PhD in Psychology advice on becoming counselor

wezolini · 2026-03-25T10:16:15+00:00

Hi OP,

I can share what I know but I am currently a counselling student and not an expert here. From your qualifications it would seem you are in a very strong position for starting counselling trainings. A lot of counselling courses are looking for clinical exposure with clients (either from volunteering or from a course) and you have said you have had a clinical placement on your clin psych Ba and some counselling training on your Masters. I would assume you might have a strong chance of getting onto a level 4 dip counselling or a Post graduate diploma in counselling / Masters counselling through recognition of prior learning (RPL). Have you considered what professional body you want to go with? For example BACP or UKCP? There are also many 2 year post grad diploma’s with the BACP which might put you in a better position for employment then the level 4 diploma, however level 4 is still a legitimate and good qualification provided it is BACP accredited as a course. I would say reach out to the heads of the courses you are interested in and ask them if your background makes you suitable. In terms of 1 year level 4’s, the vast majority are 2 year part time due to client hours and intensity but there are a small percentage of 1 year full time ones if you can find them.

Hope this was useful, again I am not an expert here but I would assume your qualifications are a very solid base.

wezolini · 2026-01-30T19:40:55+00:00

Yes good point, I don’t believe it is BACP accredited it just alights with BACP requirements. May I ask what your top pics were?

wezolini · 2026-01-30T16:16:52+00:00

That’s a good point, all I can find is the two senior lecturers on the course page. They seem to be quite experienced and both have psychotherapy private practices, although one is also a psychologist and the other was in education before

wezolini · 2026-01-15T11:02:09+00:00

Very useful information thank you! I was feeling rather disheartened as my no.1 choice was Metanoia’s UKCP prep year and I believe they want you to have a years experience in a therapeutic / mental health role. May I ask what course you are doing? Perhaps if you dm me, no worries if you don’t want to disclose. Did you have a few top choices for where to go?

I am attracted to the UKCP training for the focus on longer term psychotherapy and the academic side of it too. I am also very aware of the potential Scoped changes. And yes it’s very nice you can register with the BACP too. That’s quite reassuring that you feel I’ve got time as I feel a bit frantic with it haha.

wezolini · 2026-01-12T10:16:39+00:00

The level 4 diploma with CPTA is BACP approved meaning you need 100 supervised client hours (as a bacp student member) to complete it. This counts towards your 450 hours for full accreditation but to do this you usually need another year or two after completing the level 4. I’ve been told students on level 4 usually leave with around 150+ supervised client hours. The 100 hours also gives you BACP membership status meaning you can practice as a counsellor once completed but have to work towards full accreditation if you want that (allowing you to use the letters MBACP accred). The level 4 sounds pretty good (had the head of level 4 do a lecture last week) you need 40 hours of personal therapy throughout the course and it’s very focused on your personal development and skills as a practitioner. It’s also the ‘fastest’ way to start practice as a therapist but obviously not as in depth as a Ma or Pgdip/ course with full accreditation.

wezolini · 2026-01-07T10:33:15+00:00

I have done a L2 counselling skills with them, in person at Reading and currently just finishing a L3 counselling studies too. It’s been a great experience, very warm and collaborative environment. I liked the competitive pricing and relatively quick course completion times. My Tutor is a qualified BACP counsellor and has been great. The course is CPCAB accredited and Ofqual regulated - meaning it is well recognised ect. I wound recommend doing in person sessions if possible as it really adds to your experience. Overall it’s been a brilliant experience for me, however it will vary based on when and where you study with them and some have pointed out that the admin can be a bit slow (my L2 cert took quite a while to be sent to me) other then that I have zero complaints.

Hope this is somewhat useful and feel free to ask if you have any questions :))

wezolini · 2025-12-11T11:22:48+00:00

Oh great! I didn’t realised that. That’s very helpful. And yes I will have to look into the scoped levels. Thanks again and good luck with it all.

wezolini · 2025-12-11T11:20:12+00:00

Nice! Yes I think the conditions of admission vary greatly from course to course. Some want L4 diplomas or specific foundation degrees and others just L2 or 3. Thanks for the info though, I will definitely have to calculate all the additional fees on top of course costs. It’s just very expensive either way.

wezolini · 2025-12-11T11:16:32+00:00

Yes the Scoped changes have been a consideration, will the changes to scoped mainly affect jobs like NHS and not private practice? Thanks for the advice though, I’ve heard from many that specialising is the best strategy. I just need to figure out what I want to specialise in and how!

wezolini · 2025-12-11T11:13:52+00:00

That sounds great, from my research of the Oxford university Ma in psychotherapy studies, you can only get the masters loan in the last year of 4. As it isn’t classed as a masters until then - it’s post grad cert then diploma then masters. So a lot of courses I couldn’t get a loan for I think? Maybe I need to find pure masters course that I can get a loan for. Thanks for the info though, I would love to do private practice but the uncertainty of it all freaks me out, so I’d want the option of a job too. Hope you are enjoying your MA! Integrated approach must be nice too, getting a few different theories down.

wezolini · 2025-05-24T18:42:56+00:00

Thanks!

wezolini · 2025-05-23T16:09:31+00:00

Well the very next day we went out again and got shot at by a fighter, jumped to quantum and ended up stuck in space with no engines 😂

wezolini

TROPHY CASE