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Is it possible to my entire counselling training online?

At some levels, yes. If you decide to follow the training route set out by CPCAB, then you can train online for level 2 and level 3, at which point (Level 4) CPCAB require that there should be a significant face-to-face element for the training Our centres offer starter-level trainings at Level 2 as a fully online option, and an online Level 3 follow-on course. For CPCAB's Level 4 counselling training, the majority of the training course would be on-site so at that point you would need to enrol with a local provider.

If you intend to progress through a non-CPCAB training route after Level 3, or are looking for a more specialised training (eg. for pastoral care, working with children, or where the provider has a special requirement for face-to-face experience) you should check with your chosen provider to ensure your training will meet their requirement at that point in your training.

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What can I do to improve my chances of being accepted onto the course?

Course places are offered to eligible course applicants in date order of application. You need to satisfy the criteria listed on our website, and those described in the course specification for CSK-L2 listed on the CPCAB website, but it's not our policy to 'cherry-pick' candidates or compare applicants with each other. Where the course is close to its start-date, our centres may prioritise those applicants who respond promptly to our request to attend an interview over those who appear not to be responding, due to the time-constraints of the process involved with interviewing. Counselling training courses stretch their students on occasions and it's possible that you may find yourself out of your comfort zone . In interview, the interviewer may choose to explore whether you're in a life-situation where you can cope with the demands of the course. For instance, they may explore how solid your personal support-network is outside the classroom setting, how heavily your competing life-responsibilities currently press on you, and for life-events which are contra-indications to embarking on the training course (eg. a recent bereavement). In certain cases our centres may advise that you reapply later or (normally for those who are already students on their existing training path) we may make an offer conditional on your engagement in counselling.

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There are lots of options for training. How do I select the right one?

To work out where to start, you need to think about where you want to end up. If you want to be recognised by a specific professional body, If you want to be recognised by a specific professional body, or be considered by a particular employer, check with the professional body, training school, or employer in question, and find out what they need from you to be accepted..

Make sure, if you are selecting a starter-course, to check that it will be a stepping stone to your next qualification. Not all Level 2 trainings are equivalent, and may not necessarily be what you need to be accepted on a CPCAB Level 3 training. To know if a prior training is acceptable for entry to a further course, ask the training centre providing the further training, not the centre offering the previous one (as they may not have up-to-date information, or may not reliably know the current status).

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What is the difference between CPCAB and BACP?

The Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) is the awarding body for your qualifications. Our centres work alongside CPCAB to make sure that our counselling courses and the counsellor tutors who teach on them are independently & rigorously assessed, and that our training centre meets CPCAB's professional standards. CPCAB is the only awarding body in the UK run by counsellors for counsellors, which makes it ideally placed to assess the standards to which its centres operate..

The British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, BACP, is a major professional membership body for UK-based counsellors and psychotherapists. It has a role in setting standards and in safeguarding the public and represents the interests of the counselling & psychotherapy profession.

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What experience do your tutor teams have?

Our trainers are all highly experienced counselling practitioners and are CPCAB-approved. All team members in our training centres are experienced as practitioners in counselling & psychotherapy. Our teaching staff at the centre have years of experience in leading other teaching teams and have taught counselling training groups in multiple training contexts at Levels 1-6. Our team members have previously programme-led or taught counselling-courses for Guildford College, Banbury Counselling Academy, Newbury College and University of Greenwich.

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Are there any extra costs involved in the training?

You really need to have an internet connection that is reliable and has sufficient bandwidth to support Zoom conferencing and a computer to engage with our trainings, as well as a reliably-available, private space to engage in confidential classwork.

For online sessions our centres use Zoom, or other software, downloadable for free. Your assignments are submitted via online web-forms, or Powerpoint-compatible files for presentation materials, which you can create and edit in Microsoft Office, or if you prefer, a compatible free alternative such as LibreOffice which can be downloaded and used for free from the internet.