We offer counselling placements to students training at TAC Training School within The Awareness Centre’s NHS Talking Therapies Services in Lambeth, Sutton and Wandsworth and our Low Cost Counselling Service. In our NHS Talking Therapies service, you will be able to work both online and face-to-face at a GP surgery or NHS hub. For placements within our Low Cost Service, you will work with clients face-to-face at our Clapham or Tooting centres.
We support students working within our training school to develop their practice and experience while working towards full qualification and accreditation. All our trainees must be a student member of BACP.
Counselling placements at The Awareness Centre provide invaluable opportunities for trainees to develop their skills and learn how to integrate theory into practice, enabling them to qualify on their courses and gain enhanced clinical experience as a therapist.
We invest in training and mentoring to support your growth. Our dedicated clinical teams and qualified supervisors help you to develop your skills as you work with a wide range of clients suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. All our placement therapists work weekly with a caseload of three or four clients that fully supports your clinical hours required towards qualification. Please note that we offer placements for both face-to-face and online sessions.
“My time spent working within the TAC Low Cost clinic has proved invaluable to me throughout my professional training. It has given me a deeper understanding of working within an agency setting, and has provided me with a solid foundation to build upon.”
J. M, SW11
The Right Counselling Placement For You
Our trainee counselling placements allow aspiring therapists to build experience and confidence in working with diverse client groups. Each counselling service offers different benefits, depending on how you want to progress as a therapist. Our counselling placements are suitable for level 1, 2 and 3 placement therapists. Clients are triaged within our NHS counselling service, and placements are face-to-face/online. Low-Cost Counselling clients are booked in by the clinical reception team and sessions are face-to-face only.
The NHS counselling placement will teach you how to work in a solution-focused, short-term way with a diverse client base – as well as gaining the experience of working alongside a multi-disciplinary team within NHS Talking Therapies.
The NHS counselling service involves seeing up to four clients a week, starting online and then moving on to see clients face-to-face within Lambeth and Wandsworth medical centres, or at Jubilee East Health Centre in Sutton. Sessions take place during the day and evenings on weekdays, as well as during the day on Saturdays.
The Awareness Centre is contracted by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM), and South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust (SWLSTG); working in partnership with NHS Talking Therapies to provide our NHS counselling services.
The Low-Cost Counselling Service (LCCS) placement will teach you how to provide a full clinical assessment to work on an open-ended basis with clients, which is excellent preparation for working in private practice.
Volunteer counselling placements take place within The Awareness Centre’s Low-Cost Counselling Service, and participants offer face-to-face therapy on an open-ended basis from the centres in Clapham and Tooting, South London. (Low-Cost clients can occasionally work online if they are on holiday and wish to continue their sessions).
The Low-Cost Counselling Service offers a fixed fee for all clients. Working here as a voluntary therapist helps you learn about good practice management, and allows you to develop long-term therapeutic relationships with your clients with the support of first-class supervision and training. You can see up to four clients per week during Monday-Sunday daytime slots and Friday evenings.
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Criteria for Counselling Placements
At TAC, we offer a three-level placement to trainee counsellors. These placement sessions can be face to face or online.
Level 1 Criteria
Counselling placements for trainee therapists who have accumulated 0-40 supervised client hours.
- You are a student counsellor studying at The Awareness Centre Training School at Diploma level.
- You have accumulated 0-40 supervised client hours either within TAC or with another counselling organisation, agency or charity.
- You have been in weekly personal therapy for at least three months and will continue in weekly therapy throughout your placement with TAC.
- You can volunteer as a trainee therapist within the NHS or Low Cost counselling service.
- You will be in twice monthly supervision seeing up to 4 clients per week.
- You will be supported by your Team Leader/Coordinator and Clinical Supervisor.
- You will be moved onto the Level 2 placement upon approval by our senior TAC clinical team.
Level 2 Criteria
Counselling placements for trainee therapists who have accumulated 40-70 supervised client hours.
- You are a student counsellor studying at The Awareness Centre Training School at Diploma level.
- You have accumulated 40-70 supervised client hours either within TAC or with another counselling organisation, agency or charity.
