Retraining as a psychotherapist- where do I begin?

[Combustablecustard]

Hi

Am currently working in education with qualifications up to Masters level but not in anything psychology related. Am considering retraining and becoming a psychotherapist but am finding researching the pathways into it quite overwhelming. Is anyone aware of any pointers or where ro go to start on this??

Look up BACP - www.bacp.co.uk/

However you would need to allow for quite a number of years in training of various sorts, so it would be expensive. Also be aware that there are no compulsory training courses or qualifications for therapists. Anyone can call themselves a psychotherapist without any training at all. But if you wanted to be employed, typically jobs would require a BACP qualification (or similar).

You need to start by identifying the outcome you are looking for - your post mentions wanting to be a psychotherapist but then you say you haven't done anything psychology-related, but those two things are very different roles.

This guardian article is from 2017 but still quite useful to give you an overview www.theguardian.com/careers/2017/may/25/thinking-of-a-career-in-therapy-here-are-your-options

And if it is specifically psychotherapy you are interested in, then I would recommend looking at UKCP www.psychotherapy.org.uk/ not BACP (in my experience they are better for counsellors).

It’s not a protected title however you do need to be accredited with the right amount of hours to work as a clinical psychotherapist say within the NHS. I am about to embark on a 2 years masters degree in clinical psychotherapy (with clinical placements etc). It will then take me a further two years to complete the recommended amount of hours, so four years in total post masters. My first degree is in health and social care.