Liverpool Counselling Training

What experience does your tutor team have?

All our trainers are highly experienced counsellors. Both BACP-registered and CPCAB-approved, all members of our team have over a decade's background as practitioners in counselling and psychotherapy. All our teaching staff 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 Newbury College, Abingdon and Witney College, Banbury Counselling Academy, Guildford College and University of Greenwich.

What is the attendance requirement?

An attendance of at least 80% is needed to successfully complete your course.

However, you will be expected you to attend as fully as possible. We appreciate that 100% attendance may not be possible, but whereas the key resources on other types of training may be materials or equipment, this is a training where you and your fellow students are the primary resource for each other's training. So you need to engage as fully as possible in order to provide others with the interpersonal interactions that take place as you practice your skills with each other.

A lack of engagement with peers is as problematic as being absent. If you are aware in advance of a serious possibility of persistent or prolonged absence, please bring this up at interview and note it on your application form.

What is the difference between BACP and CPCAB?

CPCAB, or the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) is the awarding body for your qualifications. We work with them to make sure that all our courses and tutors are rigorously and independently assessed, and that we meet CPCAB's high professional standards. CPCAB is the only awarding body in the UK run by counsellors for counsellors, which makes it very well placed to expertly assess the standards to which its centres operate.

BACP, or the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, is the largest professional membership body for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK. It represents the interests of the counselling profession and has a role in setting standards and protecting the public.

Are there any extra costs involved in the training?

You will need a reliable internet connection and a computer to engage with our trainings, as well as a private, reliably-available space for classwork. For online sessions we use Zoom, which you can download and use 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.

There are lots of options out there 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 particular professional body, to specialise with a particular training, or be acceptable to 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-level 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 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).

Can I do my entire training online?

Not entirely. If you follow the CPCAB training route, then you can train online for levels 2 and 3, at which point (Level 4) CPCAB require that there should be an element of face-to-face training. We currently offer starter-level trainings, at Level 2, as a fully online option, as well as an online Level 3 follow-on course. For CPCAB's Level 4 counselling training, the majority of your training would be on location, 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 make sure you will meet their requirement at that point in your training.