This is a bridging course developing the competence of qualified adult counsellors to work safely with children and young people.

KEY FEATURES

• For qualified adult counsellors wishing to gain relevant training and experience, within a BACP accredited service, for counselling children and young people presenting with bereavement and loss aged 4 to 18 years using a therapeutic approach
• Aligned to the BACP curriculum for counselling children and young people aged 4 to 18 years
• 35 guided learning hours delivered intensively over 1 week, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm
• Students then complete 100 hours of placement within 12 months of starting the course
• Placement will be with Listening Ear
• Placement hours may be required after school until 8pm
• Additional 1:1 /peer development groups and individual case management meetings will be organised/ required as part of the placement
• Certificates will be issued to all students on completion of their study and 100 client-facing hours

Eligibility:

• As a minimum, applicants must previously have achieved a Diploma in Counselling (Level 4) on an adult counselling focused course.  Students can still be working towards their 100 hours of supervised clinical hours with adults when applying but should have completed their course of study already.

Course Start Date:

• Intensive classroom-based study 24th/25th February, 1st/2nd and 4th March 2021
  Students must attend all course dates
• Placement hours will commence immediately afterwards and must be completed 2 days per week04/01/2021 to 08/01/2021 intensive classroom-based study

Fees:

• Usual course fees £695 plus the accreditation registration fee (tbc) and costs of monthly clinical supervision
• NOW FREE for one term only
• Students will only be required to pay the accreditation registration fee, and the costs of 1.5 hrs of external clinical supervision per month whilst completing 100 hrs of placement.

Salaried Training Opportunity:

• A small number of salaried training and placement opportunities are also available. Students awarded these must be available to complete 100 supervised clinical hours with Children and Young People in schools, January to March 2021 (2 days per week).

The salary for the training and placement hours will be £24,313 pro rata based on 35 hours per week. Please make it clear within your application if you are only interested in a salaried training opportunity. Salaried training opportunities will be offered to a maximum of 3 candidates scoring highest within the application and interview process.

Salaried trainees will be paid 35 hours for the training week (£466.30) and 14 hours per week thereafter for placement weeks (£186.52) up to 31^st March. This will cover the time required to deliver:

• 8 x 50 minute appointments in schools, ideally 2 appointments in 1 school in the morning and 2 in a neighbouring school in the afternoon, therefore students will require access to transport. The appointments will be in Knowsley, Wirral or St Helens schools as required by Listening Ear.
• Completion of Lamplight records and associated admin
• Travel between schools (as much as possible we’ll group them together)
• Dealing with risks and incidents

In addition, we will pay per hour for students to attend team meetings/ peer-learning, case management meetings and clinical supervision as arranged. If you have a clinical supervisor from our approved supervisor list, we can cover the costs of your supervision for the months that you attend placement with Listening Ear.

In relation to salaried placement opportunities, recipients will be required to sign:

• A training form declaring that they commit to attending all five training days in Listening Ear
• A training form declaring that they commit to completing 100 hours placement with Listening Ear within the timeframe given (3 months)
• A training form declaring that they are liable to reimburse Listening Ear for any costs incurred should either of the above conditions not be met
• Have a genuine interest in working as a CYP Counsellor in future

At the end of training and the completion of 100hours placement hours, Listening Ear will guarantee an interview for any course graduate for any CYP Counselling jobs becoming available at Listening Ear. The salary scales for CYP Counsellors in Listening Ear are: £24,799 to £29,785 (increasing in line with experience and qualifications).

These bursary opportunities aim to address a shortage in the suitably qualified and experienced CYP Counselling Workforce. Therefore, applicants evidencing (through application and interview) a real commitment to working towards being employed as a CYP Counsellor as a primary income source in future will be prioritised.

 

Locations:

• Listening Ear 174 Dragon Lane, Whiston, L35 3QT
• Listening Ear St Nicholas Centre, 70 Church Road, Halewood, L26 6LB
• Placement locations tbc.

 

• Listening Ear is a leading third sector, mental health organisation with its headquarters in Knowsley, Merseyside
• Our organisation specialises in delivering therapy and support services to children, young people and adults presenting with bereavement and traumatic loss, occupational health counselling and suicide postvention support services (please see www.listening-ear.co.uk)
• Listening Ear holds full BACP Service Accreditation for its adult and CYP services (the first organisation to achieve BACP accreditation in Merseyside in 2004)
• We are continuing to grow and now offer services in Merseyside, Cheshire, South Yorkshire, Lancashire and Suffolk.

In the last four years we:

• Delivered counselling to over 5,000 adults and 4,000 children and young people
• Grew our unique suicide postvention service (Amparo) so that it now services a population of 6.1 million people (11% of the population of England)
• Delivered training in therapeutic approaches, suicide, self-harm and mental health awareness and specialist courses in bereavement and loss to over 500 front-line professionals
• Supported clinical placements for over forty counsellors in training
• Established a new department, Mindset Training, dedicated to the development of counselling professionals and supporting education in therapeutic approaches amongst a wide-range of frontline professionals.

What Listening Ear students say about their training experience:

“Outstanding, taught me how a counselling service should look, how a heart can be kept in time limited work. They support and push you just enough – they make you believe in yourself when you need it most. Training opportunities were at the top end of the field”.

Paul

What students on placement say about Listening Ear:

“From the very beginning Listening Ear was perfect. They were just like the Tutor in College had described a placement should be. They provided induction training, which was very professional and relevant to the placement, they were supportive and made you feel included in the Company as a whole. The Manager listened and supported me, this gave me the confidence to continue but also he was very honest and told me exactly how things needed to be.  I liked the fact there were no grey areas and the Company upheld the BACP principles and worked within their ethical framework. I found the whole process amazing and I would recommend them to anyone out there who is looking.

Christine