Is anyone a self employed counsellor In the uk?

[strongmamaxo]

I’m wanting to become a self employed counsellor, currently looking into open university for it. Can anyone tell me the salary for something like this? I have done research but I want to hear it from people themselves and their experiences in the UK. How much they charge per hour etc…. Is it worth the money etc

There is no salary if you’re self emploeyed, it will be £40-200 an hour and you can only have 4-5 max a day

My experience is that it's not worth the money. The costs of training and ongoing practice are high. It's a crowded field with a lot of competition. It does repay in many other ways, but money isn't one of them.

You would charge something like £70 or £80 an hour as a self employed counsellor, once you have enough experience, but the range is quite large and you can get a lot more or less than this. As someone else said you can see 4 or 5 people in a day. You have costs of room hire (or you can work online), costs of supervision, also annually you pay professional indemnity insurance, and professional registration fees. You need to complete self assessment for income tax.

It’s £94 an hour where I am. Counsellor’s. Rent a room in a practise normally, or a discreet space at home.

Our local college does a course, takes three years and 100 hours of counselling to get qualified. % of drop out is high but seems to produce good results. You need to be highly organised and committed. Time off and holidays need to planned well in advance, sessions can’t be cancelled at short notice. A good career but won’t make you rich.

You could charge £50/£85 an hour but will be limited on how many people you can see a day/week as it’s intense. You would obviously have to pay overheads-room hire/insurance/personal supervision.

Do you already have the qualifications-what level? It’s a lengthy and expensive process to get. I know two ex-teacher friends who had done it but both describe it as not very lucrative and more like a very expensive hobby! They both have highly paid husbands (who built them garden rooms to WFH in!) and are doing this to fill time until the husbands retire.

Firstly OU is not a good robust training course IMHO, secondly big money comes with experience.
TBH if I had to start it now I wouldn't but I qualified many years ago and specialise in a niche area with years of training in that too.
I work for myself half of the time and employed the other half ( which is well paying but I have been very lucky), I have my own office in my house (office has it's own entrance, loo etc so no impact on home) but mainly I work online, I did this 5 + years before covid anyway.
I make very good money but it was bloody hard work, the field is saturated with therapists because it is unregulated, it's a bit of a shit show tbh because you don't even need to be qualified!
Also most therapists I know have a side job.

To give you an idea of annual income I see 10-14 clients a week, turnover approx 20k but overheads are high as pp have mentioned, marketing costs are also a factor. I make about 14k take home. It’s a good part time job, very rewarding but also emotionally tiring. I have fewer friends now as don’t have the capacity to maintain as many relationships.
I did a level 7 training, took 6 years and cost a lot in total because of the therapy and supervision required on top of course fees. Have to work for free to get the hours before being allowed to charge. There are many different courses with differing requirements re therapy and hours needed to qualify- it the better courses have higher standards. Only do one with is bacp or ukcp accredited because regulations are coming and the less stringent courses will not be accepted.
Another cost is CPD - have to do continuous training to maintain accreditation with whichever professional body you join. Any client with a bit of sense will only go to an accredited counsellor.

I don't think you can become a qualified counsellor via the OU... All qualifying courses have a focus on development of skills in person through placements.

Have a look at BACP
https://www.bacp.co.uk/careers/counselling-and-therapy-as-a-career/training-to-become-a-therapist/

Also UK therapists subreddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/UKTherapists/

Agree, avoid OU or distance or online training. You need to be part of a supportive cohort of other trainees. Don’t go into it without having therapy first.

The OU has some kind of tie up with CPCAB where you do a theory diploma with the OU and then have to do a more practical course with a CPCAB training provider, the OU doesn't qualify you to work as a registered counsellor.

Personally i'd think very hard about it this, training is at least 3 years, expensive and has a very high drop out rate, you have to juggle work placement hours, personal counselling alongside the studying I think 90% of the people on my course dropped out, that's before you even try to make a living. Betterhelp have just announced that they are now working with EAP's so a lot of that work will now go to them and they pay less.

If you look at the counselling directory website you can see how many people are in your area and what they charge. Don't forget you have advertising, insurance, prof membership fees and supervision to pay plus possible room rental and you still have to pay tax/ni.

Agree with the general gist of PPs. Training is expensive if you want to do it properly. Ongoing costs are also very significant. To put it into perspective, I'm highly qualified (excellent initial training, nearly 15 years of experience). I now see about 18 clients a week (this is towards the upper limit.of what my supervisor will consider safe practice). It might sound like "part time", but when you factor in admin, supervision and ongoing cpd, it's a pretty full on week). I charge £70 per hour. This year, I should just about be making £35k before tax.

That said, it's the most interesting and rewarding work I can imagine. I recently flirted with a change of career, and actually got offered a civil service job that paid more and had an amazing pension (ah , I should mention I basically have no person at the moment, other than qualifying for state pension). However I turned it down because I love my therapy work too much. I may regret with when I'm a pensioner in poverty! I guess I hope I'll be able to carry on working into elderhood!