In episode 139 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, Ken Kelly and Rory Lees-Oakes point out the many benefits of doing a counselling placement, beyond the obvious purpose of building your 100 hours’ experience. ‘Check-In with CPCAB’ then covers working with a client long-term, and how this differs from the experience of providing short-term therapy. Finally, in ‘Practice Matters’, the presenters discuss child bereavement and how to prepare for counselling a grieving child ethically.
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Rory and Ken list the many potential gains from making maximum use of your training placement in a counselling agency. These may include:
Rory has written a handout on getting the most out of your counselling placement; this is available here, or through the Handouts Vault and Counselling Study Resource (CSR).
On-demand access to a rich lecture library covering theory, skills, and professional development for counselling students—Mapped to the UK awarding body criteria
“The Student Library has been BRILLIANT, I can’t recommend it enough!
It has been a lifeline in helping me prepare for practice and my first clients. If you’re considering it, go-for-it, it’s absolutely worth it!”
Kelly – Graduated and now in practice.
Some counselling agencies limit the number of sessions per client to six to 12; this way of working is very different from places where counselling can be long-term and even open-ended.
Rory talks to Ray van der Poel (Head of Business and Development) at CPCAB (Counselling & Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body) about the difference between short-term and long-term counselling, and what each asks of the therapist.
Ray describes an experience during his own counselling placement in which he built relational depth with a client, noting that he really noticed this depth after 18 sessions.
Long-term working – whilst being an immensely fulfilling experience for the long-term therapist – also brings its own potential hazards and challenges, for example in setting and holding appropriate boundaries and in monitoring self-disclosure in the counselling room.
Rory and Ray note the vital nature of clinical supervision in navigating this ethically and professionally.
Do listen out for a future discussion on the challenges of ending with a long-term client. In the meantime, you can find more information about CPCAB on its website. CPCAB is the UK’s only awarding body run by counsellors for counsellors.
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Evidence suggests that even babies and very young children experience grief following the death of a parent or sibling.
Working with bereaved children is a specialist area that Rory and Ken suggest needs additional CPD above your counselling practitioner qualification.
In particular, it is vital when counselling a grieving child to understand the stages of child development, as these relate closely to how children of different ages process their grief – for example the use of magical thinking by younger children.
Rory also emphasizes the importance of using ‘clean’ language, by which he means tailoring your vocabulary and ways of speaking about grief to the age and developmental stage of the child in order to ensure that they can easily understand what you mean.
When counselling a grieving child, it’s important too to look out for transference and countertransference.
For example, as a counsellor, you may feel drawn to work in this field through your own experience of child bereavement.
If so, it’s vital that you have processed your own grief as fully as possible, so that you are not drawn to over-identification with the client, possibly being unable to see this due to your own unprocessed grief.
In the brand-new section of the CSR – Practice Partner, especially designed for qualified counsellors – you’ll find a lecture on counselling bereaved children by Rory, who has himself completed specialist modules in this area.
Making the Most of Your Placement
*Check in with CPCAB is proudly sponsored by CPCAB, the only awarding body run by counsellors for counsellors. To learn more about CPCAB qualifications and to get more detailed information on today’s podcast topic, visit CPCAB.co.uk.