Q: What format do course interviews take?
Our Director of Learning, Carol and/or the course tutor interviews potential learners, via Zoom. The interview is informal and lasts approximately 45 minutes. The Zoom link is sent in the week before the interview takes place. Counsellors are invited to register for an interview in strict waiting list order.
Q: Are your courses accredited by the BACP?
The BACP does not accredit post graduate training courses, only Counselling and Psychotherapy core trainings. They began to offer an approved qualification scheme for courses such as ourselves in 2023 but the BACP is not an Ofqual registered and recognised, long standing accreditation body, but a membership body, and we will therefore be remaining with OCN London, a very well respected, nationally recognised, not-for-profit, long standing accrediting body, with the ability to assign the correct levels to our courses and used by very many organisations across the UK.
OCN London’s Internal and External Moderation and Quality Assurance protocols are robust and add value and checks and measures to our courses. We are required to Quality Assure 3 days of every 10 days of each course run (conducted by our Director of Learning) and their vast experience in the world of training is an asset to our courses.
Adding BACP approval (or using CPCAB) to our courses would give no more reassurance to the quality of our courses but would increase the cost to each learner.
It is important to remember that the BACP /NCPS are membership bodies and they cannot dictate what courses you take. What will be important to them/ future employers is that you undertake and pass courses with a level, not ones that are just called ‘diplomas’ or ‘certificates’ (still used by many counselling training organisations incorrectly) and ones which are accredited by an outside awarding body.
Once you pass one of our courses you can advertise under your qualifications as follows:
“ completed and passed CBCT Ltd Level 5 Course in Counselling Children and Young People. Accredited by OCN London”
or
“completed and passed CBCT Ltd Level 6 in Counselling Supervision”
For more information on levels in educations and what they are equivalent to please look here:
https://www.accreditedqualifications.org.uk/qualifications-and-credit-framework-qcf.html
Q: What if the course I want to do is oversubscribed?
We can add you to our waiting list and we will be in contact in due course if we are able to offer you an interview. Email us at info@cbcounsellortraining.co.uk if you would like to join our waiting list, indicating which course you are interested in and giving us permission to hold your email address on file.
Being on our waiting list means that you will receive an invite to be interviewed as soon as places become available on future courses.
Q: Does completing one of your courses mean I can join the BACP or help towards Accreditation?
We suggest that you contact the BACP directly or review their website for information on minimum membership criteria/accreditation criteria.
Q: Do you accept adult learner loans in payment for your courses?
We are unable to accept adult learner loans as we are not registered with the government for this service and as a small independent organisation would not be able to do so currently.
Q: Are your courses always on-line?
Our 10 day bespoke accredited courses at Level 5 and Level 6 will remain online and we have no plans currently to return these to in room courses held in a venue as being online allows us to work with counsellors from across Great Britain and beyond and with counsellors who are isolated by their location or additional needs.
However, if we are approached by a group of counsellors who all wish to attend our course together (or an agency wishing to train a group of their staff at the same time) we will consider all requests to run an in-person version of the course. Please note the fee per person would be increased from our currently advertised prices to cover all expenses.
Shorter courses may run in a venue if we receive enough requests to do so.
Q: How is the training delivered?
As above, our Level 5 and Level 6 courses are online via Zoom. Please see the individual courses for full details.
Shorter courses or one day workshops which can’t successfully be offered online will be occasionally offered within a venue.
Q: What qualification do I need, in addition to my core training, to work with Children and Young People as well as Adults?
Currently, legally, there is no requirement for counsellors to undertake a formal training course to work with CYP, because counselling is an unregulated profession. However, working with CYP requires specialist knowledge and skills and counsellors are therefore ethically bound by their membership body’s Ethical Framework to ensure they are competent to deliver the services they are offering and to ensure their skills and knowledge are kept up to-date.
It is up to each individual counsellor and their supervisor to decide if they are fully competent to work with CYP e.g., competent in understanding the laws that affect child counselling including safeguarding and competently aware of the theories that can underpin the work and your understanding of this age group.
If you are a BACP member they have a competency document you can check your current knowledge and skills against to help you to decide whether you wish to undertake our course.
Q: Is a Level 5 or a Level 6 the equivalent of a ‘Diploma’?
Counsellor and psychotherapy ‘training standards vary significantly that a counselling diploma can represent five minutes online or two years hard graft, juggling assignments, lectures and supervised placements whilst holding down a life’
(Julie May, BACP Board, Therapy Today May 2019)
We take transparency and honesty seriously and do not want to call our bespoke courses, which are unique to our centre, something they should not be legally called. Many words are used across the Counselling and Psychotherapy profession to describe courses, including ‘diploma’ and ‘qualification’ but their use in our unregulated field is not recognised by Ofqual and therefore can mean anything.
The level of our courses is recognised within a national framework and they are accredited by an Ofqual audited, regulated and licensed body (OCN London) to ensure the highest standards, which includes the rigorous internal and external moderation of assignments.
Our unique courses have been developed by us and are continually improved/changed to meet the specific needs of C & YP Counsellors and those new to Supervision and OCN London accreditation confirms the quality of the content and the delivery of the course.
Q: Are your courses accredited by CPCAB?
No, our courses are accredited by OCN London, as we believe it is important the courses are accredited by experts outside of our field to ensure consistency with other courses assigned Level 5 or Level 6 across the UK and in all fields. We also appreciate OCN London’s mission to help create a fairer society where everyone, whatever their educational background, has an opportunity to benefit from learning, realise their potential and fulfil their goals.
Q: Does passing your course qualify me to work with Children and Young People or to work as a Supervisor?
We believe our courses, if completed, give you the understanding you need to work as a C & YP Counsellor or as a Supervisor but whether to do so remains an individual ethical decision a counsellor should take, in consultation with their supervisor. The certificate produced by OCN London is a Record of Achievement.
Similarly if you do not pass our course, whether to continue to work as a C & YP Counsellor or Supervisor is also an ethical decision for the individual counsellor to take in conjunction with their supervisor.
Please note: if you are a BACP member, they clearly state in their training curriculums the minimum they feel a counsellor should achieve before working in these roles.
Q: If I have been counselling Children and Young People for a long time without an additional qualification why would I need to enrol for your course?
Our course has been attended by many experienced C & YP Counsellors in recent years. They have used it as a refresher course and as a way to gain a Record of Achievement to back up their experience.
C & YP Counselling is increasingly being seen as a specialism and certificates, such as our OCN London one, will be increasingly sought by employers and parents in the years to come.
At CBCT Ltd we believe that C & YP CPD opportunities should be ongoing and that taking part in our course shows a high level of commitment to this specialist field of counselling practice.