Suitability for Student Counsellors.

Whether your diploma or degree in counselling is based in Hampshire, West Sussex, Dorset, Wiltshire, Surrey or Berkshire, a majority of counselling training courses (a) require their students to be in personal therapy until qualification and (b) allow their students to choose their own (appropriately skilled) counsellor.

Dean Richardson of Havant Counselling works with counselling students until their personal therapy requirements have been met.

To help you judge if Dean Richardson is an appropriate counsellor for your course requirements, here’s an overview of his experience and qualifications that will assist you in deciding if he could be your counsellor for your qualification requirements.

Indemnity Insurance.

Supervision / Clinical Consultation.

Notes.

• • Note 1: Membership of a Professional Organisation.

    A small number of training organisations have a compulsory requirement for your counsellor to be a member of one specific professional organisation over any other. This may be due to the college’s own accrediting organisation stipulating that students’ counsellors be a member of the same organisation as the one that awarded the training accreditation. Maybe this comes across a little like nepotism. Prior to The Professional Standards Authority colleges were defensible in keeping things in the family (so to speak), however student counsellors should know that requiring their during-training counsellors to be of one particular membership organisation over another is not a UK Government / nor a Regulation requirement (there is no government regulation in the UK for counsellors & psychotherapists).

    Provided that your counsellor is of sufficient experience, is registered via a Professional Standards Authority voluntary register (and practices a theoretical framework recognised by the college) you should be good-to-go.

    To put this in context: the NHS accepts counsellors for employment who are a member of one-out-of-ten recognised membership organisations. These organisations have their own accredited voluntary register that meets the standards of the Professional Standards Authority (including governance, setting standards for registrants, education and training, managing the register. See: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/psychological-therapies/roles/counsellor – Section: Entry Requirements and Training).It may help you if you enquire of your training organisation (or pastoral tutor) to explain why compulsory membership of one private voluntary organisation over another is required of your counsellor as part of your training in counselling.

    My choice of Membership Organisation: I am an accredited registrant of: The National Counselling Society, which itself operates the voluntary register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority; the organisation operates a Code of Ethics (https://www.nationalcounsellingsociety.org/help/have-a-concern/code-of-ethics) and a complaints procedure.

    The National Counselling Society is also experienced in educating organisations about how they may be mistaken in their thinking that membership of one organisation over another is a demonstration of suitability-or-otherwise of the counsellor (in some cases – such as counsellors who are qualified to work with children as opposed to those who are not – membership of one particular organisation may be appropriate; in others cases it may not). Get in contact if you need assistance with this matter.

Counselling Fees for Students.

Whilst I don’t offer a specific rate for counsellors-in-training, I do make the same offer to students as I do with anyone with a restricted income: I am available to discuss with you a weekly fee that you can afford responsibly.

For further details about my fees and arrangements, see my Counselling Fees page.