Counselling Skills
Learn listening, reflecting and stopping from a BACP-registered counsellor, without a back door into being a counsellor.
Taught and assessed by
Anita SharmaProfile pending contract
- Live teaching
- 16h
- Self-study
- 28h
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Weekly load
- ~6h
What you will be able to do
- Hold a supportive conversation without rescuing, advising or interrogating
- Reflect feeling and content so the other person can hear themselves
- Contract a helping conversation in a role that is not counselling
- Stop and refer when the work needs a counsellor or a crisis service
- State, in writing, that this certificate is not a counselling qualification
- Use the skills in management, pastoral and coaching roles without changing your title
Who this is for
- Managers, teachers and pastoral staff whose jobs already involve difficult conversations
- Coaches who need better listening and a cleaner stop
- HR and employee-support staff who are not becoming counsellors
- People willing to be recorded in a helping conversation
Who this is not for
- Anyone who needed BACP or UKCP registration — start from those bodies' accredited lists
- Anyone who wanted counsellor training with a placement log — see Counselling Diploma with Placement, which is still not BACP-accredited
- Anyone planning to see clients as a counsellor after eight weeks
- Anyone whose job spec names a registered counsellor
What you need before you start
- A role or practice context where you already have conversations
- Willingness to be recorded
What you will actually learn
8 modules · 8 weeks · 16h live
Skills versus qualificationThe sentence this market keeps blurring, said until it sticks.
Covered in this module
- What BACP registration actually requires
- Placement hours you will not get here
- Titles you will not use
- Who this is for
Listening that is not waiting to talkThe core skill, practised under observation.
Covered in this module
- Attention
- What you notice and do not say
- Silence
- Peer practice
ReflectingContent and feeling, without a clever reframe that is actually advice.
Covered in this module
- Simple reflections
- When to go deeper
- Advice disguised as a question
- Recorded practice
Boundaries in a non-counsellor roleTime, confidentiality and the corridor conversation that became a session.
Covered in this module
- Contracting in management
- Notes at work
- When HR is the client
- Ending
Stop and referCrisis, disclosure and the presentations that are not a skills conversation.
Covered in this module
- Safeguarding
- EAP and NHS
- Your wording
- After the conversation
Coaches using counselling skillsHow to get better at the conversation without changing profession.
Covered in this module
- Coaching versus counselling, again
- Insurance
- Directory language
- Recorded session two
Difference, power and the room you already haveSkills that fail when you ignore status, culture and who can say no.
Covered in this module
- Power in management
- Not therapy-by-stealth
- Your own material
- Supervision even for skills
Assessment clinicLive review of recordings against the rubric.
Covered in this module
- Common fails
- Resubmission
- If you still want to be a counsellor
- BACP course lists
Dates and timetable
Counselling Skills runs as a live cohort over 8 weeks. Pick the start date that fits — every cohort gets the same tutor, curriculum and assessment.
| Starts | Live sessions | Cap | Status and action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ends | Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks (no session 23 or 30 December) | 20 | Choose this date → |
| Ends | Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks | 20 | Choose this date → |
How you are assessed
Two recorded helping conversations and a written 'stop and refer' protocol, marked by Anita Sharma against a published skills rubric. Written feedback with one free resubmission. Work that presents as counselling does not pass.
Our accreditation applications are in progress. We do not display an accreditation mark before it is granted — see the current status.
After you pass
- Skills-scope wording for job and coaching profiles
What is a counselling-skills course actually for?
It teaches listening, reflecting and boundary skills for people whose existing roles already involve supportive conversations — managers, teachers, support workers, coaches. It is genuinely useful for that. It does not qualify anyone to work as a counsellor, and this programme says so on the certificate rather than in a footnote.
Will this make you a counsellor?
No. Qualifying as a counsellor in the UK typically takes three to four years part-time, including supervised placement hours and personal therapy, then registration with a body such as BACP or UKCP. Eight weeks of skills practice is not a shorter version of that. It is a different product.
Sources
- Careers in counselling and psychotherapy — British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Who should buy counselling skills rather than counsellor training?
Anyone whose job already includes difficult conversations and who wanted to do them better. Anyone who needed a cleaner stop and a referral sentence. Anyone whose employer spec does not name BACP registration. If the destination is seeing clients as a counsellor, start from accredited diploma lists, not from us.
How is this different from a marketplace counsellor diploma?
A BACP-registered counsellor marks your recordings and will fail counsellor-impersonation. There is no placement, and we do not imply there is. Marketplace diplomas often borrow the word counsellor. The missing placement hours are the tell. We would rather lose that search than fake the hours.
Common questions
Why does a counselling-skills course exist at all?
Because managers and coaches have conversations that improve with training, and because pretending those conversations are counselling is how people get hurt.
Can I put counsellor on my website after this?
You should not. The title is unprotected, which is exactly why using it after a skills course is the problem. Say counselling skills, or do the diploma.
Is this a step towards BACP registration?
Not in any hours that BACP will count as a counselling qualification. It may make you a better candidate for a later diploma. It is not the diploma.
Can I pay in instalments?
Yes. Interest-free plans total exactly £349.
Related reading
Counselling Training in the UK
What it takes to qualify as a counsellor in the UK, why short courses cannot get you there, and what a counselling-skills course is actually for.
SubjectCounsellor training with placement
What UK counsellor training with placement requires, why we cannot host hours or award BACP accreditation, and how that differs from skills.
ProgrammeCounselling Diploma with Placement
A 16-week live counselling diploma with marked skills and a learner-sourced placement log, taught by a BACP-accredited counsellor.
SubjectHow to become a counsellor in the UK
What it actually takes to qualify as a counsellor in the UK, why placements cannot be skipped, and what a counselling-skills certificate is for.
ProgrammeCBT Practitioner Skills
A 10-week live programme in cognitive behavioural techniques for non-clinical practitioners, taught by a chartered psychologist with assessed competency review.
AnswerCan a short CBT course make you a therapist?
No. A CBT therapist needs accredited clinical training and supervised hours. A short skills course must not claim that title.