Counselling & Psychotherapy Level 4 Award

Counselling & Psychotherapy (Level 4 Award)

Counselling & Psychotherapy (Level 4 Award)

A distance learning course is the ideal way to gain a Counselling & Psychotherapy award. Whether you're looking to go on to further education, improve your job prospects or expand your knowledge, distance learning Counselling Psychotherapy is a flexible and convenient course, which allows you to comprehensively prepare for an exam or career through home study. What's more, because the distance learning Level 4 Counselling Psychotherapy course is a fully comprehensive course, no prior knowledge is required.

Why not completely change the direction of your life? If you like working with people and helping others overcome their problems, our Counselling and Psychotherapy course could provide the stimulus you require.

Many people today need Counselling to help them cope with problems such as Personality Disorder, Eating disorder, OCD, Addiction, Anxiety, Depression, Divorce, Sexual Orientation to name but a few.

And that’s where you could come in. This distance learning Couselling course will provide you with an excellent foundation. Combined with our "unique" practical training, in which you will be allocated a client who you will assist via the telephone (subject to you passing your interview), this will allow you to take the first steps to becoming a qualified Counsellor.

HOME STUDY SUPPORT

You will be provided with comprehensive materials designed to provide you with everything required to complete your course of study. You will have your own personal tutor helping you with your course work and with any questions you may have. Plus you can contact our Student Advisors by email or phone for all the practical advice you may need – so we really are with you 100%.

What's more, you'll have access to the online student portal, where you can interact with other students, browse our resource library and manage your account.

The tutor for this course has now set up a forum for all of his students studying Abuse and Trauma and related courses. This will assist you with your studies as not only will you get full tutor support from a professional tutor for the duration of the course but you will also get help from other students who are studying at the same time as you and get an insight into other related courses by talking to students studying them. You can ask other students questions about your course or theirs, and they will try to help you.

This is a great community for all those students who wish to interact with others in the same situation as theirs and get friendly advice and share ideas and comments.

You will be able to interact with students studying the following courses:

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Understanding Eating Disorders
Introduction to Counselling
Mental Health and Psychiatry
Working with a Diagnosis of Personality Disorder

Your tutor will provide all the details of how to get onto this forum if you decide to order the course.

COURSE ASSESSMENT

The Counselling and Psychotherapy course is comprehensive and covers a wide variety of topics such as types of counselling, listening skills, crisis mediation, bereavement, stress problems, depression, eating disorders, alcohol, drug and substance abuse and much more.

This course is marked through a process of continuous assessment guided by your tutor following NCFE guidelines. This means that your qualification will be awarded according to your performance on assessments rather than by taking an exam.

When you have completed the programme, your tutor needs to verify that you have worked through all parts of any Workbooks, Activities and Exercises successfully.

Upon verification of the activities, exercises and assignments, a nationally recognised certificate will be awarded by NCFE as confirmation that your written work has met all of the learning outcomes and assessment criteria for the programme.

COURSE KEY TOPICS

The basics of Counselling and Psychotherapy
Models and approaches of therapy
Types of counselling
Accompanying treatments
Mental Health conditions
Delivery of Counselling and Psychotherapy
Listening skills and Validation
How to help someone in a crisis
Common problems in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Abuse and Trauma
Useful strategies
Being a Therapist

HOME STUDY RESOURCES

After completing this course you may well consider joining a professional body such as the Counselling Society, ISPC – International Society of Professional Counsellors - or the BACP.  You can also apply for membership to 'Counselling' a registered charity and use the intials 'CCC' after your name. All these organisations have different levels of membership and different requirements for gaining membership. This can make it hard for us to give you a definitive answer on whether, after completing this course, you are guaranteed to gain membership. What we can tell you is that if you complete this course over two years, complete a supervised placement and gain practical experience through this course, it would be unlikely for you not to gain membership. In fact previous students have gone on to gain membership after this course. We can of course offer you advice and guidance on obtaining membership to a professional body once you have completed the course, and your tutor can provide written references to support your application.

We would strongly advises you to join the Counselling Society as it is the most forward thinking Counselling organisation in the UK.

As one of our students the cost is £20 per year and we send you the application form when you order your course.

Membership of the Counselling Society
They run a unique point based system which allows for the assessment of the personal qualities of candidates for membership.

