Starting my qualifications in Psychotherapy and looking to get a job

mashpotato

Hi,
I am 29 and I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Over the last few years, with the help of CBT therapists (and medication), I have developed the skills needed to manage my OCD. I am now in a position where I would like to use these skills and my experience to help other people with this disorder.

Unfortunately my undergrad is in I.T. so, from a qualifications point of view, I will need to start at the bottom of the Psychotherapy ladder. I am currently studying for a diploma in Psychotherapeutics with the University of Derby (distance learnng). Once I have completed this I would like to go on to study the 1 year Advanced Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Skills and Studies with the same university (again distance learning). Following on from this I hope to do a Masters in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, again with the university of Derby. This masters is BABCP accredited and takes 2 years to complete.

I have a couple of questions which hopefully some you might be able to help me with.

I am currently working in I.T. and have done for the last 6 years. I don't particularly enjoy the work so as soon as I can I'm going to jump ship. I realise that it will be a while yet before I can expect to earn a living from Psychotherapy. However the thought of working in I.T. for the next couple of years is not appealing (I know I'm lucky to have a job in the current climate...). Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might get my first step on the ladder? I realise that I will be starting at the bottom of the pile so the salary won't be great. I just want to make the switch over and start progressing this new career path as soon as possible. Hopefully then I'll be in a good position to undertake some client work if I get accepted into the CBT masters.

As a side point, I currently do weekly volunteering work with a charity in Dublin - I figure its good experience to build up.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks a million,
Niall

JuliusCaesar

mashpotato wrote: »

Hi,
I am 29 and I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Over the last few years, with the help of CBT therapists (and medication), I have developed the skills needed to manage my OCD. I am now in a position where I would like to use these skills and my experience to help other people with this disorder.

Unfortunately my undergrad is in I.T. so, from a qualifications point of view, I will need to start at the bottom of the Psychotherapy ladder. I am currently studying for a diploma in Psychotherapeutics with the University of Derby (distance learnng). Once I have completed this I would like to go on to study the 1 year Advanced Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Skills and Studies with the same university (again distance learning). Following on from this I hope to do a Masters in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy, again with the university of Derby. This masters is BABCP accredited and takes 2 years to complete.

Accreditation with the BABCP:
1.1* All*therapists*are*considered*on*an*individual*basis*but*they*will*usually*have*
an*approved*basic*professional*qualification*in*an*appropriate*profession*(e.g.*
psychology,*psychiatry,*nursing,*counselling,*occupational*therapy,*social*
work,*education).*They*will*usually*be*registered*with*a*professional*
regulatory*body*and*have*undertaken*a*minimum*period*of*two*years*post**
qualification*training*and*experience.*

AFAIK, it's pretty much the same with the ICP

Howerver that's not to say it'll change. See the sticky thread above on Statutory Registration. Will your qualification in psychotherapeuticcs qualify you as a counsellor?

mashpotato

Hi JuliusCaesar,
Thanks for replying to my post.

I'm not sure what you mean when you ask if the course will qualify me as a counsellor. It sure will help but I didn't think there was any legislation for counsellors so Ithe idea of needing to attain a certain level of skill or qualification isn't applicable (at the moment) for counselling. In saying that, I'm not about to declare myself a counsellor just yet ;o) plenty more learning to do.

Regarding the Msc in CBT, it says on the derby site that it is level 2 fully accredited...so I hoped it would be the first step in getting myself accredited...I realise its only the start of the accreditation process but I figured it would be more beneficial than doing a non-accredited one..if that makes sense.

Thanks,
Niall

krankykitty

There's no legislation at the moment but statutory regulation is on it's way so it's as well to look a bit into the future when it comes to investing time and money on training.
Another thing to keep in mind, and I think you were alluding to it in your post that youre aware of is that I don't think you'd be well prepared to practice as a counsellor after just the distance learning parts of your training - you'd really want to do some sort of training with an experiential piece to prepare you properly for that. My opinion obviously but speaking as someone who's been that soldier

Odysseus

mashpotato wrote: »

Hi JuliusCaesar,
Thanks for replying to my post.

I'm not sure what you mean when you ask if the course will qualify me as a counsellor. It sure will help but I didn't think there was any legislation for counsellors so Ithe idea of needing to attain a certain level of skill or qualification isn't applicable (at the moment) for counselling. In saying that, I'm not about to declare myself a counsellor just yet ;o) plenty more learning to do.

Regarding the Msc in CBT, it says on the derby site that it is level 2 fully accredited...so I hoped it would be the first step in getting myself accredited...I realise its only the start of the accreditation process but I figured it would be more beneficial than doing a non-accredited one..if that makes sense.

Thanks,
Niall

Hi Niall,

As a student, which you are at the moment you are lucky to be getting voluntary experience, very few students manage to get fee-paying clients. I have sat on interview boards over the years and no offence meant as you are coming here looking for help and advise; but if your CV at the moment was put in front of me I would bin it. You cannot train as a therapist through a distance-learning course. I don't mean to be harsh or rude but that is the reality.

In order to train as a therapist whilst in your current job and do so ethically and in a way that will increase the possibility of you making a living out of it you are looking at the following:

Find out if the course you are doing is recognised by any professional body in Ireland, as it appears from your post you are a good bit away from BACP membership.

Join a body as a student member and work towards full membership.

Find a supervisor, you will need a certain amount of hours of supervised clinical practice and personal therapy. Most likely your previous therapy will not count.

At the moment the best you will get is unpaid voluntary work [which you have] and to be fair you can't expect any organisation to employ you as a therapist at the moment, its unethical and potentially dangerous to the client.

Also going with your plan will the Dip and Adv Dip allow you access to the MSc are you sure they don't require a degree in a cognate area? I have seen a lot of people waste time and money on courses over the years from which they gained little.

At the moment it may be legal for anyone to call themselves a therapist, however, and I have said this 100s of times here, I will never refer a patient to another therapist who is not Masters standard. As you noted yourself you have a long road ahead of training wise, but also around making a living out of it. Personally I would suggest you look at training in Ireland, if you are looking at working in Ireland. It will also set you up with a network of other therapists, which will help you get work.

I know quite a full fully qualified therapists who at the moment are still only getting unpaid work.

I'm aware my post is a tad unstructured but I hope this helps a little.