We accept applications from candidates who have previously studied a counselling training course at Level 2 or equivalent.

This course is primarily for candidates who have sufficient experience in a current or recent workplace setting such as health & social care, nursing, teaching, special needs, social work, youth work, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, victim support, bereavement support, mentoring, etc. Regardless of their background all of our students are expected to begin at Level 2 as it provides an excellent grounding in the application of counselling skills along with an introduction to theory, professional ethics and personal development.

By the description of 'counselling skills' we mean the regular use of 'active listening' skills such as paraphrasing, reflecting and mirroring, use of appropriate silences, challenging, open questioning, immediacy, focussing and summarising.

All of these 'communication skills' are becoming increasingly important in the way that professionals dialogue with patients, clients and service users in their respective fields of work.

This course enables the trainee to develop from a basic understanding and working experience of these essential attributes to achieve an emerging ability towards empathic attunement through the use of skills practice sessions in role-play and video recorded micro sessions.