Learning Choices

Job Profile

Counsellor

Counsellors help people to talk about and explore aspects of their lives that may be causing them difficulty. You might work with people with a wide range of issues, or specialise in an area such as eating disorders or addiction.

Counsellors do not give clients advice but support them in making changes that could improve their lives.

The Work
Conditions
Getting In
What Does It Take?
Training
Getting On
Pay
More Information

The Work

You could be:

creating a safe atmosphere for clients and assuring confidentiality
setting up a relationship of trust with clients
listening carefully as clients talk about their problems
helping clients to explore their feelings, perhaps using art or drama as a means of communicating
helping clients make their own decisions, not directing them
running group or family therapy sessions
referring clients to other agencies if necessary
keeping records and writing reports
specialising in client groups, such as victims of abuse or people with alcohol or drug problems.

Counsellors differ from counselling psychologists as counsellors do not normally have training in psychology.

Conditions

You will work in a comfortable, warm room, with a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.
If you work for an organisation or agency, hours will probably be normal office hours, Monday to Friday.
If you are self-employed, you usually work flexible hours from home, often seeing clients in the evening or at weekends.
Many counsellors work part time.
Sometimes you might have to work in a voluntary unpaid capacity for a while before being offered a paid job.

Getting In

There are many different routes and levels of entry into counselling. You do not always need formal entry qualifications but most employers will prefer you to have or be working towards a recognised counselling qualification, such as those accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA).

You would normally begin by doing an introductory course at a local college that outlines the basic ideas and skills behind counselling. You would usually undergo some counselling yourself with other students.
If after doing an introductory course you still think this is the right career for you, you would move on to a certificate level course such as the Certificate in Counselling Skills validated by COSCA. You can get a list of accredited courses from the COSCA website (see below).
If you want to work outside the voluntary sector you would need to complete a Diploma in Counselling course accredited by BACP or COSCA. These courses can usually be studied full time or part time. For entry you would need 120 hours recognised counselling training such as the Certificate in Counselling Skills course.
In Scotland, Abertay and Strathclyde universities offer a BACP accredited Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) in Counselling.
Aberdeen University offers a PgDip in Person Centred Counselling and Edinburgh University offers a PgDip in Counselling. These are both COSCA accredited.
For entry to these postgraduate diploma courses you require a degree in any discipline, the Certificate in Counselling Skills or considerable experience in a related job such as nursing or social work.
For accreditation as a counsellor with COSCA you need 450 hours of counselling practice, a COSCA validated diploma in counselling/psychotherapy and two years post qualifying experience.
You will require a satisfactory PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) check to show that you are suitable for this type of work. Contact Disclosure Scotland for details.
For many people, counselling is a second career, and may be on a voluntary basis.

You could work in advice centres, schools and colleges, counselling organisations, charities, GP practices and hospitals. You can also work on some telephone helplines. Jobs are advertised in the press, through Jobcentres and on the COSCA website.

What Does It Take?

You need to be:

interested in people
a good listener
non-judgemental
patient and tolerant
supportive and responsive
trustworthy
able to switch off from your client’s problems
able to respect confidentiality
able to use your initiative.

You need to have:

an insight into your own attitudes and reactions
a belief that your clients can make positive changes in their lives.

Training

You can train while working as a volunteer for a voluntary counselling agency, such as Relate or Cruse, which provides courses for its volunteers.
You can do further short specialist courses for example in bereavement counselling.
Throughout your working life as a counsellor you will have ongoing supervision from a colleague, to support you in your work.

Getting On

There is a great deal of voluntary counselling work and you might get valuable experience through this.
You can then move on to further training and paid employment or self-employment.
With experience, you may wish to become self-employed, either working from home on your own or with colleagues.
As people become more aware of the benefits of counselling, the demand for counsellors is growing.

Pay

The figures below are only a guide. Actual pay rates may vary, depending on:

where you work
the size of the company or organisation you work for
the demand for the job.

Starting salaries for counsellors are in the range £19,000 to £27,000 a year. Experienced counsellors can earn up to £30,000 a year and managers of agencies or projects can earn £40,000 or more. If you are self-employed, you charge a fee for each session with a client, which can be between £35 to £70 an hour. You may not have a regular income. Counsellors working for the NHS start on Band 5 of the Agenda for Change pay scale. From April 2014 this is £21,602 to £28,180 a year. Specialist counsellors earn up to £40,964 and counsellor consultants can earn up to £47,559 a year.