Are you a relationships therapist? What made you decide to become one?

[Pepperpottle]

What were your sources of inspiration? What training did you do? What are the best & worst aspects of your job? Would you recommend it as a career? How many clients do you see a week? I'm considering becoming one myself. Also, if I may be cheeky, what do you earn pa?

Many thanks!

Who do you write for!

No one! I've come out of a long shitty & pretty violent marriage with no career after 25years. I'm looking to find a job where I can ultimately work for myself. No one's going to take me on with no career history at my age.

I'm a secret international spy called Lana. SHH DONT TELL

I think you would need to train as a therapist initially and then do an additional course as a relationship therapist. The initial course would be 5 years part time - very costly as you have to have your own therapy throughout (and pay for it), supervision throughout (and pay for that) plus see clients on a voluntary basis throughout much of the training. If you have the resources and energy, I’m sure it would be a fascinating job.

And well done by the way for getting free. Whatever you do, it is heaven just doing it for you after years of having to always think of what will be best for someone else.

The cost of the course is around £4000 per annum here, so £20,000 altogether. The therapy and supervision are around £60 ph and supervision needs to be every few weeks, your therapy weekly or more at times. It is a massive commitment.

Just make sure the course you choose is accredited by the BACP (if in the UK). There are a lot of online courses that are not accredited. Check out the BACP website, I think they list courses.

And yes, it is an expensive course. You do need circa 50 hours personal therapy and when in training you need to pay for supervision (an experienced counsellor ) when seeing a client. Which is generally £60 an hour. This is all in addition to college fees.

It's a long road to accreditation, but a very rewarding career :)

When seeing your own* clients

Who do you write for!

The hours and annual salary of a therapies. How personal. Can’t wait to read that juicy article!

What is it with the witch hunt on here?! 💤

Therapist*

OP - How recently did your awful marriage end? If it was relatively recent, I'd hold back on any therapy training until you've dealt fully with your own relationship in your own therapy. There's a danger of using your therapy clients as an unconscious means of working something through for yourself, which can be very damaging for everyone involved.

There's a danger of using your therapy clients as an unconscious means of working something through for yourself, which can be very damaging for everyone involved.

I agree. I went to a relationship therapist who actually mentioned issues between her husband and her in the session. I couldn't believe that because therapy should be the one place you can go where it can be about you!

I would give it serious thought and consideration. It can be very damaging to people if the therapist is not thoroughly trained and does not keep up with their own supervision.

I would ask yourself:

Have you always been particularly perceptive and intuitive when it comes to people and relationships?
Are you the kind of personal who is capable of extracting your own emotion from a situation and being impartial?

Best of luck.

*person