Working as a counsellor

brokensoul

Hi

I am a first year psychotherapy student in CIT.

I would eventually like to work as a counsellor, seeing patients privately. My area of interest at the moment is marriage/ relationship breakdown but this may change.

I am getting really confused as to all the different routes to go with clinical psychology/ psychology/ counselling and i was wondering if someone could explain to me what i would need to do after my degree to qualify as a one on one counsellor.

Thank you in advance.

hotspur

Your degree in CIT is accredited by the IACP, so you will be eligible to join them after graduating and getting 450 hours of client work with 1 hour of supervision for every 10 hours of client work.

You will then be an accredited psychotherapist / counsellor. As things currently stand there are is no statutory regulation of the profession in Ireland, it is self-regulated.

Clinical psychology or counselling psychology are postgraduate specialisations for people with psychology degrees. Someone without a degree or H.Dip in psychology is not eligible to go down those routes.

Check out the website of the IACP for further information about becoming accredited with them:
www.irish-counselling.ie/index.php/home

You are on the right track to becoming a counsellor.

brokensoul

Thank you Hotspur, thats a great help.

When you say 450 hours of client work - presumably this is unpaid work somewhere, like an internship of something?

Thanks a million

MysticalSoul

No, not unpaid, but that option is always available if you so wish. Post getting your degree including all the client hours you build up during your course, you can start working as a therapist, however you would not be fully accredited till you get the additional 450 hours completed, however as regulations are looking likely to change over the coming years, this may well change.