- You have been in weekly personal therapy since you started your Diploma and will continue in weekly therapy throughout your placement with TAC.
- You can volunteer as a trainee therapist within the Low-Cost Counselling Service and/or the NHS counselling service.
- You will be in twice monthly supervision seeing up to 4 clients per week.
- You will be supported by your Team Leader/Coordinator and Clinical Supervisor.
- You will be moved onto the Level 3 placement upon approval by our senior TAC clinical team.
Level 3 Criteria
Counselling placements for trainee therapists who have over 70+ supervised client hours and are working towards qualification.
- You are a student counsellor reaching the end of your training at The Awareness Centre Training School.
- You have accumulated 70+ supervised clinical hours.
- You are in weekly personal therapy.
- You can volunteer as a trainee therapist within the Low-Cost or NHS counselling service.
- You will be in fortnightly supervision.
- All trainee therapists will be supported by their Team Leader/Coordinator and Clinical Supervisor.
- Trainees may apply to undertake a double placement; however, this must be approved by the Senior Clinical Team. Please note that this involves attending double the required supervision, so it is important to carefully consider the level of commitment involved.
- All applicants must be pre-approved as ready to practice; and hold student counselling membership.
- The Awareness Centre offers placement supervision at no fee.
- Placement therapists are managed and mentored by the clinical team.
- We offer online and face-to-face placements.
- In addition to attending The Awareness Centre online group supervision, all placement therapists will continue being in their course supervision during their placement to support their clinical learning and make sure they meet the clinical supervised hours for their courses.
- All placement therapists are expected to attend weekly personal therapy.
- The first 3 months of placement will be considered a probation period.
- TAC Training School students will be invited to apply for a TAC Counselling Placement, once they have been signed off as ready to practice, by completing the online application form.
- You will be invited to attend a group introduction session for either our NHS or Low-Cost Counselling Placement. During this session, you will have the opportunity to ask any in-depth questions about the placement and clarify details about the role.
- Following the introduction, you will receive a placement offer via email. Please ensure you respond within 24 hours to confirm your place.
- Please note you will be required to pay for an enhanced DBS, TAC can coordinate this for you. Some trainees may have a DBS attached to their work or other voluntary positions so we can check this to see if it is valid. Your enhanced DBS will last for 3 years.
- If you choose to apply to an external counselling placement provider they will have own onboarding processes.
TAC Student Counselling Placement: FAQs
Yes, students can choose their placement of choice via the application form. However, they maybe offered an alternative counselling placement if the other is full.
Most of our counselling placements offer 4 client hours on a weekly basis but there are some counselling placements during the evening within the NHS that offer 3 client hours per week. The Low Cost counselling placement offers 4 client hours only each week.
We ask for a minimum commitment of 18 months on a counselling placement to support your clinical practice.
You can take 4 weeks annual holiday, with a maximum of 2 weeks at any one time. You must give 4 weeks’ notice of your annual leave request.
You must give two months notice of your intention to leave on a Low Cost placement and three months for the NHS.
You can request to do a double placement at TAC if you are in your second year of training. You will need to speak to the clinical team and your supervisors will need to sign off this request.
Yes, you can transfer from either the NHS or Low Cost counselling placement. However, you will need to discuss this with your clinical supervisor and the team so you have enough time to plan an end with your clients.
No, you cannot transfer NHS clients, you will need to complete treatment within the NHS.
Placement counsellors will attend twice monthly group supervision for 2 hours. This clinical supervision is different from your course supervision.
There is no fee for clinical supervision on your counselling placement with TAC.
The onboarding process takes approximately 4 weeks. You will need to complete all documentation, supply your photo and bio for the website, obtain DBS clearance, complete training and join your supervision group before you start with your first client.
Yes, before you start the onboarding process there will be an introduction where you will be able to ask and understand how The Awareness Centre counselling placements work.
SEE WHAT OUR PLACEMENT THERAPISTS SAY
What’s it like to be on a counselling placement at The Awareness Centre? Here’s what some of our placement therapists have to say
JOIN OUR TRAINING SCHOOL
Embark on your career as a therapist with expert tutors, a structured learning programme and hands-on clinical experience.