47 Retrain for counsellor, is it worth it?

[AshGreen]

I feel that I spent a lot of my life letting things happened for me, I had two postgraduate degrees but never worked in the filed that related to my studies, I then did retail jobs just because I was offered the opportunities. I don't dislike it but also don't love it.

Reaching 50, I looked back my life (mid life crisis? ) with a lot of regrets and now really want to make a change for myself and do something I love and believe in.

Counselling has always been a profession that appeals to me, I have now done Level 2 and Level 3 counselling courses and feel this is the job I want to do. But I really not sure if I can continue to Level 4 which will allow me to practise but will cost 13K and 3 years time. I am willing to do the hard work and take up a loan to do the course but the job prospects is pretty grim for this profession.

I really don't know if being financially worse with no job security is the price worth paying for doing something I love?

Never too late!!

Are you looking at the right course for you? Part time level 4 can be done in 2 years and cost about half, so check out other options for study. biggest cost is time. In the same boat. I haven’t started mine as work FT and have family.

whether it’s worth it depends on what you want out of it. Lots of career paths and options from there. You can work and train too.

Thank you for your message, so encouraging!

The tuition fee itself is about 9K, there will also be supervision fees 1K, personal counselling 1-2K and transportation fee if the course not provided locally. The course itself is 2 years with another 300 hours (likely volunteering) afterward to be qualified.

It's almost impossible to get a counsellor at the moment and I think this field is just going to grow and grow with a crisis of the mental health of the young. Personally I'd much prefer to see a slightly older counsellor who has had more life experience. I retrained at 35 and loved it!

Have you looked at doing this whilst working? Depending on your focus, you can work as say a guidance counsellor for a school whilst qualifying, same with other areas. You can teach level 2 at the same time, you can work for an agency and be sponsored. Loads of options! What area do you want to specialise in?

I will be working likely full time while I am doing the course. I have not decided on which area to specialise in yet.

Very reassuring to hear someone has done it and loved it! Thank you.

I did it in2009. Level 2, 3, diploma then a years uni to top up to a level6.

I did a lot of volunteering at charities. Had a few private clients. But it never took off. (I do live in a deprived area ) Paid roles were extremely rare.

I gave up ( for a variety of reasons) and now do something totally unrelated

But I got a degree out of it. Was a lot cheaper then. About 5k I think.

Thank you for sharing. Opposite to you, where l live the market for counsellors is saturated, my tutors said so themselves and said that we better off training to be a psychologist to earn a good salary ...

I also retrained in this area - I did Levels 2,3 and 7 - but work doing something else whilst I consider setting up in private practice. It’s life changing, the training, from a personal development perspective.

I researched all the qualifying courses in and around my city thoroughly before choosing the masters, and did consider a level 4 or 5. I don’t understand why the tuition fee is 9K for a Level 4 course which was the cost for my BACP accredited Masters? The fees for Level 4 or 5 courses I’ve seen were 4 - 5 K and that was just a few years ago, in my city.

I'm currently doing my diploma and the course fees are around 8k. I'm 57!

Ditto

No way would I spend 8k on a Level 4 or 5 Diploma. There’s obviously huge variations in different parts of the country for this type of thing.

Looks like it. I am going to do some research to see if its worth travelling a bit to do the course somewhere cheaper.

I work in mental health and I'm not sure spending that amount of money on a counseling diploma will pay off long term if I'm honest. I know so many people who are trained counselors that have not gone on to secure a job as one, or many that are just working as volunteer counselors for charities etc. ( Which is fab, but not if you need to work to pay back loans..).
Have you looked at other job roles within mental health that could give you more chances of being employed?

Mine is run by an excellent organisation with great teaching and is well respected and accredited. It will be perfect for what I want to do, and it's also within commuting distance. I have a few friends who are practicing very successfully and supervise people from this course and all agree it's excellent. It might be on the pricy side but an MA would have been even more expensive.

The tuition fee for level 5 BACP accredited master (1 year) and level 4 BACP diploma (2 years) is more or less the same in my city. I didn't realised its possible to skip level 4 and do level 5, do you have psychology degree already ?

It's a two year course so 3.7k a year. The Masters near me at university is also 2 years but 9k.

My diploma is also BACP accredited.

I have a degree (not psychology) and could technically apply for the Masters near me with the equivalent of a Certificate in Counselling Skills (level 3?) and some experience. It would take two years and cost more as I'd have to get student finance and as I'm already working presumably would be paying interest and paying back the loan immediately.

Have you considered doing a post graduate diploma in place of L4? You would normally have to have some relevant experience for those. Also look into NHS-funded schemes that guarantee a job at the end of the course, if you are interested in CBT. Example: Trainee Psychological Therapist (CBT)
https://g.co/kgs/J7hbG2

I'm a qualified counsellor in private practice and love it but you're right to consider the financial side. There really aren't many jobs around, at least not until you have extensive experience. Private practice is working well for me but it's hard work and a lot of uncertainty in terms of constantly thinking about marketing and worrying about money if clients end and you don't have anyone else starting. That's the case with any self-employed work of course. You need to be good at the business side of things too or spend a fair bit of time learning that (in my experience counselling courses are not very good at preparing trainees for this). You can only see up to about 20 clients a week and depending on where you're based, costs can add up (room hire especially), so you need to be realistic about your earning potential.

I would choose a course that puts a lot of emphasis on personal development, both in a group context and face to face teaching time, as well as requiring a good amount of personal therapy. I'm still shocked there are counselling trainings out there that ask for as little as 20 sessions of personal therapy - how can anyone sort their own stuff in that time in order to work with vulnerable people safely and with awareness of their own motivations. My training was psychodynamic and the depth of it seemed to be on another level compared to some of the other courses out there.

With SCOPED coming in, you won’t be classed as a proper counsellor unless you have a specific qualification at a certain level. I’d recommend you research SCOPED before embarking on any course below masters level that isn’t CBT focused and accredited by babcp.

You can’t get a counsellor because there aren’t enough paid roles in the nhs, not that there aren’t enough counsellors, there’s loads. Average pay for a counsellor according to bacp is less than 10k a year.

Counselling is brilliant and changes lives, but having retrained and tried to make a career of it myself, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are independently wealthy and could run it as a hobby rather than your main source of income.

With SCOPED coming in, you won’t be classed as a proper counsellor unless you have a specific qualification at a certain level

I don't think this is much different to now? I know psychotherapy training is rated more highly in the SCOPED framework

Masters is Level 7. You don't need a psychology degree to do a Level 7 qualification in counselling, and I don't. I agree it's very unclear that you don't need to a Level 4 to do a Level 5 course. The only difference I understand between the two is that the Level 5 is a bit harder.

You can only see up to about 20 clients a week

I've never heard this before. My former peers who're in private practice can see any amount of clients they wish to - there's no maximum number according to the BACP. They're all doing really well but they have and still do put the work in re marketing, ongoing CPD and being in the 'right' locations. They also tell me that a big part of getting regular clients in is due to networking and referrals.

I'm still shocked there are counselling trainings out there that ask for as little as 20 sessions of personal therapy

My own course (BACP accredited and Level 7) only required 20 sessions, but I did and needed to have double that amount. I think it's appalling that there's some courses out there that don't require any personal therapy at all.

if op wants to make a living from counselling then the course she spends her money on needs to be one that can result in her getting paid work at the end, so understanding scoped is imperative. If someone had told me that getting a masters and being accredited would result in me being seen as middling as a counsellor I don’t think I would have spent my ££££ and time doing it. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.