Placement Application Information

What we expect

As a trainee counsellor/therapist, you need to be on a course where having a placement is a requirement of the course. Placements are also offered to qualified counsellors/therapists who are keen to gain experience of working with this client group.

We expect our placement counsellor/therapists to spend one day each week in the school in which they are placed throughout the 39 week school year. We would expect you to see up to four clients during that day, or three clients plus offer a drop-in service. If it is a requirement of your training to work with groups this can be done as well, and each group would count in the same way as an individual client. The days and timings are generally negotiated on a school by school basis. There may be opportunities to work in more than one school.

It is important to say here that you should be committed and resilient since you will be expected to organise and manage your work yourself, though CPD and support is provided. You will be answerable on a day-to-day basis to the Designated Link Person (DLP) in your school - who could be the Head teacher, deputy or SENCO - since we are not on site with you. In effect you will be a member of school staff, and as such will be expected to act in an appropriately professional manner. 

We expect counsellors/therapists to attend fortnightly group supervision. In addition to the group supervision we will provide additional individual supervision as and when necessary, and support you by phone, Skype and/or e mail.

The mandatory induction process consists of 5 evening sessions - the first being late July and the remaining four in the first week of September. Safeguarding training is also mandatory and is covered over two evenings in September - FGM & Radicalisation awareness is covered in a seperate event. We provide monthly (evening) CPD events to support your development throughout your placement.

We will expect you to join a professional organisation- eg BACP, UKCP, BADTh- before you start your placement.

We also expect you to take out Personal Indemnity Insurance, though you can reclaim the cost of this from us up to a maximum of £50. 

We require counsellors/therapists on placement with us to make a monthly financial contribution of £25 (for 10 months) toward placement, supervision and CPD costs.

You will need to have a recent enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) including children and young people check, which is usually obtained by your training body.  Schools are often different in how they deal with DBS and some may want one specifically for their school though a current DBS should be transferable.