• Working within an ethical framework
• Establishing and sustaining the boundaries of a counselling relationship
• Understanding and working with diversity
• Working within a user-centred agreement
• Using counselling theory to understand own self
• Using a coherent framework of counselling skills to inform and enhance counselling work
• Working self-reflectively as a counsellor

Across the two years of the qualification, learners will gain a deep understanding ofPetruska Clarkson Integrative five relational model, and this will be explored both independently and through a variety of theoretical counselling approaches; including(but not limited to) Person Centred, Psychodynamic, Existentialism, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Transactional Analysis.

Lessons will include theory lectures and discussions, skills practice, personal development workshops, practical role-play scenarios, group supervision and many other areas.

During the course, students will be required to:

• Accrue 100 client hours in a suitable counselling placement agency.
• Attend clinical supervision on a monthly basis for at least 1½ hours per calendar month (as recommended good practice by the BACP).
• Undertake personal therapy - attending a minimum of 40 one-hour counselling sessions, to be spread across the two years

Additional costs:

• Counselling: a minimum of 40 hrs (approx £35.00 to £50.00 per session)? BACP Registration (between £40 and £80 per year)
• Public Liability Insurance may be required by some agencies (if so, this is between £30.00 and £60.00 per year)
• Supervision, if not provided within the agency (between £40 and £75 per hour)

Please note: This qualification is intended to provide you with the skills to work therapeutically with adult clients, and not with under-16-year-olds. Further post-Level 4 training would be required if you wanted to work with children and young people.

• To commit to attending and engaging in personal therapy with an approved therapist throughout the course, amounting to a minimum of 40 hours.
• Identify reasons for training beyond just personal development.
• Be both academically & emotionally able to cope with this level of training**.
• Have an ability to work with differences and diversity.
• Possess personal qualities, imagination, intuition, openness and ability to benefit from self-development.
• Ability to form and maintain a therapeutic relationship.
• Hold self-awareness, insight, honesty and the ability to make links with your own personal dynamics.
• Have a secure level of emotional stability and the absence of personality disturbance**.
• Have the ability to be challenged.
• Ability to respond sensitively and empathically to others.

*While a qualification in nursing, social work, psychology or similar will support your learning and understanding of some of the theories studied in counselling, they will not have given you adequate client/helpee contact nor developed your self-awareness/personal development. You may have undertaken one-to-one work with clients in therapeutic or non-therapeutic settings; however, the nature of the counselling relationship is very different.

*All our counselling training courses at all levels are delivered in-person, and we DO NOT accept certificates from online/distant learning suppliers, no matter who the awarding body might be.

**Please note that if any applicant has experienced a significant life event in the last 6 months (for instance, a bereavement or recovery from a mental health issue), the college has the right to refuse the application, due to the demands of the course. Wewould recommend reapplying the following year.

Attendance must remain above 85% for each of the two years of the course, and you will be required to engage in your own personal therapy, not to simply attend the sessions.

After passing a tutor-observed role-play skills session (the Certificate of Competency), you will secure a counselling placement and work towards 100supervised clinical hours with a relevant and suitable counselling agency.

It is important to note that the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling is not a purely academic qualification. In addition to the academic requirements, there are areas of personal development that all students are expected to develop, enhance and display. These include, but are not limited to, the ability to comprehend and embody the qualities which comprise the seven units of the CPCAB Candidate Learning Review (CLR), alongside comprehension, aspiration and embodiment of both the principles and moral qualities of the BACP Ethical Framework.

An inability to develop or further enhance these essential areas may impact a student’s ability to complete this qualification, even if all academic and external requirements are met. Your tutor will monitor these areas during your training, both in lessons and during formal tutorials where any concerns will be raised fordiscussion, and feedback will be given.

The interview process for this course involves a reflective essay (in the format of a self-review), a formal interview with the course tutor, and a successful tutor reference from your Level 3 tutor. If these are successful, you will receive an enrolment code to complete your enrolment online.