The Counselling Society offers only one grade of membership- Accredited member (MCS Acc). To become an Accredited Member, you will need to be awarded 100 points from an overall framework of measures. Each applicant will also be examined closely for a balance of items and an overall understanding that you are safe, competent, and ethical to practise.

You will notice from the table (please see course brochure) that maximum limits are set on all assessment elements. That’s because, again, they feel that accreditation shouldn’t just be about quantity of work done. For example, 200 placement hours done badly for accreditation purposes are not as valuable to a counsellor (or their clients) as 50 hours done well.

COURSE DURATION

We recommended you spend approximately 100 hours of your time studying for the Counselling & Psychotherapy course. The pace of study is completely up to you. To give an example, if you dedicate 2 hours a week to the course it would take you a year to complete but  if you could spare 4 hours a week you could complete it in six months.

Get started today, and you can earn your Level 4 NCFE Award in Counselling & Psychotherapy in as little as six months, or take up to a year, if you prefer – the choice is yours.

HOME STUDY ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

This is a Level Four course and as such will require students to have a good level of literacy and general education at least up to GCSE C grade. In other respects the course is open to any one with a genuine and positive attitude to the subject, and no prior knowledge is needed. The course could be particularly helpful for anyone working on a day-to-day basis with people such as Prison Officers, Health Workers, Care Workers, Police Officers and so on.

You have the freedom to start the course at any time and continue your studies at your own pace for a period of up to 12 months from initial registration with full tutor support.

COURSE FEES

Our aim is to provide you with the best deal available, therefore the registration fee, certification fee and full tutor support is included in the course price for you. The enrolment fee for the Counselling & Psychotherapy home study course is £593.75 (inc VAT), though for a limited time we are offering you the opportunity to pay only £475 (inc VAT) which is a 20% discount if you enrol online and pay in full.

You can also opt for our Easy Payment Plan and enrol online today by paying a deposit of £195 and then 4 equal payments of £99.68 per month. The first instalment is paid about a month after you receive your course.

For International Students who wish to enrol - click here 
(Additional £40 postage / packing & administration)

COURSE QUALIFICATION

Level 4 Award in Counselling and Psychotherapy
"This Counselling course is fully mapped to the national occupational standards"

This course leads to a Level 4 Award for successful learners. This means that it is independently accredited at a level of learning equivalent to level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In accrediting the programme at level 4, NCFE attests that its learning outcomes are at an equivalent level to a level 4 national qualification.

This course has been designed to meet specific learner requirements. Accreditation by NCFE is a guarantee of quality. It means that this learning programme has been scrutinised and approved by an independent panel of experienced educational professionals and is quality audited by NCFE.

About NCFE
More than 150 years of Vocational Awarding, NCFE can trace their record of working with colleges and other providers back to their founding organisation...

NCFE is recognised as an awarding body by the qualification regulators ('regulators') for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales and the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland.

POSSIBLE CAREER PATHS

Counsellor

WHAT STUDENTS SAY ABOUT THIS COURSE

I have recently completed the Counselling & Psychotherapy Level 4 Diploma and passed with distinction. I found the course very interesting and the support offered through the student area was excellent. Joshua Cole proved to be an excellent mentor and his feedback was both quick and thorough. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in this subject.
Terry (Witney)

FURTHER COURSE INFORMATION

What will I learn on the course?
By taking our Counselling and Psychotherapy course, you will gain a thorough understanding of what is expected of a Counsellor. You will be able to use your newly developed skills to help people in need. It could be people at work, it could be close members of your family, it could be long-time friends. Just think how much they could benefit from your knowledge and experience. Alternatively you could apply for further training or employment in the field of Mental Health.

Is there any practical training?
Yes. Even though our course is all distance learning, we can arrange for you to support a client via our unique telephone support service. This is done following an assessment of your skills and suitability and with the client’s consent. You will be monitored carefully by your tutor and feedback sheets submitted as part of your portfolio. If you are currently in employment and find that your day-to-day job involves helping people such as nurses, then we will ask you to complete a record of your "face to face" counselling which will go towards your total hours when you wish to become a member of any professional body.

Will I be able to practise as a counsellor/therapist after taking the course?
At the moment anyone can call themselves a counsellor or therapist but a qualification in Counselling and Psychotherapy will show potential clients, further training organisations and employers a level of learning and knowledge that others may not necessarily have. Our course is accredited  which you can put towards further learning.

