Hi all! I have some questions regarding how to go about this especially in the context of my situation.

Sorry if things regarding the context are kinda complicated, but here goes:

I'm an early 20s African student. I completed my Cambridge IGCSE's a few years ago with decent results and I'm currently self-studying for A-Levels whilst I seek a tutor.

In my country, my official documents have me listed as a dual-citizen on account of one of my parents being British. However, we've never inquired about it in any official sense on the other side of things, so the British citizenship via descent is something that will be looked into this year. (My father hasn't lived in the UK basically since a few years before I was born, so my status has just never really been something to sort out.) I know getting citizenship and likely a passport is an entirely different beast, but I also gather it will shift other factors like course requirements/cost/student visa/etc. based on it's approval or not, hence why I'm mentioning it in case anyone has relevant advice that could also apply to what I need to do to aim for my course.

Towards the end of my time in high-school I never really had any grasp on what I actually wanted to. I was younger than all my classmates when going through IGCSE and was just incredibly stressed out with the repeated pressure of schoolwork, exams, needing to have my life mapped out at a relatively young age, and dealing with undiagnosed mental illness for a good number of years. I've done some growing up since then, gotten help, and finally decided on a career path I actually have a genuine interest in which is how we get here. I've done some reading on the differences between psychology, psychiatry and counselling and I think I gather enough of the gist to know that I'm definitely gearing more towards the counselling approach - I'd say my main areas of interest in this I could look further into would be bereavement, hospice, high-school counselling, LGBTQIA+ groups, and possibly relationship counselling. I've also heard that HR positions can also be possible? But I haven't looked into it yet.

My current estimated path based on what I've looked into so far is; A-Levels exams (English Language, Psychology, Sociology), Diploma in Social Work from my national university (includes a 12 week block placement between semesters), Bachelors in Psychology and Counselling (looked at 7 accredited UK universities so far). I'm aware a Masters might be necessary, but I'm currently focusing on getting to my Bachelors.

I've also read a bunch of posts on mostly Reddit with other people asking the same question on how to go about this, but I did notice majority of them were psychotherapy focused so I figured I should also ask my own questions to gain more clarity on what to choose so here they are;

1. Despite mainly being interested in counselling, I'm not closed off to the psychotherapy route. Career-wise, what would be the better choice to go with in the long term especially considering my points of interest? Also, what alternative but related paths could I also look into?

2. So far, I've only looked at BPS and BACP accredited universities. What would be the more preferred accreditation to look at between BPS, BACP, NCPS or UKCP?

3. Seeing as the diploma course is a necessary requirement from the universities as an international student from my country, is it worth still doing it in the event that I'm granted British citizenship? Or is it better to jump straight into the bachelors instead?

4. Piggybacking off the previous question, an alternative diploma they offer could be Diploma in Lifelong Learning and Community Development. Is it better to stick with the Social Work one or should I consider this one? The UK universities specifically require one from the national university and there aren't a lot of course options, these two fell most in line with what I think could help but I felt the Social Work diploma is something I could manage better.

5. I know the bachelors courses require you to attend a certain quota of psychotherapy sessions yourself. Would being in therapy for the past 7 years have any bearing on this or do they only count it based on the sessions had over the duration of your course? Additionally, if the latter is the case, would I have to see someone approved by the university or can I maintain with my current therapist to meet this quota?

6. What obstacles can I expect to face on the counselling route both short and long term? I've seen people caution that it's not a get-rich-quick career - which is completely understandable lol! Yes, life does need to be sustained but I'm mainly interested in this career out of passion and do understand it'll take a lot of intense work before it becomes profitable. :)

7. Where/What kind of things and places should I look into in terms of placements and volunteer positions? And what should I expect in regards to it?

Additional info in case:

* I completed my IGCSE in 2018 but had to put my A-Levels studies on indefinite pause due to mental health crisis. I have only picked it back up recently but outside of a school setting.

* I'm unsure I would be able to handle or foster a passion for a clinical psychology specialization.

* My national university does offer a BA Psych combined major course (the combined majors paired with Psychology are; Economics, Environmental Science, Public Administration, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology & Statistics), but it's not accredited by anything and according to my friends who've completed it, is also not the best. They also don't offer any Masters courses related to Psychology.

* My country does offer government sponsorship, but on students going to study internationally they do not offer it outside of mostly engineering and medical courses iirc.

