Fees and funding options

The fee for our Level 5 Certificate is £1200*. Payment will be required only if offered a place to study, and you will have three options to pay the course fee:

Option A: 1-off payment of £1200

Option B: 2 payments of £600, 1 month apart

Option C: 5 payments of £240, 1 month apart.

*Place2Be staff subsidy available. Check the Place2Be staff Intranet for more information about this.

Course details

What it covers

• An introduction to child counselling skills, including using play, creative work and narrative.
• Developing counselling theory, with an emphasis on play and attachment theory.
• Exploration of the child’s voice.
• Observing and recording your practice for feedback and supervision.
• Building self-awareness and identifying any barriers you might have in communicating and developing non-oppressive practice.
• Applying new knowledge to home, school and peer-group relationships.

Useful for qualified counsellors who:

• are looking to develop key counselling and therapeutic play skills to support their work or everyday life with children and young people
• want to become a Counsellor on Placement with Place2Be
• are a Counsellor on Placement with us and want to pursue a professional qualification in child counselling
• wish to progress to paid roles within Place2Be.

Accreditation

This course is accredited and awarded by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB).

Entry requirements

To be eligible for a place on the Level 5 Certificate in Working Therapeutically with Children and Young People in Schools, we ask for the following criteria:

• have completed an adult counselling qualification, or be completing your training within 6 months of submitting your application, which must have included guided learning, theory, skills practice and evidence of self-awareness - unfortunately, we cannot accept online courses
• have time to attend all sessions unless there are exceptional circumstances
• have internet access to use our online learning platform.

Application process

There are two different application routes for our Level 5 Certificate in Working Therapeutically with Children and Young People in Schools, detailed below. Which route you take will depend on whether or not you are currently a Place2Be employee or Counsellor on Placement.

Route 1 - internal candidates

Route 1 is for current Place2Be employees or Counsellors on Placement. If you are following this route, your application process will be as follows:

1. Fill out a condensed online application form and confirm you meet the course entry requirements.
2. Our internal panel will assess your application. If you meet all the course requirements, you will be shortlisted for a place on the intake.
3. Our team will shortlist all eligible internal and external applicants. If you are successful, you will be offered a place on the programme.

Placements for internal candidates (current Place2be employees or Counsellors on Placement)

• If you are a Place2be Counsellor on Placement, please use your current placement to support you throughout your Level 5.
• If you are a Place2be Clinical Staff in School, please use your role to support you throughout your Level 5.

Route 2 - external candidates

Route 2 is for all external candidates. If you are following this route, your application process will be as follows:

1. Fill out two online application forms, which includes an application to the Level 5 and an application to become a Counsellor on Placement. It will also confirm you meet the entry requirements for the course and placement. Please note that the Counsellor on Placement form will be sent to you following your application to the Level 5 Course. We will not be able to process your Level 5 Course Application if you have not completed the Counsellor on Placement form. 
2. Our internal panel will assess your application. If you meet all the course and Counsellor on Placement requirements, you will be offered an interview.
3. Following interviews, our team will shortlist all eligible internal and external applicants. If you are successful, you will be offered a place on the programme.
4. Once you accept your place, our Placements Team will be in touch to organise your placement in a Place2Be partner school.

Placements for external candidates

• All placements for the Level 5 qualification must be within a Place2be partner school - no external placement will be accepted.
• You will be able to let the tutors know of any placement requirement during your interview (e.g., days of the week, general school location).
• Once your school placement has been assigned, we will be unable to make changes unless there are exceptional circumstances. Failure to accept your placement, will result in your course offer being withdrawn.
• We aim to find you a placement within one hour travel time of your home postcode.
• To see where you might be on your placement, you can see all our Place2Be partner schools on a map.

Application questions

Whether you're an internal or external candidate, we require you to answer the following questions as part of your application. We recommend preparing your answers on a separate document in advance and pasting them into the application form once ready. Each question has a 1,500 character limit (between 215 and 375 words with spaces included).

• Question 1: Why do you wish to work with children in a therapeutic setting, and what qualities do you feel you (can) bring to this work?
• Question 2: Describe a time in which you experienced an ethical dilemma or difficulty in a therapeutic relationship either in adult or children and young people work. What issues arose? How were these managed?
• Question 3: How do you think a school counsellor can work in the wider school setting to support a child alongside one-to-one?

References

Please note that you are required to submit references as part of your application. You will be sent more information about submitting your references after submitting your initial application form.

External applicants

If you are a candidate from outside of Place2Be, you need to submit two references to complete your application. Please note that you will receive the Reference Form on an email following your application to our Level 5 course. The two references you need to provide are:

• one clinical academic reference (eg. your course tutor or supervisor)
• one character reference.

Neither reference can be a family relative.

Existing Place2Be staff or Counsellors on Placement

If you are a Counsellor on Placement or paid staff member at Place2Be, you will need to submit one reference from your Place2Be line manager or School Project Manager.

Please make sure you read the counselling qualifications terms and conditions before completing your application.

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