to retraining, which I understand can take up to 3-4 years to be counsellor. I am meaning in private practice, and not in MH for the NHS. I am not meaning as a Clinical Psychologist. Do you mean that you can get a job as a Mental Health Support Worker with no qualifications? I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable doing that to be honest.

[JennieTheZebra]

Yes, you can. I worked as one before/during my nursing degree. It’s a very valuable and interesting job that really helps develop communication skills.
What I’m trying to get across is that it’s the patient facing experience that matters, not the qualifications. You learn how to “be” with people outside of a classroom.
The first step to becoming a competent MH professional is being able to talk to people who are struggling. If you don’t feel comfortable working as a MH support worker (why?) then I would suggest volunteering, maybe for the Samaritans? Before embarking on a new course of study, especially at 51, I would really make sure that you know what you’re getting into. Wanting to help people really isn’t enough.
Plus, please please don’t underestimate how tough private practice is right now. There are so many counsellors and very few clients. NHS work is by far the most stable and reliable and can also be quite flexible.

[Nightynightnight]

There is no reason not to do it. There are LOTS of counsellors, particularly those who retrain later in life. It will be a lengthy process if you want to be good at it and attract clients. Many universities demand participation in a Counselling Skills access course as an entry requirement as well as some experience. The volunteer training programmes and subsequent work at places like Childline and Samaritans can provide excellent experience. Many courses also demand that you yourself undertake counselling which you will have to pay for. Whilst training and on placement, you will also need a professional counselling supervisor and again you are expected to pay for this. Once you are eventually qualified, you will be paying for CPD and yearly membership to a professional registration body. It is a LOT of investment in terms of money and time and many people do not see returns for quite some time.

You will see people advertising counselling or CBT who have not been appropriately trained. There was a push a few years ago to train up lots of NHS staff to deliver CBT and for me this was a bad move. It is a very distinct skillset and profession in its own right...not an add on to a different professional qualification.

Think about what it is about the job that attracts you and make a list and let us know. It might be that you could get the same list from a different job that is not such a high risk investment?

[Studentforlife]

Thanks @JennieTheZebra I didn't know that. Where I live its really hard to find a therapist so I just presumed (probably naively) it was something that was lacking trained people. I have a lot of experience working in this area as I did do social work training. And have a family full of mental health - bioplar etc. What I meant not feeling comfortable in terms of mental health support worker - was going in blind with no training - I suppose I thought (probably naively) that it was something that needed an insight and knowledge about. Its not particularly about wanting to help people in a naive way, I just know i have a lot of life experience and knowledge that could be a useful skillset to use in therapy/counselling.

[garlicandsapphires]

It's a long and expensive road to train, the overheads of a private practice are huge (supervision, room hire, therapy, CPD, insurance etc), and there aren't many paid roles available, but it's absolutely the best job in the world.

[Nightynightnight]

So you mentioned having Bipolar within your family and having lots of life experience to draw on. One of the reasons counsellors need to have therapy themselves and use a supervisor is to be able to leave their own experiences outside of the counselling room. Working with clients with issues similar to those you have faced yourself or loved ones have faced can be enormously triggering and it takes lots of time, training and skill to be able to cope with this effectively.

[Hbh17]

Don't volunteer at Samaritans or Childline just as a way to "get your hours in", because neither of them are counselling services and the work is very different.
There are lots of indifferent counsellors out there, and many are not working much at all. It's really hard work to build up a practise, and having a family with MH problems is irrelevant. You really need to do some serious research before going ahead with this plan.

[Nightynightnight]

P.s. I should point out I'm not a therapist.

[Studentforlife]

@Hbh17 why is it irrelevant. Surely any life experience is relevant? I’m obviously going to research this thoroughly and it’s not an immediate prospect it’s in a few years. Why do you feel so strongly about it? Are you a therapist yourself?

[Nightynightnight]

As I mentioned above. You will need to work harder to NOT bring your life experience into the room. It's irrelevant because what has happened in your life is completely irrelevant to your client and what is happening for them. Your job is a therapist is not to impart your wisdom born of years of experiences but to facilitate your client to find their own wisdom from their experiences.

[Nightynightnight]

So the only experience that is important is your experience in honing the right skills to be able to do this. Active listening skills, reflective practice, communications skills. The ability to be non reactive in high pressured situations. But you will need to be able to evidence these skills. Hence the recommendation to find work experience in an adjacent job.

[BlueGlassHeart]

@Nightynightnight I wonder if you‘ve had a bad experience with a therapist, as you’re coming across a bit triggered by OP…

@Studentforlife of course your experiences are valid, they’ll help you (should you decide to pursue) be congruent with a client and able to empathise. I started training at a similar age to you. What I wish I knew at your stage of the game was just how prosaic a lot of the training is. The good stuff is in the skills work, but a LOT of it is pretty monotonous homework. It’s a difficult skill to quantify on paper and sacrifice at the altar of BACP must be made. But some of the training is magic. Private practise is possible, but this isn’t a gig to go into to get rich, tho a good living can be made, it all depends what level/area you want to go into. Person-centred are all over the shop, and you’’d struggle to be noticed I suspect. NHS mental health provision is utterly woeful, and inept CBT abounds. It’s expensive to train, really expensive, and you’ll work an awful lot for nothing, hence the proliferation of middle class women who don’t need to worry so much about such trifling matters. But good luck to you should you go for it. And don’t bother with Samaritans etc, it won’t help you at all.

[Vinvertebrate]

My good friend is a therapist with many years of experience and is practising in a naice area where there is plenty of money to spend on therapy. She receives lots of word-of-moth recommendations and yet only scrapes about £25k pa after overheads.

She loves the job and has a wealthy DH - otherwise it would be unsustainable.

[Nightynightnight]

@BlueGlassHeart In what way?

[BlueGlassHeart]

@Vinvertebrate

My good friend is a therapist with many years of experience and is practising in a naice area where there is plenty of money to spend on therapy. She receives lots of word-of-moth recommendations and yet only scrapes about £25k pa after overheads.

She loves the job and has a wealthy DH - otherwise it would be unsustainable.

Absolutely this! It’s such a shame, as it’s created such a narrow provision.

[Eyesopenwideawake]

I trained as a remedial hypnotherapist with Tim Box. It's interesting, very rewarding and it's possible to make a reasonable living from it - as with all things, the more you put in the more you get out.

[AceofPentacles]

How about doing a high intensity CBT course which is on the job training via NHS . Then work in IAPT for a bit.
My mum wfh as a counsellor and is 81, but she's been doing it for 35 years.

[TakeNoTwitsGiveNoDucks]

I know someone who became a drugs and alcohol counsellor in her thirties. She doesn't make heaps of money but she makes a living. She does not get to work flexibly though. There are hours she needs to be in and it isn't a WFH whenever you want type job

[LookinUp]

I researched it thoroughly as a career change idea some time ago, but the length of time it takes to qualify and the expense (for the training qualifications but also for your own weekly counselling) put me off.

I know a lot of different types of therapists, both professionally and personally. Ed Paychs, Clinical Psychs, psychotherapists, counsellors etc. None of them - not even the highly experienced - make a living from private practice alone. They do some private work and then work for organisations, too. It looks exhausting and expensive (supervision, insurance etc) and ultimately wasn’t what I wanted for my next stage of life.

If you can afford it, it’s worth thinking about what type of therapeutic approach you’d be interested in, before you look into courses.

[Nightynightnight]

@BlueGlassHeart
but to answer your question anyway. No, I'm not triggered by her posts at all. I work in an adjacent role with very similar issues. It is incredibly important before committing huge amounts of money and time to a new career path to have a realistic notion of what the job and training will entail.
If you re read my posts you will see that I have not criticised the profession in any way.
I know wonderful, committed and highly skilled counsellors. I recommend it to my clients on a daily basis.
My posts have been informational .... It's a long process, it costs a lot of money, the returns aren't great in terms of finances and you need to separate self from client.
But I also said these are not necessarily reasons not to go ahead with it or to explore similar, less resource intensive options.

[PandaOrLion]

I’m a therapist. I have an MSc and it cost over 50k to train. I am always full ana always have a waiting list. I know this isn’t everyone’s experience.

I would strongly recommend if you are serious about it, you spend time having your own therapy and then begin your training in that modality.

It do not recommend training as a counsellor but I know a lot of people do it as it’s a cheaper, quicker option.

[Studentforlife]

@PandaOrLion What training did you undertake? What type of therapist? It’s very hard to understand the differences when you look at people who are advertising. I’ve been looking at what people who say they are therapists say about their training. Thank you

[coffeemonster28]

@PandaOrLion could I askwhy you don’t recommend counselling training ? Asking because I am debating retraining too

[popyourcollar]

I am retraining as a psychotherapist (4-5 years of training). I absolutely love it, but it is a fairly daunting path. The expense of training is very high and if you want to go into private practice, you need the skills to run a business too. Having said that, I know a lot of therapists who have established their practice and are continually full. It helps to be working in a modality that is in demand or to have an additional training that is popular with clients. It also probably depends on your area. Like the OP, I live in an area where there is a lot of demand for therapy.

I did a lot of research into different modalities and routes. It's really important to get the right course for you. It's also important - I think - to start your own therapy first so you get an idea of whether the continual self-examination required by the training is for you.

You can't go wrong by taking an introductory Counselling/Listening Skills course and seeing how you find it.

I also agree with the poster who suggested volunteering for a helpline. I volunteer for the Cruse Bereavement Helpline and it's highly relevant to a counselling/therapy training. It's person-centred, there is a strong emphasis on listening skills, and you build up skills in being alongside another person's distress without trying to fix it or rescue them - which is hugely important in therapy. The training is excellent and there is lots of CPD around mental health etc.