Why We Aren’t A Placement Organisations
A counselling placement organisation is a specific type of organisation that provides supervised, hands-on client experience for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists. Whilst training courses require placements, there are numerous counselling organisations, such as private practices, mental health charities, and workplace counselling services, that do not host trainees for many reasons.
The Role of a Placement Service
Placements offer trainees hands-on experience of working with clients in a supervised way and under the direct supervision of qualified therapists and, in most situations, an external clinical supervisor. Most placement organisations operate by offering free or affordable therapy by utilising student therapists within charitable organisations.
Phoenix Counselling Infrastructure
When we first opened in 2022, Ian and Lisa toyed with the idea of offering placements and concluded that we couldn’t realistically offer the support needed to trainee therapists alongside operating and maintaining a counselling service. To operate as a placement, we would be required to offer a structured environment with qualified supervisors to guide and support the student counsellor as they see clients, as well as ensure client hours.
The infrastructure of Phoenix Counselling means we would not be able to offer this support without significant changes in funding, as we believe trainees deserve fair working conditions. An example of this would be every time a placement therapist is working, one of our management team members would need to be on site for immediate support. As a small independent organisation, we could not realistically agree that this is possible.
Finding A Counselling Placement
Over recent years, we have been aware that many placement organisations have closed, moved solely online, which has created a bottleneck of more trainee therapists than placements available. Therefore, it is becoming harder to find or achieve numbers in the amount of time. We advise you to speak to your training organisation and be ready by:
🚨 DBS enhanced
🚨 Student membership to BACP, UKCP
🚨 Explore placements within your area, ensuring they are or will be approved by your training organisation
🚨 Write an email directly to the centre or fill out their application form
🚨 Think about your availability
🚨 Ensure supervision is in place - internal or external
Remember that in most instances, placements are unpaid:
🚨 Although some organisations offer internal supervision, this may not meet your training organisation’s requirements
🚨 A three-way contract between trainee, supervisor, and training organisation
🚨 Although unpaid, placement organisations often have to report to a training organisation on:
Sickness Absence
Ethical Working
Competency Levels
We receive many requests for placements; however, we, unfortunately, are only able to offer qualified counsellors and psychotherapists the opportunity to work with our team.
If you are looking for a placement within the West Midlands, here are a few we are aware of: