LEVEL 4
DIPLOMA IN THERAPEUTIC COUNSELLING

By the course's conclusion, our objectives are for you to:

• Develop advanced counselling skills

• Understand and apply counselling theories

• Work in a professional agency context

• Be able to build therapeutic relationships

• Develop self-awareness and apply this to professional practice

• Put into practice working ethically and professionally as a counsellor

• Provide therapeutic counselling in a supervised placement (including how to work with clients aged 13-18 years)

• Prepare for employment and/or further training

Course Length: 420 Guided learning hours

Total Qualification Time: 1204 hours

Minimum Age: 20 years

Course Cost (Academic year 2026-27): See Payment Options

Attendance Requirements: 90% (equates to missing just 21 hours for each year of the course). Please consider this when applying for the course as a fitness to study and fitness to practice process will be triggered should the minimum attendance be reached and your place on the course could be compromised without refund. Missing a Saturday or Sunday session equates to missing 8.5 hours).

Personal Therapy

You are required to undertake 40 hours (a minimum of 20 hours per year of the course that should be at least fortnightly) of personal therapy with a qualified counsellor who must be a PSA registered member of a counselling professional membership body. You can find your own counsellor but can seek advice and guidance from your tutors if you are unsure who to choose.

Placement

You will undertake a supervised placement within an agency that has an established counselling service. You must gain a minimum of 100 placement hours to pass this part of the course. You are required to find your own placement, however NCCS has some links to different agencies across Northamptonshire (and a few outside of the County) and we will be able to provide information about these. You will also have regular placement workshops within the course to receive support in finding a suitable placement. Services in Northamptonshire include: Northamptonshire Mind, Teamwork, Service Six and The Lowdown. If you wish to work for an agency that we don't have current links with, we are more than happy to consider this but the agency must go through the NCCS approval process first.

To Note - Should you wish to work with young people (ages 13-17) in your placement, you won't be able to begin your placement until you have completed the Young People module within the course at the end of Year 1.

One weekend a month (Consecutive Saturday and Sunday) x 20 whole weekends and two x single session Saturday sessions – In-Person (Classroom) - this will be in Northamptonshire but location to be confirmed

Wednesday Evenings - Online (Zoom) - September to April each year of the course

Wednesday evening - 6-8pm

Weekends - 9am - 5pm

In person sessions will be in Northamptonshire - location to be confirmed

Online (Zoom)

Year 1

Term 1 - 19th September - 16th December 2026 (Half Term - 26-30 October)

Weekends - 19/20September, 17/18 October, 14/15 November and 12/13 December

Term 2 - 6th January - 24th March 2027 (Half Term - 15-19 February)

Weekends - 16/17 January, 13/14 February and 13/14 March

Term 3 - 14th April - 26th June 2027 (Last Wednesday session - 28.04.27)

Weekends - 17/18 April, 15/16 May, 12/13 June and 26th June (Saturday only)

Year 2

Term 1 - 18th September - 15th December 2027 (Half Term - 25-29 October)

Weekends - 18/19 September, 16/17 October, 13/14 November and 11/12 December

Term 2 - 5th January - 29th March 2028 (Half Term - 15-19 February 2028)

Weekends - 15/16 January, 12/13 February and 11/12 March

Term 3 - 19th April - 1st July 2028 (Last Wednesday session - 26th April 2028)

Weekends - 22/23 April, 20/21 May, 17/18 June and 1st July (Saturday only)

• To be 20 years old or over

• Hold a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills and Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies or equivalent of at least 180 guided learning hours. Courses must have been taught live by a tutor, distance learning courses DO NOT meet the eligibility requirements. Proof of this will be required prior to interview

• To have a good track recording of attendance and meeting deadlines throughout your L2 and L3 training (evaluated through previous tutor references if transferring from a different training centre)

• Level 2 or equivalent in English Language – or ability to demonstrate this

• Good IT skills – availability of Microsoft Office on your laptop so that you can complete and submit work, ability to use Word, fill in proforma templates electronically, attach documents to emails and send, use an online classroom platform

• An ability to identify reasons for training beyond just personal development

• Provide academic and professional references

• Academically and emotionally able to cope with this level of training

• Ability to work with difference and diversity

• Possess personal qualities of resilience, imagination, intuition, openness, and ability to benefit from self-development

• Ability to form a therapeutic relationship

• Self-awareness, insight, honesty, and the ability to make links

• Ability to challenge and be challenged

• Ability to respond sensitively and empathically to others

• Capability (psychologically and time available) to commit to working with clients within an agency setting

• Are intending (and actively seeking) to secure a counselling placement by the end of year 1 of the programme

• Emotional stability and the absence of personality disturbance. Applicants who are experiencing current emotional or psychological problems will not be accepted onto the course. If you have experienced anything in the past this will be asked about at interview and you will be expected to have sufficiently worked through this

• Applicants who are experiencing current significant life circumstances or expecting significant life circumstances may not be accepted onto the course

• It is important that you have carefully considered all the eligibility requirements before applying for the diploma course. You need to have enough emotional energy and time available to be able to successfully apply yourself to all aspects of the training. A discussion with your current course tutor or personal therapist may help you with this consideration.