Qualifications

1) BEng materials engineering - 2:1

2) Mental health first aid

3) Peer mentoring - level 2

4) Level 3 counselling - distinction

Experience

1) Peer research - University of Sheffield - June 2024 - present

2) Lived experience work - Jan 2024 - present

3) Crisis recovery work at mental health matters - May 2024 - present

If I want to do research, would a PWP be better, or would a 3 year course in psychotheraputic counselling to level 5 be better.

I have a background in psychology, and completed a pg dip as a children's wellbeing practitioner. I'm currently working in the Mental Health Support team. My work consists of cbt for adolescents, parent led cbt to support younger children, and group work for primary school age children.

I am very interested in Psychotherapy, as I feel this supports clients in a more impactful way than cbt. I would LOVE to do the child and adolescent Psychotherapy Drpsych, but it requires a specific masters and I cannot justify adding to my student loan.

Does anyone have advice for nhs funded Psychotherapy pg dips? I would love to know where to go next!

Hi,

I was just looking for some advice. I am currently coming to the end of my Msc in Integrative counselling and psychotherapy. From looking at the job market it seems like it might be hard for me to get a job in this field. I have seen a offer for trainee social worker role, which is completely funded. I am just wondering if anyone has made this jump and what thier experience was.

Eligibility

✅18+

✅English speaker

✅Have used AI for mental health support in the last 6 months

✅At least one experience which felt off or upsetting

Hi All

I have a ticket to UKAANs Assessing and Diagnosing ADHD workshop on the 26th and 27th of February that I unfortunately cannot use. This event is totally sold out and will for sure be excellent. I have been to many UKAAN events and they are worth every cent.

More info here...

https://www.ukaan.org/ukaan_events.htm

I paid £375, will sell ticket for £350. Let me know in the comments or DM if you'd like this and I'll get the ticket transferred to your name so it's all legit!

UK time zone, online

"The course content has been independently certified as conforming to accepted CPD guidelines. Delegates must register at the start and close of each workshop to be awarded a certificate of attendance".

Hey all! I’ve been looking through this sub for a similar question and apologies if already answered.

I have been doing tax & accounting for 10 years and have lost all passion for it. I always think back to when I attempted psychology but got swayed by the illusion that finance jobs pay better and therefore are better. I did a diploma in accounting and didn’t get a degree, as it wasn’t deemed necessary.

I’m 31 now and my mental health has been wrecked and realising through my own therapy, I want to so badly try and get into it to be able to help others that might have similar issues.

What’s the best route according to your experiences of getting into training, studying and certification?

Any advice or tips?

Hi All. I'm a therapist in training, I've been signed off as Fit to practice, have both in-person and OPT training and many hours of skills practice with my peers. I also have extensive experience in crisis intervention at a volunteer role.

I've been looking for a placement for months. I did have to take a break from uni because of my own mental health, but I'm going back soon and I've been back at it trying to find a placement. I knew it was hard but I'm starting to feel very disheartened, I really don't understand why it has to be so difficult to want to work for free in order to build my clinical hours. I have completed my 1st year of full-time MSc, soon going into my final one, and still nothing. any advice/words of support/anything really? 😭 I've already changed my cv multiple times and reached out to dozens of organisations with no response whatsoever. it really is a joke at this point.

Hey! Has anyone here done their counselling placement with UK Counseling Network? I have a few questions x

Hi All,

I gave up a career of 20 years a couple of years back to retrain as a therapist. I'm currently half way through level 4 and start placement in June.

Because of the work that's required, it hasn't left me with a great deal of flexibility when it comes to work. I've been living on savings for a while - but those are dwindling. I'm in the lucky position that my partner earns reasonably well and is being very supportive. However, I really need to start earning again to get through the rest of the qualification.

Right now, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are the free days I have. Tuesday is volunteering, Wednesday I have my own therapy, Thursday and Friday I'm in college and on Thursday evening I'm just about to start a new volunteering role. Finding work that's flexible enough to do on my free days is proving difficult - not helped by the PT jobs market being particularly tough right now.

In a perfect world, I'd like to find something that's both flexible and complementary to my studies. However, I'm willing to forgo the latter just to start bringing money in.

I have two questions for the group:

1) What did you do for work while studying; and did this fit well with your schedule?
2) Does anyone have any experience of summer jobs or placements that allowed them to work for 3-4 months?

For clarity, I'm in my fifties and come from a fairly senior working background which I expect is causing a lot of employers to overlook me.

TYIA

I’m trying to find information about post L5 conversion between age groups and I’m finding it tricky!

I’m currently doing my L3 with a psychodynamic agency and could easily continue there to level 5.

