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How to become a counsellor in the UK

Hi, I'm Jade. I'm a counsellor and rewind trauma therapist in the United Kingdom.

I wrote a popular article explaining how to navigate the minefield of counselling qualifications in the UK and people were soon asking me to offer one-to-one calls to discuss their options.

This page gives you a rundown of training routes available.

My website →

If you don’t want to go down the master’s route then the best place to start is probably with the CPCAB’s Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills. There’s a free taster of CPCAB’s courses and basic counselling skills here. The CPCAB is an examining body, much like AQA, Edexcel or OCR for your GCSEs.

You’ll need to take the Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills even if you already have other Level 2 qualifications (such as GCSEs) or above, because the important thing here is learning the basic skills, not the academic level. It’s a short course which I’d actually recommend to pretty much anyone, whether you want to become a counsellor or not. It will teach you useful skills and empathic ways of communicating which can enhance your everyday relationships, and it should give you a good idea as to whether it’s the right career for you.

The Level 2 certificate is available at colleges and private providers all over the UK. I took mine with Devon and Cornwall Counselling Hub which sadly no longer exists.

The course only lasts a few months, coming in at 90 hours in total. Make sure you choose a course that takes place in person or live online where you interact with a tutor and other students. If it’s self-paced or study alone then it won’t be recognised by the profession.

Unfortunately there are lots of counselling courses out there that aren’t recognised so it’s extremely important that you do your due diligence before spending your time and money on something that turns out not to be legitimate.

If it’s a CPCAB course you know it’s the real thing, but there are other options too.

The next step is the Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies which introduces a lot more theory. You may already know which type of counsellor you’d like to become — in which case it would be helpful to pick a provider focusing on that modality as the theories you’ll be using in Level 4 should feature in their Level 3. If you don’t know then it may be best to choose somewhere offering training in integrative counselling.

Integrative does what it says on the tin — you literally integrate concepts from different modes of working and schools of thought. This recognises that different clients will have different problems and different preferences, so different approaches will be needed. At Devon and Cornwall Counselling Hub, we focused mainly on person-centred, gestalt and CBT but we also touched on transpersonal and psychoanalysis.

The course is another 90 hours, again usually taken as an evening class. Once you’ve completed it you should be prepared for the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling which is the level where you actually qualify as a counsellor.

Before the pandemic, training at all levels had to be in person. Lockdown moved teaching online and caused training providers and membership bodies to review their requirements.

The BACP now requires that Level 4 courses include at least 70% face to face classroom-based tuition and up to 30% live synchronous online training. This last point is important.

Cheap online courses require you to teach yourself using their course materials. They don’t offer live online tuition with a tutor and other students. Such courses are not recognised by the counselling profession.

The CPCAB published a letter to centres allowing them to apply to deliver courses live online. However, their Level 4 courses must include at least 75% face to face teaching.

Level 4 is a much bigger commitment than Levels 2 and 3, usually taking place one day a week for two years. There are some weekend and evening options available but these are less common.

You’ll also be required to do 100 hours of one-to-one work with clients, undertake supervision, and have your own personal counselling. (If the course you’re looking at doesn’t include these things then it won’t be recognised.)

It’s possible to do it while working and having other demands in your life, but you will need to be prepared to spend a lot of time and money.

Some courses are accredited by a membership body, which means you’ll be eligible to join them as a full member upon completion. My Level 4 wasn’t accredited so when I completed it I took the free certificate of proficiency and joined the BACP as a registered member. You might like to look at the other professional bodies and choose the one that suits you. Most also offer student memberships for those in training.

Although you’ll be qualified as a counsellor when you’ve completed your Level 4, it’s really just the start. The diploma also forms part of the Open University’s Foundation Degree in Counselling, so you can do more modules and gain that qualification too through distance learning if you like. You might then choose to top up to a full bachelor’s degree with another institution. You can go on to complete higher level qualifications with the CPCAB or another awarding body. Even if you don’t want to do any further qualifications, you’ll still need to keep updating your skills through CPD courses and reading. If you want to move up the SCoPEd columns then you’ll need to undertake training with this in mind.

Alternatively you may wish to go down the psychology and mental health route. In the UK, the British Psychological Society (BPS) charters individuals and accredits qualifications. If you don’t have a degree then you’ll need to do one of their accredited psychology degrees which are available across the country or via distance learning. If you already have an undergraduate degree in a different subject, or you have a non-accredited psychology degree, then you can do a conversion course at master’s level. Again, these are available at universities across the country or via distance learning. I completed my MSc Psychology online with Manchester Met over two years alongside my diploma.

With a Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and an MSc in Psychology you’ve got a huge range of options available to you and it would be impossible to run through every choice in one article. Two of the most popular are likely to be applying for a professional doctorate, either in clinical psychology or counselling psychology, and gaining chartered membership of the BPS. The links explain more about what they involve.

When you're qualified

Once qualified as a counsellor, a lot of people choose to set up in private practice. There are not a lot of full time jobs advertised for “counsellors” and there is still a culture of volunteering and part time work. However, there are lots of jobs in the wider mental health field, and a Level 4 Diploma will help you to get one of these.

If you want to work for the NHS then you may choose to apply directly for one of their recruit to train posts, where they will pay you to train as a counsellor. You’ll find these advertised on NHS Jobs as they come up, but competition for these roles is fierce. The NHS Jobs adverts also show you the qualifications expected for different counsellor posts if you hope to work within the NHS without obtaining a recruit to train post.

Whichever route you decide on, good luck!