BUT (and it’s a big “but”), many employers and (increasingly) counselling clients see it as essential that a counsellor is professionally trained, qualified and is a member of a professional body.

Quality, qualifications and professional bodies – what’s the connection?

In the UK, the NHS advises individuals looking for a counsellor to only use those with qualifications accredited by a professional organisation. 

Why? Well, because they demand high standards. Hence, it follows, that one of the best ways of ensuring that your counselling training and qualifications are high quality is if they are connected to a professional body.

And “connected” leads us into a discussion about  ‘accredited courses’, ‘approved courses’ and ‘accreditation’ – Don’t worry all will become clear! 

For example, The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) is the largest professional counselling association in the UK. 

In short, BACP accreditation is all about maintaining standards, hence, BACP accreditation is what you’re after!

That said, BACP isn’t the only professional body, there’s also NCS

The National Counselling Society (NCS) is another major UK professional body that you may have come across as you’ve been looking into counselling and courses. 

The NCS certifies whether courses offered by counselling training providers meet the standards required to receive National Counselling Society accreditation. The NCS does not directly offer qualifications to become a counsellor itself but does offer some continuing professional development (CPD) courses for those who have already qualified.

Here at Astranti Connect, we believe that BACP accreditation is preferable to National Counselling Society accreditation. This is because BACP accredited counselling courses (or those with BACP approval) provide students with a route into a larger and better recognised professional body. 

However, National Counselling Society accreditation is still a valuable mark of quality. Therefore, overall, either BACP accreditation or National Counselling Society accreditation will serve you well when you are choosing your course. 

Joining the BACP – As an individual member

To join the BACP as a member, you must have:

• Completed a counselling or psychotherapy ‘core practitioner’ training course* – this is usually equivalent to a diploma (e.g. CPCAB level 4 diploma) but if you’re not sure whether a course you’re considering is acceptable, check with the provider.
• Undertaken at least one year full-time or two years part-time classroom-based tuition.
• Completed a supervised placement of at least 100 client contact hours (some training providers like Astranti Connect) will help you to organise this).

*The BACP may not accept courses in disciplines such as psychology, hypnotherapy, social work, coaching or specialised counselling disciplines (e.g. drama therapy, music therapy or dance therapy). Counselling courses combined with another discipline or delivered exclusively online may also not be acceptable.

You can find out more about this last point through our guide to online counselling courses.

Joining the BACP – As a student member

To join the BACP as a student member, you must be currently undertaking a course that is:

• A counselling or psychotherapy practitioner training course (see the asterisk list above for what BACP may not accept).
• At least one year in duration if taken full-time, or two years if taken part-time.
• Either 100% face-to-face classroom-based, or at least 70% face-to-face classroom-based and up to 30% synchronous online training. Synchronous refers to learning with other people and a tutor, and everyone involved is live. Currently, asynchronous learning (which isn’t live, e.g. recorded lectures) is not accepted as part of the required training time.
• Includes a supervised placement of at least 100 client hours.

To join the NCS

The application process for National Counselling Society accreditation takes a more holistic approach than BACP accreditation. The NCS will look at a candidate’s overall contribution to the counselling profession as well as their qualifications when deciding whether to accept them as members.

Hence, as part of the application process, you will be asked to submit details concerning your qualifications AND details about your professional experience for consideration.

You can find out more details about signing up on the NCS website.

Can I skip a level in my counselling training?

We can’t speak for absolutely every CPCAB counselling training provider, but at Astranti Connect (alongside many other quality mental health counselling training providers) we don’t recommend skipping. 

We believe that completing both CPCAB level 2 and 3 qualifications is essential to having well-rounded mental health counselling training and becoming a good counsellor. 

CPCAB level 2 and level 3 courses will provide you with the foundations of what will become your counselling practice and you’re likely to struggle with the higher levels if you try to skip the lower levels. Your future practice as a counsellor could also be adversely affected, creating problems for your clients. 

But, if you’re eager to get started, the next question is:

When can I start practising counselling on clients?

If you’re understandably eager to get started, you might be one of the people asking, ‘can you become a counsellor with level 2’, or ‘can you be a counsellor with a level 3 qualification’?

As we mentioned earlier, counselling isn’t actually a legally regulated profession in the UK. So, you could technically call yourself a counsellor with just a CPCAB level 2 counselling qualification (or even no counselling training at all). 

However, in reality, the answer is no. 

Professional and awarding bodies, such as the BACP, have set entry benchmarks for counsellors to begin practising. However, regardless of this, it would be unprofessional (and possibly even harmful) to try and provide counselling to clients without adequate counselling qualifications and training. 

Just as a reminder, according to the BACP and CPCAB, the current minimum qualification you will need to become a counsellor is a level 4 Diploma in Counselling.

Are there any higher levels?

This wouldn’t be the definitive guide if we didn’t mention the next set of qualifications…

Once you’ve qualified with CPCAB, you can choose to continue your counselling studies by completing two further levels:

• CPCAB level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling – This will help you further develop your skills, including in therapeutic counselling
• CPCAB level 6 Certificate in Psychotherapeutic Counselling Supervision – This will help you to learn how to supervise and assess other counsellors

CPCAB level 5 and other advanced qualifications can put you onto the path to becoming a psychotherapist – but how is that different from being a counsellor?

Psychotherapists tend to dig deeper than a counsellor and will try to diagnose and deal with the root cause of long-standing issues within the client rather than dealing with a specific issue over the short/medium-term. 

Some counsellors prefer to stick to counselling and others prefer to specialise into psychotherapy.

Alternatively, you could look into a degree.

If you achieve the CPCAB level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling, you might want to use what you’ve already learned to earn a foundation degree. These can be a good way of further developing your theoretical knowledge and gaining a very widely recognised qualification on top of your CPCAB qualification. 

There are two different routes you could take to do this:

Route 2

• Instead of CPCAB level 5, you undertake one Open University module from the following:
  • • Death, dying and bereavement 
    • Living psychology: From the everyday to the extraordinary 
    • Mental health and community 
    • Psychology of childhood and youth 
• You then take the Open University’s ‘Exploring mental health and counselling’ module

At the end of either of these routes, you will have a Foundation Degree in Counselling. You can find out more on the Open University website.

Would a full counselling degree be better than CPCAB?

Instead of CPCAB or another similar qualification, you could instead complete a university degree in counselling, sociology with counselling or criminology with counselling in order to become a counsellor. 

However, training to be a counsellor is not just about learning theoretical knowledge, it’s about developing practical counselling skills. As such, most employers will still require you to complete your level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (or another practical qualification) before you can practise.  – Missing the practical aspects of mental health counselling training could significantly affect your ability to effectively help your future clients.

If you’re looking further afield than Europe, each country will have different requirements for counsellors. In some cases, you may need to retrain with that country’s qualifications, so if you’re planning on moving, it would be worth checking the qualifications beforehand.