The benefits of doing an NHS counselling placement with The Awareness Centre

Choose to do your counselling placement at The Awareness Centre and you’ll come away with more than your client hours. The placement we offer is rigorous and rewarding, and you will gain the skills and experience to ready you for life as a qualified therapist.

This is particularly true for trainee therapists who opt to work within our NHS Counselling Service. The Awareness Centre is contracted by South London and Maudsley (SLaM) to offer counselling to patients registered with GP surgeries in Lambeth, as part of an IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) service. The work within the NHS comes under our Level 2 and Level 3 placement.

The Awareness Centre offers a three-level placement. Level 1 is for trainee therapists who have completed their foundation year and may not have many client hours. Level 2 is for therapists who have completed 65 client hours and are in their second year of diploma training. Level 3 is for those that are in their final stages of training, are competent to work with risk and who are working towards accreditation.

Here we outline the features and benefits of working within our NHS Counselling Service:

• You will see up to four patients a week at a Lambeth GP surgery for short-term counselling (between 6 and 12 sessions, depending on complexity and risk).
• You will be trained in the NHS/IAPT diary system, IAPTus, which you update weekly. This is invaluable, hands-on experience if you go on to seek a job within the NHS once you are qualified.
• You will receive on-going support and mentoring from your team leader.
• You will be in a weekly or fortnightly supervision group, depending on how many hours you do. Supervision is provided free, as part of your placement.
• You will gain experience working with people from all walks of life, as there is huge diversity in the client base.
• You will hone your skills in assessing clients, as assessment for counselling takes place in the first session with new clients.
• Risk management and following risk protocols are an essential part of the role, and again this offers experience you may not gain elsewhere.
• You will also learn more about working within the NHS and about how to refer to different parts of the service.

Don’t just take our word for it. Read what our placement therapists say about their experience working within our NHS Counselling Service.

If you would like to apply for a placement with The Awareness Centre, download the application form by clicking on the ‘Counselling Placement Application form’ button. Complete and return by email to [email protected]

For more information call 020 8673 4545.