• Professional practice: professional boundaries and skills, working ethically and safely, understanding the law, working with suicide risk, organisational policies, and procedures, undertaking assessments and referrals, understanding ethical frameworks and application to practice by exploring ethical dilemmas, utilising supervision effectively, clinical wills and note-taking.

• Mental Health: exploration of the medical and non-medical models of common mental health issues, including medication and referrals to specialist services.

• Counselling Theory: A firm grounding in person-centred theory and its application to practice. Other theories will be touched upon as a starting point for further CPD after the diploma course.

• Working with Difference: Exploration of the implications of working with difference in counselling practice and ‘getting comfortable with being uncomfortable’.

• Self-Awareness: Opportunities to explore your early experiences and the impact of these on patterns of relating and/or behaviour. Sometimes this may involve creative activities.

• Group Process: At regular intervals, you will spend an hour in group process which will provide opportunity for exploring your inter-relational dynamics and your own process.

• Reflective Practice Groups: This is like group supervision and provides an opportunity to explore your development as a counsellor, linking theory to practice as well as discussions about what might come next after the diploma has ended.

• Additional Topics: Talking about sexual intimacy in the therapy room, attachment theory, time-limited counselling, and pre-trial therapy.

• Counselling Young People Module - Towards the end of Year 1 of the diploma course at NCCS, students will also complete a 10-week module related to working with children and young people. This course is mapped across to Stage 1 of the “BACP Counselling Children and Young People Training Curriculum”. This module will provide students with the basic skills and competencies to begin working with children and/or young people. This will also provide students with a starting point should they wish to continue working towards a qualification in counselling children and/or young people once they have completed the Level 4 diploma at NCCS. Should you wish to complete a placement counselling young people, you won't be able to begin this until you have completed the assessment this module.

1. Learning Outcome 1 – Working ethically, safely and professionally as a counsellor

2. Learning Outcome 2 – Working within the counselling relationship

3. Learning Outcome 3 – Working with client diversity in counselling work

4. Learning Outcome 4 – Working within a user-centred approach to counselling

5. Learning Outcome 5 – Using counselling theory to understand own self

6. Learning Outcome 6 – Using self-awareness to enhance counselling work

7. Learning Outcome 7 – Working self reflectively as a counsellor

Fees (September 2026 Start)

Fees include £750 CPCAB fee (this is based on fees for academic year 2025-26 and will incrementally increase for academic year 2026-27 and 2027-28 - this means that course fees will slightly increase each academic year to what is outlined below - we are currently waiting publication of the exact fee)

Please see course brochure for payment options

• Personal Development - These types of session aim to develop personal self-awareness and facilitate your personal enquiry into your own personal history and personal relationships;

• Theory - These sessions examine topics relating to counselling skills and from a person-centered approach

• Skills Practice - Skills practice sessions involve you practicing your counselling skills on each other in groups of 3 or 4

• Supervision groups - these will be in addition to placement supervision sessions

• Ethical dilemma discussions and other practical counselling skills

• Group Discussions

• Guest speakers

You will also be required to undertake 30 hours of personal therapy and complete a minimum of 100 hours of supervised practice in a counselling placement. Students are required to find their own placement (NCCS will provide ideas and support for this but it is ultimately the student's responsibility). Placement must be started or arranged to begin by the end of Year 1 of the course.

You will produce a written e-portfolio of work, which documents evidence of your learning, a record of your personal development and a collection of evidence to support CPCAB criteria outlined in the Candidate Learning Record (CLR). Success on the course is dependent upon the completion of this portfolio.

All seven learning processes are individually assessed throughout the course using the following methods:-​

• Reflective Learning journals

• Tutor and peer feedback

• Self-assessment

• Written Assignments

• Case Presentations – including written process report

• Research Projects

• Presentations

• Group Discussions and group work

• Group Supervision

• Placement and Placement Supervision Report

• Self-Review

This course requires a lot of additional study time between sessions. It is difficult to quantify this for Level 4 as this will vary from student to student and also will vary dependent upon other factors such as when an assignment is due to be submitted. It is important that the course is considered in relation to other areas of your life in order that you can give the course your time and commitment to give you the best opportunity to complete it. Please consider how it will fit into your current employment, family life, health issues etc.

While undertaking a Level 4 diploma course at NCCS, you will be eligible for student membership of the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) and British Association for Counsellors and Psychotherapists (NCPS). Once you have completed your course and gained your diploma certification, this will enable you to apply for full membership of these organisations or others.