In the future the government will be introducing regulations for people offering talking treatments. Although at this time we do not know the criteria for being accepted for regulation, we do know that a qualification in counselling and psychotherapy will stand you in good stead. In addition, it would be a good idea to become a member of a professional body.

Can I use letters after my name?
Yes. Dip.Couns & Psych

Can I get Insurance once I have completed the course?
Yes. As long as you have gained practical experience and successfully completed our course.

What else is included?
As a student, your course fee covers everything you will need to successfully complete the Counselling & Psychotherapy home study course and earn your award:

All textbooks, study guides, and learning aids designed for distance learning
A full range of student services, including assessments
An accredited award upon course completion
Unlimited educational support by e-mail or phone
Free postage and packaging

This is a Level Four course and as such will require students to have a good level of literacy and general education at least up to GCSE C grade. In other respects the course is open to any one with a genuine and positive attitude to the subject, and no prior knowledge is needed. The course could be particularly helpful for anyone working on a day-to-day basis with people such as Prison Officers, Health Workers, Care Workers, Police Officers and so on.

You have the freedom to start the course at any time and continue your studies at your own pace for a period of up to 12 months from initial registration with full tutor support.

How is the course structured? 
The NCFE Counselling & Psychotherapy course is divided into twelve comprehensive modules:

The basics of Counselling and Psychotherapy
What is counselling and psychotherapy?
When is a counsellor not ready to counsel?
Who needs counselling?

Models and approaches of therapy
CBT
Hypnotherapy
DBT
Drama and art therapy
Psychotherapy and psychodynamic psychotherapy
CAT
Person-Centred
Solution focused therapy
EMDR
Gestalt therapy

Types of counselling
Addiction
Anxiety
Divorce
Stress
Sexual orientation
PMS

Accompanying treatments
Antidepressants
Sleeping tablets
Minor tranquilizers

Mental Health conditions
Depression
Eating disorders
Personality disorders
Schizophrenia
Gender identity disorder

Delivery of Counselling and Psychotherapy
Individual counselling
Group therapy
Couples therapy
Family therapy
Online counselling
Telephone counselling
SMS text counselling
Video Counselling

Listening skills and Validation
Stages of listening
Types of validation

How to help someone in a crisis
Suicide
Self harm
Eating distress
Relationship breakdown

Common problems in Counselling and Psychotherapy
Supervision
Communication problems
Power and control issues
Aggression
Safety issues

Abuse and Trauma
Staying safe
The Law
Sexual offences Act
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims bill 2003
Rights of victims
Injunctions
Evidence
Court order
Reporting abuse
Inner child
After abuse
Trauma work

Useful strategies
Toolbox
Halting protocol
Writing letters
Feeling safe
Transactional object
Breathing exercises
Mindfulness
Splitting
Projective identification
Stabilisation
Homework
Diary
Boundaries

Being a Therapist
Confidentiality
Registration and Accreditation
Insurance
Professional development
Working ethically

Level 4 Award in Counselling and Psychotherapy
"This Counselling course is fully mapped to the national occupational standards"

This course leads to a Level 4 Award for successful learners. This means that it is independently accredited at a level of learning equivalent to level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In accrediting the programme at level 4, NCFE attests that its learning outcomes are at an equivalent level to a level 4 national qualification.

This course has been designed to meet specific learner requirements. Accreditation by NCFE is a guarantee of quality. It means that this learning programme has been scrutinised and approved by an independent panel of experienced educational professionals and is quality audited by NCFE.

About NCFE
More than 150 years of Vocational Awarding, NCFE can trace their record of working with colleges and other providers back to their founding organisation...

NCFE is recognised as an awarding body by the qualification regulators ('regulators') for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The regulators are the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) in England, the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills (DCELLS) in Wales and the Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland.

Our aim is to provide you with the best deal available, therefore the registration fee, certification fee and full tutor support is included in the course price for you. The enrolment fee for the Counselling & Psychotherapy home study course is £593.75 (inc VAT), though for a limited time we are offering you the opportunity to pay only £475 (inc VAT) which is a 20% discount if you enrol online and pay in full.

You can also opt for our Easy Payment Plan and enrol online today by paying a deposit of £195 and then 4 equal payments of £99.68 per month. The first instalment is paid about a month after you receive your course.