I want to be a counsellor......how???

eamon

My ex GF was training to be a counsellor. The amount of volunteer time she was expected to do bordered on the ridiculous and thats not including the costs. From my understanding you are expected to have therapy yourself and that costs approx £20 per session, if you are counselling real clients (unpaid of course) then every so often you have to go for supervision and that costs even more. Finally if you are in a relationship it can play havoc with that. I would think very carefully before proceeding.

Eamon

andan

You are required to have an hours counselling a week and thats around £20 to £30. You must complete 100 hours counselling experience/work in your two years training. Supervision is often free as a result of you doing free voluntary work, so you don't often have to pay for that.

It is hard work and it is a journey that you have to seriously consider if it is worth it, however i think you just know if its for you or not. I love counselling with a passion and know that it is right for me.

Carlyt

andan wrote: »

You are required to have an hours supervision a week and thats around £20 to £30. You must complete 100 hours counselling experience/work in your two years training. Supervision is often free as a result of you doing free voluntary work, so you don't often have to pay for that.

It is hard work and it is a journey that you have to seriously consider if it is worth it, however i think you just know if its for you or not. I love counselling with a passion and know that it is right for me.

I know I will love it, completely aware its hard work, can be emotionally and mentally draining but I love helping people, I already counsell my family and friends in a way! haha! I kind of feel like I'm a natural listener and genuinely want to help people through difficult times.

I am going to stick at the training and studying and keep looking for voluntary work! I am determind to have a career in either counselling or substance misuse and wont give in untill i'm there x

Marker_2

Why don't you consider specialising in one field. There is not enough people out there dealing with PTSD. Which is something I would like to go into one day.

Savvy_Sue

Just be aware that some people can't be helped, either because they aren't ready or don't want to be. Please don't think you'll be able to 'fix' people!

jacklink

the open university do counselling courses and they will help put you on the right path.

purple12

I'm a social worker currently working in a Mental Health setting and would just draw your attention back before you heart is set on counselling. I think as far as career structures social work is probably more 'solid' but can, at times - depending very much on what environment you are working in, involve some elements of counselling, CBT but also a lot more 'practical' help and support.
At the moment, it's a three year degree course or two year postgraduate course. I'm not sure what the funding situation is as it is bound to have changed since I qualified.The course is hard work but there's a lot of work out there to do - so long as you never expect to be thanked for it.
I also know a lot of colleagues who have also gone down the counselling path, but mostly part-time or at least with the (financial) support of the Trust they work for. So the two aren't completely mutually exclusive - particularly if you are working in the field of Mental Health.
I know you were looking at work you wouldn't need a degree for so it might be worth looking at local authorities for work in day services, support work jobs in the field of mental health or unqualified social workers roles (different councils call them different things) - and then you could get sponsored to take the social work training through work in a couple of years.
Anyway, don't dismiss it out of hand - it can be a remarkably interesting and stimulating job (sometimes frustrating of course and sometimes you want to tear your hair out but I wouldn't really want to do anything else now!).

Anyway, take a look at socialworkcareers.co.uk

There's a lot more to it than most people might expect