LEVEL 4 DIPLOMA ‘COUNSELLING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 4 TO 18 YEARS USING A THERAPEUTIC APPROACH’

KEY FEATURES

  • For people wishing to gain relevant training and experience within a BACP accredited service, for counselling children and young people 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
  • 406 guided learning hours, classroom study, Tuesdays 9am to 5.30pm, plus 2 Saturday mornings, 1 Sunday morning and 1 residential long weekend (Friday to Sunday)
  • Taught across 51 weeks over 14 months, allowing for holidays
  • Students must complete 100 hours of placement within 18 months of starting the course
  • Placements will be with Listening Ear or in some cases as required by Listening Ear, within another approved counselling setting in Merseyside
  • Placement hours may be required after school until 8pm
  • Students must complete written assignments for assessment
  • Additional 1:1 /peer development groups and individual tutorial meetings will be organised/ required in addition to classroom-based hours
  • Observations of client sessions (with full consents in place) will form part of student assessment
  • Diplomas will be issued to all students on completion of their study, course portfolio (including marked written assignments) and 100 client-facing hours

Eligibility:

  • As a minimum, applicants must previously have achieved Levels 1 to 3 in Health & Social Care, Youth Work, Counselling Skills or another equivalent and relevant subject.

Course Start Date:

  • 13/04/2021

Fees/ Bursaries:

  • Usual course fees £2200 plus the costs of 1 residential and monthly clinical supervision
  • NOW FREE for one year only
  • Available to residents of Merseyside [1], 6 training bursaries made possible through the generous support of PH Holt Foundation
  • 6 training bursaries available to applicants from outside Merseyside

All training bursary students will be required to pay the accreditation registration fee, the residential costs (one long weekend accommodation and food) and the costs of 1.5 hrs of external clinical supervision per month whilst completing 100 hrs of placement.

These bursary opportunities aim to encourage access to education for individuals and to address a shortage in the CYP Counselling Workforce of suitably qualified and experienced workers. Therefore, applicants evidencing (through application and interview) a real commitment to working towards a primary career as a CYP Counsellor will be prioritised.

Please note that all successful applicants will be required to sign a Training Agreement on commencement of the course. This states that, should a bursary holder drop-out of the course prior to completion, the bursary holder will liable for paying the full costs of attending the training (from commencement to the date of disengagement) at a rate of £43.14 per week.

Locations:

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

 

[1] Merseyside covers the 5 metropolitan boroughs of Sefton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Wirral and St Helens. To be eligible for a grant you must either have been born and raised on Merseyside, or lived a significant part of your life, including attending school, having a permanent home in Merseyside, and for mature students, refugees and EU nationals, established a life in Merseyside prior to enrolling. Please tell us how you meet this criteria in your application

Application Process

Please send a C.V. and covering letter by email to Listening Ear by 28th February 2021. As a minimum, this should state:

  • The bursary you are applying for
  • If applicable, how you fit the definition of ‘Merseyside Resident’ as described aboveHow this bursary will encourage access to education for you
  • How you can demonstrate a real commitment to working towards a primary career as a CYP Counsellor and a description of your career ambitions on completion of the course
  • 500 words which describe why you are a suitable candidate for the course and for providing counselling to children and young people

Depending on the level of interest in this opportunity, Listening Ear reserves the right to close the application window early so we would encourage you, if interested, to apply as soon as possible. Listening Ear also reserves the right to extend the application window should this be necessary.

Applicants will go through a two-stage process, shortlisting and then interview. In order to select the 12 students who will receive a bursary place, interviews will be held early in March 2021.

We will inform all applicants who have been invited to interview by email. Unfortunately, we will not be able to feedback on individual applications and there will be no right to appeal Listening Ear’s decisions in relation to the allocation of free places on this training.

About Listening Ear

  • 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