Hi i am a mobile therapist, i do reflexology and indian head massage, and when doing the treatments the clients tell you anything. And i was thinking maybe doing a couselling course might help me deal better with certain things. But i don't know wat course to do or where to start, can anyone help me??
any advise would be great.
thanks
What a good idea
Hi,there froggy (what a great name!). I am a student of therapies at the mo and am hoping to do further training so that i can set up as a therapist too. I just qualified in indian head and am working towards reiki two and three. I find that we are all in this area of work because on some level we want to help people. Bodywork can be very effective in breaking through barriers and in helping to shift trapped energies and tensions as you know, so it is liitle surprise that people feel that they are comfortable enough to off load their baggage sometimes. Therapies provide a space for healing and for the client to assess certain things in their life, just go with it, i am sure you are doing a fantastic job already but you can look into doing a basic counselling concepts course or a taster course to see if you want to go ahead before committing to spending lots of money.
i know that when i enquired at my local adult education centre there were three types of course, a taster, a basic that lasted for ten weeks and a diploma that lasted eight months (all evenings). This will probably differ in your area, but you should try to google local training centres and see what is available. Most courses start in september though unless you go private and pay the big bucks;)
Hiya Froggy
I know just how you feel. I to used to do Indian Head Massage, Reiki, Reflexology etc and the clients, really do open up to you don't they. Sometimes, you just don't know how to respond, so I took an Interpersonal Skills course and a counselling level 2 course to help. I found after doing the interpersonal skills course, that I didn't want to be an Holistic therapist any more and decided to become a counsellor instead, but so far through doing the level 3 counselling course, I changed my mind again and decided to be come a Healthcare Assistant with the view to becoming a nurse later on.
Anyhow....try your local college for the Counselling courses, but most of them will be already underway, you could try Direct Home learning
I am doing a HCA Diploma course with them and some of the subjects I have to cover is counselling and it is quite in depth (Am so glad I have already done this at college lol).
At least this way, you can study from home as and when you want and then practice your techniques out on your clients.
Angel x
Hi Froggy!
A basic counselling skills course is effective for anybody working with the public ~ in fact for anybody at all! The basic (Concepts) course teaches basic Active Listening Skills ~ those skills that we all think we already have...
The next level takes it all a little deeper ~ using skills to help both you, as the therapist, and the client to understand more fully etc.
Counselling skills are the tools that allow the counselling process to take place. They don't make a counsellor!
All therapists need to be active listeners and to be aware of any legalities that may arise via client disclosures. For example, there are four areas where client confidentiality has to be broken ~ Terrorism Act; Children and Vulnerable Adults Act; Drug Trafficking Act and (believe it or not) The Road Traffic Act.
There are also all the areas linked to Notifiable Diseases...
Personally, I think a basic counselling skills course should be obligatory in all areas of therapy and teaching. You would not believe the amount of qualified teachers in both schools and colleges who just don't know how to listen!!
Hi Froggy!
A basic counselling skills course is effective for anybody working with the public ~ in fact for anybody at all! The basic (Concepts) course teaches basic Active Listening Skills ~ those skills that we all think we already have...
The next level takes it all a little deeper ~ using skills to help both you, as the therapist, and the client to understand more fully etc.
Counselling skills are the tools that allow the counselling process to take place. They don't make a counsellor!
All therapists need to be active listeners and to be aware of any legalities that may arise via client disclosures. For example, there are four areas where client confidentiality has to be broken ~ Terrorism Act; Children and Vulnerable Adults Act; Drug Trafficking Act and (believe it or not) The Road Traffic Act.
There are also all the areas linked to Notifiable Diseases...
Personally, I think a basic counselling skills course should be obligatory in all areas of therapy and teaching. You would not believe the amount of qualified teachers in both schools and colleges who just don't know how to listen!!
I have to agree with garthur we have a module called Counselling/Listening Skills within all of our therapy courses.
:hug: Hello Froggy,
Your best way of finding out if you are made out to become a counsellor is to sign yourself onto a basic counselling course,your local college will be abl to give you details of where and when they are held, the basic course lasts for 10 weeks normally,
payments very from where you are,to become a counsellor you have to have certain criterea that you follow one being confidentiality, empathy trust and boundries,
look into it and see what you think.
take care
Just to put the record straight! A Concepts course will not enable you to counsel. It will give you a very basic knowledge of listening skills. A knowledge of counselling skills is very different from practising counselling. However, counselling skills (i.e. active listening) are very important to anyone dealing with others.
From 2010 it will take about 5 years to qualify as a practising counsellor.