Counselling placements (A complete guide)

In this brief blog, we will be talking about counselling placements, how counselling placements work, the purpose of counselling placements, and more information about counselling placements.

What are counselling placements?

Counselling placements are important in the counselling training since they are the ones who will be supervising trainees in the counselling practice.

Some organisations are advertising for these kinds of placements to help trainees get the supervision they need in their counselling training.

You don’t have to be part of the BACP to advertise for these counselling placements in your organisation with trainee counsellors.

You might already know that counsellors are crucial for the mental stability of the workforce in the organisation. 

Effective counsellors come from practices where they have to be supervised under counselling placements so that they can be guided accordingly about their practices in the counselling field.

Some organisations are starting their recruitment of counselling placements in August 2020.

You can check out some organisations, especially in BACP if you want to register as this kind of placement.

​For instance, you can do the following in an organisation’s website:

• At any time during the year, please add yourself to the CFC mailing list clarifying counselling placements as an interest in the organisation.
   
  
•  When the recruitment process starts, the organisation will email you to let you know you can avail the application pack on the web site.
  
  

You can also specify the referrals that you’ve had in being a counselling placement.

You can help others in organisations who are in need of these kinds of placements.

​You can also download the application pack on the website if you don’t want to be in the mailing list of the organisation.

As mentioned before, you can avail this kind of pack on the specified website. 

You don’t have to send your CV in some organisations so it’s better to understand and apply this kind of rule.

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Eligibility requirements of counselling placements

There are still organisations who are still opening their doors for counselling placements despite the pandemic outbreak.

These kinds of placements can be helpful in teaching trainees on how to handle different kinds of people such as children and adolescents.

These counselling placements can get involved in creative work and play when they have to deal with a young client.

Parents are even satisfied with the work done by these kinds of placements with 80% of children having improvements in wellbeing.

Counselling placements can even let their child attend the school where they are to be supervised.

These kinds of placements should be present once a week during the school term only.

Counselling placements have their duties starting from 8.30 am – 4.30 pm and half-day placements available in some organisations.

You can begin at any point in the school year that will fit your training schedule if you have other appointments aside from this original one.

If you want to apply as a counselling placement, you need to have the following requirements that will make you eligible:

• Diploma in Counselling which must be Level 4 or above in England and Wales or equivalent diploma at SCQF Level 9-11 in Scotland
• Degree or Masters in Counselling, Counselling or Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy or Art Therapy
  

Some of these courses don’t permit the use of child counselling hours for concerned counsellors.

Being a counselling placement also welcomes clinical psychologists or social workers if they are interested.

If you’re an adult counselling placement who wants to work with children, you should take the Level 4 Counselling course first.

Some organisations are welcoming people from varied kinds of academic backgrounds to counselling courses.

Once the organisation have evaluated your application to be a counselling placement, the organisation will be bringing you in for an interview.

If you have aced the interview, you will be obliged to take the Disclosure and Barring Service DBS or Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) check in some organisations.

If you don’t meet some eligibility requirements to be a counselling placement, you should start engaging yourself to advance counselling courses.

You can start by learning more about counselling skills in this book which can be bought on this website.

Counselling centres that are in need of counselling placements

The following are the counselling centres that are looking for these kinds of placements working in their mental health services

Age UK

This placement will be working in specialist areas in the Age UK centre.

You need to check out the website and then go to your local site of this centre to know if they provide placements in your area

This centre is known throughout the country. This centre specializes in counselling the elderly who are prone to mental health problems

In this case, you can be exposed to geriatric psychology in this centre or the psychology of the elderly.

You can learn more about to counsel the elderly to help your skills in the career by learning these skills in this book which can be bought on this website.

Barnet refugee service

The Barnet refugee service is a mental health service for asylum seekers and refugees who need holistic support.

This service is filled with mental health professionals who are bilingual to help people who only speak the mother tongue expressing their emotional complications.


Since this service is giving holistic support, this service is in need of these placements who are BACP-approved in their supervised work.

These placements are obligated to speak Arabic, Farsi, Pastou, French, Somalian, Urdu, Panjabi or any other Asian and African dialects or languages.


This service only obligates placements to have been authorized by a governing body for counselling.

The service wants placements that are capable of being dedicated to working for 2 to 3 counselling hours in a week for a year. 

This service will be implementing a team leader support to make sure the placements are adapting well in this service.

There will be a need for progress reports to help the placement know how to improve.

Counselling models that have been used to give mental health services in this service are Integrative, CBT, Person-centred, and Art Therapy.

This service is always looking for placements which means there is no closing date for this recruitment. 

This service is waiting for you to apply if you’re interested.

Birmingham cedar counselling

This is a charity that is founded on the Birmingham at the Meridian Centre.