If you join NCPS or BACP, this will also include being placed on the Professional Standards Authority "Register for Counsellors and Psychotherapists".

For the BACP, you will be required to sit a Certificate of Proficiency (a computer-based test) before being approved for the Register. NCPS don't require you to sit a test and will look at the counselling qualifications you have gained as proof of competency. As the Level 4 4 diploma at NCCS is accredited by NCPS, students will have direct access to NCPS membership (known as 'accredited registrant') and the PSA Register.

From here, if you wish, you can work towards "accredited" status with BACP or "Accredited Professional Registrant" with NCPS (there are also other membership bodies - some of which aren't recognised by the Professional Standards Authority).

To become accredited, you will need to:

• Have been in practice for three years (this includes your Level 4 counselling placement)

• Have undergone 450 hours of counselling training with a substantial amount of this being at Diploma Level. For examples Level 3 plus Level 4 is 510 hours. need

• Be a registered member of the organisation you are hoping to gain accreditation with

• Being in supervised practice for at least 15. hours a month

The Level 4 diploma is a stand-alone course, but progression is available, should you choose to, on to the CPCAB Level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling or Cognitive Behavioural Therapeutic Skills and Theory or the Level 5 Diploma in Working with Children and Young People.

Mandatory Texts

Bond, T. (2015) Standards and Ethics for Counselling in Action. SAGE Budd, K. et al (2020) A Student’s Guide to Therapeutic Counselling. SAGE Kirkbride, R. (2018) Counselling young people. A practitioner manual SAGE Watson, J. (2019) Drop the Disorder. PCCS

Other Suggested Reading

BACP have a range of books on: record keeping, confidentiality, ethics and the law Bolton, G. (2010) Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development. Sage Bor, R. and Watts, M. (2001) The Trainee Handbook: A guide for Counselling and psychotherapy Trainees 3rd. Edition. SAGE Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and Loss Trilogy: Attachment (Volume 1) Bowlby, J. (1972) Attachment and Loss Trilogy: Separation (Volume 2) Bowlby, J. (1980) Attachment and Loss Trilogy: Loss (Volume 3) Brown, R. (2007) Understanding Boundaries and Containment in Clinical Practice. Karnac Books Bryant-Jefferies, R. (2004) Counselling Young People Person-Centred Dialogues. Radcliffe Medical Press Churchill, S. (2010) The Troubled Mind: A Handbook of Therapeutic Approaches to Psychological Distress Cooper, M. (2003) Existential Therapies. SAGE

Cooper M. (2008) Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy. SAGE Danguah, A. (2013) Attachment Theory in Adult Mental Health. Routledge Davies D. et al (1996) Pink Therapy. Open University Press· Geldard, K. and Geldard, D. (2008) Counselling Adolescents Sage Holmes, J. (2004) The search for the secure base. Routledge Hopper, L. (2007) Counselling and Psychotherapy with children and adolescents. Palgrave Macmillan Howe, D. (2011) Attachment across a life course. Palgrave McMillan Joseph, S. et al (2017) The Handbook of Person-Centred Therapy and Mental Health: Theory, Research and Practice. PCCS Kahn, M. (1997) Between Therapist and Client. St. Martin’s Press

Mearns, D. et al (2017) Working at relational depth in counselling and psychotherapy. SAGE Publications

Mearns, D. et al (2013) Person-centred counselling in Action (4th Edition). SAGE Mearns, D. et al (2000) Person-centred Therapy Today SAGE Nelson-Jones, R. (2014) Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy. 5th Edition. SAGE Pearce, C, (2009) A short introduction to attachment and attachment disorder Jessica Kingsley Reeves, A,, (2013) Challenges in Counselling: self-harm. Hodder Education Robinson, M. and Pattison, S. 2nd Ed (2018) The Handbook of Counselling Children and Young People. SAGE

Rogers, C. (2004) On becoming a person. Constable Rogers, C. (1995) Way of Being. Houghton

Sanders, P. (2012) Tribes of the Person-Centred Nation 2nd Edition, PCCS Sills, C. (2006) Contracts in Counselling and Psychotherapy. 2nd Edition. Sage UK Tolan, J. et al (2011) Client Issues in Counselling and Psychotherapy. SAGE Treishman, K. (2017) A Therapeutic Treasure Box for working with children and adolescents with developmental trauma. Jessica Kingsley

Tudor, K. et al (2006) Dictionary of Person-Centred Psychology. PCCS Van Deurzen, E. (2012) Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy in Practice. SAGE Voskett, V. (1999) The Therapeutic use of self. Routledge Wright, J. et al (2018) Reflective Writing in Counselling and Psychotherapy, 2nd edition. SAGE

You will need to bring paper and a pen to lessons. To keep costs of the course down, most resources, such as handouts will be sent electronically. Students are therefore welcome to bring tablets or laptops to sessions for course purposes only (you will be required to produce some printed material).