Counsellor Qualifications and Experience

Choosing a Counsellor

At the moment in the UK anyone can work as a counsellor or psychotherapist without any official training, knowledge or experience, so you might want to consider asking your counsellor some questions about this before making your choice if this is an important factor for you.

You could ask:

• What are their professional qualifications?


• What level is your therapist's professional counselling qualification? (the higher the level the more qualified the counsellor - so level 6 is a higher academic qualification than a level 4 or 5 for example)


• Is your counsellor a member of a professional organisation and listed on a professional standards accredited register? This means that your therapist has met certain standards and that you can expect them to work ethically


• Does your counsellor have professional insurance?


• Does your counsellor have a DBS certificate? (also sometimes called a police check)

My own Experience and Training

My own formal training is a first class BA Honours degree in counselling awarded by the University of Hull which was a three year University level 6 course.

I also have a level 5 Cognitive Behavioural qualification accredited by the University of West Scotland.

I am a fully registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and I am listed on their professional standards accredited register.

In addition, for the last five years I have volunteered for a National Charity supporting individuals and for the last two years in collaboration with Sure Start Early Help I have provided a counselling service for adults in the local area.

I have experience of working with range of issues including anxiety, depression, domestic violence, grief and loss as well as with survivors of abuse. I have experience working with suicide and self harming behaviour and have a university of Hull award for my commitment to research into non suicidal self injury.