All of our courses are fully accredited by the National Counselling Society and adopt a creative, enjoyable and relaxed approach to learning with full accreditation from relevant professional bodies.

What does a counsellor do?

One of the main roles of a counsellor is to help people to identify and overcome problems, issues and barriers in their lives, helping them to alter their thoughts, whilst encouraging them to make positive changes.

With this in mind, you will spend time listening to your clients talk about their issues and concerns, so it’s vital that you have good listening skills and the ability to be patient, show empathy, and offer support and resolutions to a whole host of problems.

Common issues that counsellors help people to address include relationship difficulties, bereavement, anxiety, job uncertainty, and unemployment.

Each session needs to be approached with an open mind and without judgement. This means putting to one side your own personal morals and beliefs and remaining impartial.

It’s also important that you reassure your client that anything they tell you will remain confidential. And remember, it’s not your job to give advice on what they need to do to solve their problems. Instead, you should work with your client to support them and get to the root cause of their issues. This involves looking closely at behaviour patterns and choices.

How to become a counsellor?

Although there is no compulsory qualification or training required to become a counsellor, the vast majority of employers expect their employees to have undertaken professional training with a professional and accredited training company, such as Chrysalis.

This will not only help you to understand more about the roles, responsibilities and key skills that come hand in hand with being a counsellor, but it also ensures that all counsellors meet standards and abide by a code of ethics as set out by the accrediting body.