Yes you can… just as you can learn to swim by watching videos! But of course, that won’t stop you drowning once you’re actually in the water.
The simple fact is that counselling is about meeting people with problems and helping them. If you have learned to communicate only through a screen or a video, you may have missed enormously important elements of the reality of helping another human being through interpersonal communication.
With this in mind, a professional counselling course will insist on some elements of your training being carried out in a personal, even intimate, environment. This is how a counsellor will work with clients, and it’s vital that they are comfortable in this environment. However, it’s also a reality that online, flexible teaching systems are essential for people who find the fully in-person experience challenging, such as if you are studying counselling part time while parenting, or working, or both. So a well-designed program will allow for flexible learning where possible, but because counselling is actually about meeting people and working with them, a professional counselling course will insist on some elements of your training being carried out in a personal, even intimate, environment, and this is only able to be done face-to-face. This is usually how a counsellor will work with clients, and it’s vital that they are comfortable in this environment.
It’s worth mentioning here that many organisations now offer tele-health services, where counselling is provided online or via the phone. The counselling landscape is changing constantly, so as the counsellor delivering these services, it’s extremely important that you know what you are doing in the more intimate, face-to-face environment so that you can effectively adapt to this evolving reality.
Can you train to be a counsellor part-time?
A well-designed program will allow for flexible learning where possible, while also providing for those elements of the learning that must be delivered in person and face-to-face. It’s also vital to note that PACFA, a leading organisation that accredits counsellors in Australia, demands that students have received an amount of in-person, face to face teaching and experience before they can be given accreditation. But the course must also be adaptable to your own changing needs and requirements. Therefore, yes, you can train part time if you need to. A good quality institution will have easy, logical and well explained pathways for you to engage either part time or full time study and allow you to change your level of commitment as you need.
Can I become a therapist without a degree?
Think of it like this. A pilot knows about the physics of flight. But they don’t actually think about it deeply when landing your plane, they just know it and can do it.
To study only by distance may leave you with an enormous gap in your understanding of people, even if you only ever talk to them on the phone. Online learning can certainly be a valuable component of your learning, but counselling is a people-focussed discipline. Learning to learn and interact in person is a powerful and extremely satisfying component of becoming a professional counsellor.
But what if you don’t already have a degree? While the professional counsellor will need to finish a postgraduate masters degree to achieve the necessary accreditation to practise credibly, a professional course will also offer an undergraduate entry for those who have yet to begin the journey to becoming a qualified, professional counsellor.