The team of mental health professionals in this charity are adapting to any model of counselling to help serve their clients based on their separate needs.

The placement needs to be on a Level 5 or higher and Accredited with BACP or UKCP or BPS and had a professional training programme in Counselling and/or Psychotherapy.

This placement should have at least 6 months’ experience of working in a helping career such as being a volunteer.

You will be working in specialist areas in this charity.

You can pass your level 5 counselling course by buying this book on this website.

Birmingham – Khair therapeutic services CIC

Placements should be authorized by a governing body, be willing to give 4 hours of client counselling, have been referred by two referrals, and have a DBS check to be considered as a placement in this service.

This service is welcoming placement all-year-round which means there is no closing date for this recruitment.

Supervision will be offered to check if the placement is adapting well to the workload in this service.

You should also have a wide understanding of the Muslim faith if you want to work in this service since most of the clients are Muslims. 

This service is filled with religiously vulnerable clients who were victimized by domestic abuse.

Birmingham – University of Birmingham

This service offers the following services for clients and the requirements of placements:

• An unpaid placement subject in counselling to observing and summarize under a signed 3-way training agreement between you, your training organisation and us. This charity would expect to build a relationship with your course and get information and a reference to your level of experience before arrival.
• You need to reach four client contact hours per week over three terms.  You need to take note that we are not able to guarantee a fixed amount of clients during the placement, even though this charity will refer clients to you on a frequent basis. You will not be alternated with clients who have high clinical risk.
• Assessment, as obligated by your training course, and a chance to review the placement from all 3 views.
• Induction to placement, then in-house counselling supervision with a BACP and not UKCP accredited senior counsellor once a fortnight in this charity for one hour
• The chance to attend in any in-house training programs organised during the academic year which is typically one or two per year

The 1st of the placement period is considered as the probationary period which you will be supervised by the Head of Service.

Candidates who have the following requirements are those who will be entertained by this service:

• Recently on one of the following BACP or UKCP or BPS accredited counselling or psychotherapy or counselling psychology training courses
• On a 1 year full time or 2 year part time Diploma, having earned a degree in the previous years
• On 2nd year of a 2 year full time or 3rd year of a 3 year part time Foundation degree level 5, having earned a degree in the previous years
• On 3rd year of BA or Hons Counselling which is also sometimes called Foundation Degree and top-up to BA or Hons (level 6 in diploma for counselling)
• On 2nd year of post-graduate diploma (level 6 in counselling)
• On counselling or psychotherapy or counselling psychology Masters course (level 7 in diploma)
• Projects based on the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling careers
• Has some background experience with offering face to face counselling at a minimum of 50 hours
• Has the ability to engage emotionally and intellectually with students in higher education in short-term role
• Is willing to contract with clients specifically around confidentiality
• Is able to undergo computer data-entry such as online case notes, apply CORE-net and other electronic systems for communication and room bookings
• Ready to work with people who have a difference such as in sexuality and culture
  

This counselling service is for students who are studying at the University of Birmingham.

You can learn more about how to counsel people who are different in culture or sex by buying this book on this website.

Continuing professional development for counselling placements

Some organisations are willing to give these placements master’s programs for them to further their education in counselling.

You only need to ask the chosen organisation about these master’s courses if they are willing to avail these courses for you. 

These courses are accessible to anyone even if they will use these courses to help them in their professional or personal lives.

Advantages of counselling placements

The following are the advantages of these placements in being available in services that are serving mental health complications:

• An organized placement in a primary, secondary or all-through school for 1 year or more
• Clinical supervision hours towards accreditation or your course and though some courses do not permit child counselling hours, so you need to make sure of this situation with your tutor before applying
• On-site, same-day supervision from a clinically-qualified School Project Manager in the selected organisation
• Developmental training and availability to free clinical workshops which are on a range of topics, from attachment theory to therapeutic terminations
• Career opportunities at a developing organisation. With over two-thirds of the clinical team started as placement roles in the organisation

You can learn more about counselling children in your chosen organisation by buying this book here.

Conclusion

In this brief blog, we have talked about counselling placements, how counselling placements work, the purpose of counselling placements, and more information about counselling placements.

If you have any questions about counselling placements, please let us know and the team will gladly answer your queries.

FAQs: counselling placements

Citations

Bacp. Advertise a student placement.

Beacon Counselling. COUNSELLING WITH BEACON.

Cfc. Counsellors.

Place2Be. Counselling Placements in schools.

The British Association for the Person-Centred Approach. Age UK.

The British Association for the Person-Centred Approach. Barnet refugee service.

The British Association for the Person-Centred Approach. Birmingham – Cedar Counselling.

The British Association for the Person-Centred Approach. Birmingham – Khair Therapeutic Services CIC.

The British Association for the Person-centred Approach. Birmingham – University of Birmingham.