--- title: Counselling Skills url: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/counselling-skills type: programme published: 2026-08-13 last_reviewed: 2026-08-13 reviewed_by: anita-sharma publisher: The Study Guild --- # Counselling Skills An 8-week live counselling-skills programme with marked recordings, taught by a BACP-registered counsellor, explicitly not counsellor training. ## Programme facts - Price: £349 (payment plans available, never discounted) - Format: Live online + self-paced - Live contact hours: 16 - Expected self-study hours: 28 - Duration: 8 weeks - Level: All levels - Tutor: anita-sharma ## Learning outcomes - 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 ## Curriculum 1. **Skills versus qualification** — The sentence this market keeps blurring, said until it sticks. Topics: What BACP registration actually requires; Placement hours you will not get here; Titles you will not use; Who this is for 2. **Listening that is not waiting to talk** — The core skill, practised under observation. Topics: Attention; What you notice and do not say; Silence; Peer practice 3. **Reflecting** — Content and feeling, without a clever reframe that is actually advice. Topics: Simple reflections; When to go deeper; Advice disguised as a question; Recorded practice 4. **Boundaries in a non-counsellor role** — Time, confidentiality and the corridor conversation that became a session. Topics: Contracting in management; Notes at work; When HR is the client; Ending 5. **Stop and refer** — Crisis, disclosure and the presentations that are not a skills conversation. Topics: Safeguarding; EAP and NHS; Your wording; After the conversation 6. **Coaches using counselling skills** — How to get better at the conversation without changing profession. Topics: Coaching versus counselling, again; Insurance; Directory language; Recorded session two 7. **Difference, power and the room you already have** — Skills that fail when you ignore status, culture and who can say no. Topics: Power in management; Not therapy-by-stealth; Your own material; Supervision even for skills 8. **Assessment clinic** — Live review of recordings against the rubric. Topics: Common fails; Resubmission; If you still want to be a counsellor; BACP course lists ## Assessment 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. ## Upcoming cohorts - 2026-11-11 to 2027-01-13 — Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks (no session 23 or 30 December) (open, cap 20) - 2027-02-24 to 2027-04-14 — Wednesdays 19:00–21:00 UK, 8 weeks (open, cap 20) ## 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](https://www.bacp.co.uk/careers/careers-in-counselling/) — 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. --- Source: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/counselling-skills · The Study Guild