British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy
To be awarded the Level 3 Diploma in Counselling Skills, learners are required to successfully complete 5 mandatory units: • Unit 01 Developing counselling skills • Unit 02 Theoretical approaches in the use of counselling skills • Unit 03 Working ethically with counselling skills
This course could lead to work as a helper or a trainee counsellor , in areas such as mental health, the homeless, substance misuse, education, health, and social care. Further training can lead to becoming a fully-qualified counsellor .
You can start by doing an introduction to counselling course, which can last up to 12 weeks. After that, you can extend your training by completing courses like: Level 3 Certificate in Counselling .
You can ‘t, or at least you shouldn’t, half ass it. I am a qualified counsellor and bacp accredited . This is the least academic route to become a qualified practising counsellor . I actually have a psychology degree as well which was helpful in understanding some of the issues in counselling but it was not necessary.
After completing our level 4 diploma you can deepen your therapeutic understanding and practitioner skills by further study. These qualifications will enable you to: Work as a counsellor in independent practice ( Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling ).
To become a counsellor , you can study courses at a diploma level, bachelor degree, graduate diploma or masters degree in counselling . Counsellors can work in private practice, especially in the area of relationship counselling , in drug and alcohol services, or with gambling help services.
Starting salaries for counsellors can vary considerably but may be in the region of £20,000 to £26,000. Experienced counsellors can earn between £30,000 and £40,000. Some lead or specialist counselling roles, such as those in addiction, attract salaries higher than this.
Your course does not have to be BACP – accredited , but if it’s not you ‘ll need to take our Certificate of Proficiency before you can progress to become a registered member or be eligible for our accreditation scheme.
If you don’t already have a prior qualification in a mental health related field, your professional experience may still count for something if you work in a setting where counselling skills are used, or if you have volunteered, for example, for a helpline.
There are lots of different websites out there with guidelines about the differences between BACP and UKCP but roughly speaking the BACP requires less training in terms of time (2 years) whereas the UKCP courses can take up to 4 years and requires much more client contact hours and personal therapy hours.
You must have completed and graduated from a BACP accredited course, or professional counselling or psychotherapy training that: included at least 450 hours of tutor contact hours. lasted at least two years (part-time) or one year (full-time) included a supervised placement as an integral part of the training.
CPCAB is an awarding organisation – also known as an awarding body or examination board which awards qualifications – whereas BACP is a professional membership body which represents the interests of counselling. In practice therefore BACP accredited courses may be linked to national qualifications or they may not.
No. The Relate qualifications offer a specific training for working for Relate, they are not equivalent to a generic counselling training qualification for work Can the Relate L4 and L5 qualifications be used towards the Open University Foundation degree ?
Level 7 refers to a level of education equivalent to a master’s degree , and is generally attained in a centre for further education. Examples of Level 7 qualifications include: Postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) Postgraduate diplomas and certificates.
National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) NVQs are awarded at six different levels , equivalent to other academic qualifications . A Level 6 NVQ is equivalent to a Bachelors degree , while Levels 4 and 5 equate to the first and second years of a Bachelors degree respectively.