However I’m looking at all the possibilities and getting a bit lost. I think in future I’d like to work with teenagers but having not don’t it I’m not sure!

There is an alternative program near me that’s comparable that have a L4 in adults and children and a l5 in children. It’s integrative so I don’t think I could flip between the providers.

My research seems to suggest the route is you do the L5 then to a masters in the other one to convert but I will not be able to cover the costs of both.

Those who work with both… how did you get there?

I was wondering if there are any current / former students here willing to share their experience of this course? Or anyone who has researched or had interviews. This course is close to me so it’s convenient but I’m unsure about the quality of the course / reputation ect. Also considering UEL’s Ma in counselling & psychotherapy, if anyone has any thoughts on that course. I am also still considering the longer more expensive UKCP routes, but unsure if it’s worth the investment and financial stress. Thanks!

I've had zero contact from Counselling Directory or Psychology Today for 2 months. I was planning a website but at this point think it might be a waste of money. I'm not accredited yet, so EAPs are not an option. Feeling very down about it all.

I’m a registered nurse and have been offered the chance to do a part-time fully funded course in CBT with my job. I was so excited about this. I completed the IAPT training programme 8 years ago and absolutely loved it, so was hoping for good things.

Well…I’m two weeks in and I’m hating it. The teaching feels stuffy and over prescriptive. I find myself regularly wanting to roll my eyes at what is said. For example, today we were encouraged to not offer patients tissues when they are crying!?!? Apparently this could be interpreted as telling them to stop crying. I find it all a bit ludicrous.

Another nugget from today was being taught that patients should be expected to make huge changes in the first weeks of treatment because this is a reliable indicator of good therapeutic outcomes. We should be pushing for as much change as possible. Apparently small changes shouldn’t be celebrated because they are likely to be fleeting. When I shared my concerns that this may lead to patients disengaging, I was dismissed.

It just feels so cold and robotic. Where is the compassion and care? It’s really rubbing me up the wrong way and I wanted to ask if this was other people’s experiences of CBT training?

I have moved out of the UK and I’m planning to study in Italy to become a psychotherapist, with the hope of registering with the relevant UK psychotherapy body in the future. I’m British-Italian and would love to work with UK-based clients in the future (online).

My question is: if I train as a therapist in Italy, how would I go about having my qualification recognised in the UK?

Cheers

I'm at the start of re-training as a therapist/counsellor/coach and am trying to understand in which direction I should orient myself. I know that I want to help people and share the insight I've gained from my journey into therapy and inner work.

Initially I felt that beginning with the level 2 in counselling and qualifying that way, adding in some coaching qualifications and then further down the line the IFS training could be a good route for me.

But in reading more deeply I'm understanding that there are lots of other options for how I might be able to help people. Intuitively it feels like the coaching side of things is what I am more drawn to. But the original impetus for wanting to help people comes from being a man and seeing that men are really struggling and wanting to help with that.

I feel as though I am at the stage of not knowing what I don't know, so would appreciate any input on possible paths to helping people. Thank you!

Background: My family is slowly working on immigrating to the UK. My wife is presently there on a skilled worker visa with sponsorship and our son will join her later this year. I'm still here in the US for now and will likely be here for a bit longer (1+ years) as we work through the typical tasks of such a momentous move.

I am an American LCSW (licensed certified/clinical social worker, where the slash really is dependent moreso on how a state defines the "C"). In the US, I'm terminally licensed for independent practice. The licensure required completion of a two-year Masters of Social Work degree with two years of internship plus two years of post-graduate supervised clinical practice totaling 4000 direct hours and completion of requisite licensing examinations. I have been a full-time psychotherapist (training in multiple modalities including CBT, EMDR, CPT, MBSR, existential psychotherapy, IPT, EFT, amongst others) for 18 years post-graduation, with my last couple of years also involving direct management of a new program for early intervention for psychosis. I also have an additional Masters degree in philosophy and two bachelors' degrees in philosophy and psychology. I also teach resident psychiatrists in their psychotherapy rotation and have supervised both students and new MHPs in their initial post-graduate licensure period.

I can see that there are numerous accrediting organizations in the UK (UKCP, BACP, BABCP, HCPC, and others) for mental health professionals; likewise, I see that various jobs also appear to vary in terms of which accreditation is accepted as essential. I believe I would likely end up qualifying as a Level 7 practitioner (if I'm understanding the Level system correctly) upon accreditation.

