Training as a counsellor - any recommendations for courses, please?

[ItWasAllYeIIow]

Hi,

I am 50 and need a change of direction work-wise.
Any counsellors here? I am looking at courses, but would relaly value some recommendations, and any advice too.
I already have a Psychology degree from just under 30 years ago, but didn't actually do anything related afterwards.

Thanks in advance.

It might help if you said whereabouts you are!

Generally though I’d look for BACP-accredited courses.

(Not a counsellor but have done some training and would like to go back to it some day)

I am in England. I meant more which courses/accreditations people felt were best, rather than a particular university.
I ideally want to do it remotely at much as possible (obviously I understand this isn't totally feasible).

Thank you for your response.

If you were willing to say whereabouts in England you’d probably get better advice.

It won’t necessarily be a university where you do it.

You won’t be able to do an entirely remote course once you get past the basic level.

My main advice is to avoid Chrysalis courses as they have a poor reputation and don’t meet requirements for anything.

Have you looked at the NHS job sites. They are currently paying for people to train in MH services for children, not sure about adults.

@lifeisacat where did you see that? I just went to their site and I couldn't see anything!

Placemarking as it’s something I’d like to explore

It's best to first look into the different counselling orientations (eg integrative, person-centred) to get a feel for what might best suit. Then look for introductory 'taster' courses in your area, whilst ideally volunteering/working in a role that requires counselling skills. Then move on to a certificate course and finally a postgraduate diploma, which should be bacp accredited. Best not to do it online - it's unlikely to be as good.

I’m at the end of a 4 year psychotherapy core training. It’s cost a fortune! And still does - supervision and volunteering for clinical hours

I wish I’d just gone for a counselling diploma first and built on that towards psychotherapy profession as I have more experience than qualified counsellors in private practice, so that’s my advice

definitely look on bacp or UKCP for accredited trainers or make sure any course local to you is accredited by them. There are 3 other ethical bodies but they have lower standards imv

tbh it’s what you put into the personal development side that will get you there so the course doesn’t matter so much (as long as accredited)

I wouldn’t take up a course where personal therapy is not a requirement

I would do this

Be aware that this field is becoming increasingly hollowed-out and commoditised by big online providers such as ‘Better Help’.
It can be quite hard to earn a proper living as a counsellor.

There was an interesting BBC sounds podcast about ‘Employee Assistance Programmes’ which touched on the working conditions for counsellors in these setups.

are you able to message me?

@MrsCastle would you be able to share details of what you did, and also what you wish you'd done?

I signed up for a level 7 course in the modality of Transactional Analysis (TA) this means the path is slightly different as it’s accredited by UKCP through UKATA who is the TA regulator in the UK.

I’ve studied for 4 years to complete the “core TA practitioner training” and have to pay an additional fee of nearly £1k to get a diploma granted - additional work on top of the fours years consisting of an oral exam and a written case study of 4000 words to get this diploma.

so it’s been an expensive route

I am in a placement where qualified counsellors” are also volunteering (to build up clinical hours) - they have only completed a level 2-4 course over a couple of years which is much cheaper and have not undergone oral exams&case study. they also have less clinical hours than me - hence I’m more qualified but they are the “qualified” counsellors

what I’m saying is there is huge disparity in routes

you are probably very confused - that is because it is confusing! Counselling and psychotherapy are not regulated in this country - instead there are five ethical bodies with differing requirements - hence why you can complete a level 4 course and practice as “qualified” with one of those ethical bodies. You will find bacp and UKCP have the most in depth requirements.

my best advice is to really start from where you want to be and work backwards to see what you need. That said it’s very hard to understand all the pathways

the benefit I have is that a level 7 course is postgraduate level and I can probably benefit from charging more down the line and I also can become a psychotherapist without more formal training, just CPD and a 8000 word written submission and a few other requirements

if I was to do it again I would go to a local college and just start to build my knowledge and work through the stages - this I belief gives you more freedom to swap between modalities - start at certificate level one eve a week etc alongside my other job.

my route hasn’t been ideal but I do feel more prepared than I think I otherwise would for private practice

I am in SW London/Middx borders.

Good to know re Chrysalis - I have been looking at them.

Really avoid - I cannot stress this strongly enough.

Do you have any experience in a listening or support type role, OP? You need to be sure this work suits you because it can be an enormous investment, with very few jobs at the end of training. Are you thinking about setting up in private practice, or working in an organisation? What do you see when you imagine being a counsellor? It's worth really thinking about what you're aiming for and check if your expectations are realistic - sadly it's a field where there are an abundance of tempting training courses producing many many trainees competing for unpaid roles to get the hours they need to qualify, then more hours to get accreditation...then not many salaried jobs at the end of it.

Any more info on that? Feel free to PM me, thank you!

Sorry I don’t do PMs. They have a very bad rep. I have a friend who trained with them and regretted it, but have heard bad things outside of that also.

Also: https://notsobigsociety.wordpress.com/2014/09/20/strange-goings-on-at-counselling-training-provider/

I am just starting out researching this as a career change/long stint as a sahm, so putting the feelers out, and to be truthful, I am not sure. I do already have a psychology degree, and we did a counselling term, which I felt good at, but I was 21 at the time and didn't feel ready or wise or like anyone would want to see an early twenties counsellor. I am now three decades older, and hopefully wiser, and feel like I am a good listener, so I am looking at some options. Exactly as you say in your last paragraph, there is indeed an abundance of training courses, and I am not certain how much work there is available at the end of it. I am worried about the financial outlay for not enough in return. But I am not happy in my current job, which is something I had to take to fit around school hours, but now my youngest is in Y5, I am thinking I need to up my hours to full time in something better-paying than what I am currently doing.

I would not initially set up privately, as much for my personal safety as anything else. Online, perhaps. I envision working for

Many thanks for info. This is why I posted, thank you.

I'd really encourage you to research the job market before embarking on expensive training. Start with a cheap and local introductory evening class or similar, take your time to decide and find out what sort of role you might be aiming for, what type of therapy modality appeals to you. Something like cbt training with the NHS would set you on a very different path to a person centred counselling diploma, for example.

Could you link that here @lifeisacat I’d be interested in that too!

Have a look at the CONTROL System practitioner training; not all practitioners, er, practice - some do it for themselves, others as an additional skill (including a couple of GP's).

All of these costs are very concerning, with no guarantee of work. Well done on being four years through! Can you tell us how much it's cost you?

I have been looking at a counselling diplomas as a starting point, and less of an financial investment.

Thanks for the advice. It's really hard to know where to start, or what therapy modality appeals the most, I don't know enough yet and it all is feeling like a minefield.