L4 Diploma in Counselling

The course reflects the mission of Hope Psychological services to prepare and support individuals to develop the essential practical, personal and professional skills required of counsellors to develop the therapeutic relationship with clients. We are especially committed to a relational approach to training and therapy and hold strong beliefs about the importance of the personal development of the therapist being of central importance. In relation to this we also focus on the challenges posed by diversity in the therapeutic relationship.

Essentially we think that counsellors need to thoroughly know themselves and be able to work with differences in order to build a strong therapeutic alliance.  We are fully committed to an individual relationship with each student we take on to the course. We make it our business to provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for ethical successful progress into the profession. However, we do recognise that some people are not suitable for the profession. We do our best to identify this as early in the process as possible and offer support for those who don’t make it.  

Training to be a counsellor can be incredibly rewarding and is also demanding emotionally, academically and financially. Please consider carefully the time commitment and your current family and work life situations. Outside the guided learning hours there is reading and assignment writing time, personal therapy, placement and supervision and a research project in the second year. Although we have arranged as little overlap with traditional working hours as possible in an attempt to be inclusive it will be a challenge to run the course alongside full time employment where there is no concession for the extra work that you will be engaged in. Other things to consider would be the level of other commitments you might have like caring or community activities or any health issues you might have. To be successful you will need a high degree of personal organisation, commitment and discipline. 

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Who is offering this course?

Hope Psychological Services CIC is a community interest company (social enterprise) established in 2013. We are an organisational member of the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) and adhere strictly to their ethical framework. We strive for excellence in all we do.
 

What will the course cover?

There are 11 Units, covering:

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• Action Centred and Solution Focused Approaches to Counselling

• Analysis and Evaluation of Practice Outcomes in Counselling

• Applying Counselling to the Human Condition

• Cognitive and Rational Approaches to Counselling

• Continued Professional Practice in Counselling

• Current Issues in Counselling Practice and Research

• Eclectic and Integrative Approaches to Counselling

• Person Centred Therapy

• Personal Development

• Professional, Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling

• Using Counselling Supervision and Other Support Systems

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Learning Outcomes

A full list of learning outcomes is available on request but briefly by the end of the course you will:
 

• Develop self awareness and enhance personal development

• Be able to provide a safe and conducive therapeutic space for a person to talk with you

• Develop enhanced practical skills and knowledge to cope with a range of presenting problems

• Understand professional, ethical and legal practice and application

• Know about and differentiate between the major modalities of therapy and develop an individual integrative stance

• Write level 4 assignments

• Have experienced 100 hours of supervised counselling placement

• Covered current issues in counselling practice and research

Course Format

All the work will have strong links to practice and there will also be an academic element. Learning methods will include: skills practice in different formats, learning journal, large group work, personal development groups, lectures, exercises and essays, Case studies and scenarios, tutorials and study groups.  There is a strong emphasis on personal reflection and sharing and therefore a lot of work goes into creating a safe space to facilitate that. All weekly sessions (which will include a skills practice element) will be undertaken online using Zoom video conferencing (using the breakout rooms facility). In addition, there will be seven attended skills practice days in Carlisle. Help and support is offered to assist people to set up Zoom and ensure it is working correctly before the course commences. We also offer support to those having to travel for skills practice days (subject to covid restrictions) in reduced fees for overnight accommodation in Carlisle.
 

Accreditation

Students will be registered with OCNWMR (National Awarding Organisation) for 11 Units with a total of 53 Credits. We provide 450 hours of Guided Learning for this course (GLH) and Total Qualification Time (TQT) is around 530 hours. On successful completion students with be awarded a national qualification - 'OCNWMR Level 4 Diploma in Counselling'  The Open College Network West Midlands Level 4 Diploma in Counselling is accredited by Ofqual.
 

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