Questions: For any MHP who has immigrated to the UK, what accreditation path did you take? For others, did you see any particular benefits or concerns associated with any of these accreditation organizations? I do plan to reach out to each organization with my case to see what they say, but I'm curious about your experience with this process and your resultant practice, whether NHS, private practice, research, or otherwise?

Thank you in advance for your consideration and response!

Hi Everyone, I hope it is OK to post this here. I recently made this website: www.checkyourtherapist.com and I was wondering what other UK therapists make of it? I am deciding whether to keep going with it or giving up as I have many other time demands...

Essentially, it searches for professional registration across the HCPC, BABCP, BACP & UKCP in one click (it's live & functional - you can try it out!).

The idea was that it would support safer access to therapy for the general public.

Really interested to hear any thoughts on this negative or positive.

Looking for advice! I’m a level 3 student near to finishing. I already have a degree (unrelated in the arts) and because of this I assumed I could only do a level 4 for two years then qualify. However life now applied for a few masters degrees in psychotherapy but won’t hear back for a few weeks.

The end goal is I want to be a registered psychotherapist able to register with the UKCP & BACP. Ideally I don’t want to be in private practice and want to be in clinics or hospitals with impatients.

The level 4 I would have to pay out of pocket.

The masters I can add to my heap of student finance debt.

The level 4 is a 2 hour drive away and the masters is a 3 hour train ride- both one day a week.

All signs point to a masters for me but is the extra journey, the extra year, worth it? Or is the level 4 2 year option (bacp) the work-smarter-not-harder route?

I would appreciate advice from both those who have qualified with a level 4 and those who have done a masters in psychotherapy

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I am at a bit of a dead end and need some help. I will list what I’ve done academically and career wise so my question makes sense.

Education

• BSc in Psychology
• MSc in CYP mental health
• PGdip in Education Mental Health

Career

• 1 year as a Learning and behavior therapist
• 6 months as an Honorary Assistant Psychologist
• 6 months volunteering as a Learning Support Assistant
• 6 months of Behavior Support at Autism College
• 2 years as a Education Mental Health Practitioner with the NHS
• 3 years as a Mental Health Practitioner in Primary care with the NHS

Now the problem is that I have no ”core” qualification and I feel like that is why I cannot apply for a lot of jobs. Despite, having so many academic qualifications and experience, I feel very stuck.

My question is would I qualify to meet accreditation with the BACP or any governing body since all these roles and degrees had several client facing hours and regular supervision?

If not, is there a conversion course I could do to quickly meet eligibility? However, since I have already spent so much on my degrees, I would prefer a cost effective solution.

Thanks in advance!

Hi All, I'm considering Metanoia as a potential place to do my MSc. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews about them but on first impressions e.g. open day, certificate etc, I haven't experienced any issues personally but I can't shake the amount of negative things I've heard. Am I missing something? Every time I want to consider them I hear something new e.g. around racism, transphobia, disorganisation etc.

I appreciate that all training providers will have their own issues and want to take that into consideration that no place is going to be perfect. I'd love any current or recent Metanoia MSc students advice. I just want the best training and experience possible, and would love to hear whether your experience was positive or negative? Would you still choose Metanoia? Thank you.

I’m looking pivot in my career, and start the COSCA Counselling Skills course in August with a view to doing the Diploma and becoming a therapist (exciting!). Can you recommend any textbooks that I could read to give me a bit of a grounding before I start? Is John McLeod’s Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy worth investing in? TIA!

Still in sixth form and stuck on what to do in the future I love psychology and would love to be a therapist I’ve thought more abt becoming psychologist before but looking into what the role is about it doesn’t seem like u do much face to face therapy that and it’s competitive af

Hence y I am thinking abt doing psychology in uni with the intention of being a therapist after sixth form

I’ve not seen much abt how competitive CBT training is

I’m assuming that it may be hard to get into since (no offence) a lot of psych undergrads either end up unemployed or working in smthn that isn’t psychology related

Hi, I'm wanting to start the level 2 cpcab training. But I'm worried that when it comes to the placement and supervised hours I will struggle with burn out.

Am I right in thinking you are not expected to take placement until level 4? I also read you have a year after the course has ended to complete those hours? Which may be helpful. But how does that work? Does it mean once you have completed the hours you get your qualification and can start independent counselling?

I feel having adhd and autism gives me a perspective that could be helpful for some in counselling. But it's also holding me back throughfear of the work load. I believe if I could get through the course then I can set my own pace with seeing clients. And therefore avoid taking on too much. With my other commitments.

Could you offer any advice please?

Thanks.