Counseling for Trainee/Student Counselors
Therapy for Trainee Counsellors and Students in South West England
Personal Therapy for Trainees and Helping Professionals in the UK
Are you currently training or working in the helping professions and looking for personal therapy?
Whether you’re a student counsellor, trainee psychotherapist, or an established helping professional, engaging in personal therapy can be an essential and transformative part of your personal and professional development.
If you’re on a course that requires personal therapy, this experiential journey can offer deep self-awareness and reflection. Even beyond course requirements, therapy provides a vital space to process your experiences, enhance your capacity to support others, and care for your own wellbeing.
Many students find counselling invaluable when navigating the emotional intensity of training, managing caregiver responsibilities, or facing challenges like imposter syndrome, personal doubt, or unresolved past experiences. A safe therapeutic space can help you explore who you are as a practitioner—and as a person.
What Are the Advantages of Having Your Own Personal Therapy?
Engaging in personal therapy can be one of the most valuable steps you take as a trainee or practicing counsellor. It deepens self-awareness, enhances emotional insight, and improves your ability to relate meaningfully with clients, colleagues, and those in your personal life.
Research dating back to the 1990s shows that many psychologists and therapists find personal therapy beneficial, not only for managing their own emotional wellbeing but also for supporting professional growth.
A skilled therapist recognises their own blind spots—often rooted in past emotional experiences or unconscious patterns. By identifying these through approaches such as Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT), practitioners can better understand recurring interpersonal dynamics and break unhelpful patterns.
Why Personal Therapy Matters in Counsellor Training
Choosing to become a counsellor or psychotherapist is a profound commitment—one that includes ongoing personal development and regular clinical supervision. Most UK training institutions, including universities and professional bodies, require students to undertake personal therapy as part of their qualification process.
Since qualifying, I’ve had the privilege of providing personal therapy to counselling students across Somerset and the South West of England. I’ve seen first-hand how essential this process is to their growth.
Personal therapy offers a safe space to reflect on your past, explore emotional triggers, and develop healthier ways of relating. Whether you’re a student just starting your journey or an experienced therapist seeking to enhance your practice, therapy provides crucial insight into the ways your history shapes your present interactions—both personally and professionally.
Those in helping professions, including customer-facing roles, also benefit from the increased self-awareness and emotional resilience that therapy brings.
A Foundation for Growth and Practice
For counselling trainees in the UK, completing around 40 hours of personal therapy with a professional, BACP-registered therapist is often a core training requirement. This isn’t just a box-ticking exercise—it’s a deeply transformative process that enables you to better understand yourself and, in turn, serve your clients more effectively.
Having recently completed my own training as a counsellor, I fully appreciate the challenges and emotional demands of this journey. I believe in the profound value of personal therapy for trainee and student counsellors. It is not just beneficial—it is foundational.
Does a Counselling and Therapy Course Require You to Have Personal Therapy?
In the UK, most counselling and psychotherapy training programmes strongly encourage or require students to engage in personal therapy. This is considered a vital part of both professional development and personal growth.
How I Support Trainee Counsellors
As a therapist experienced in working with students in training, I offer a supportive space to help you navigate the emotional and practical demands of your course:
Emotional support during challenging stages of your training, such as practising counselling skills under observation.
A safe, non-judgemental space to explore the unique pressures of being a student therapist or counsellor.
Support with the transition from trainee to qualified practitioner.
A grounding and nurturing space amidst the intensity of training.
Dedicated time for self-reflection and personal development.
Help in identifying and working through unresolved issues that may create blind spots in your practice.
A focus on building self-awareness, confidence, and trust in your emerging therapeutic style.
Opportunities for experiential learning—such as recognising and working with transference in real time.
Encouragement and insight to help you grow into the therapist you are becoming.
You’ll find helpful links and further information about Therapy for Trainee Counsellors and Students in South West England website below.
– What to expect from counselling: a comprehensive guide
– Expert chat: Insights on what to anticipate in counselling
– Your first counselling session.
- Enables growth and self-awareness to take place
- Gives you the opportunity to find any blind spots you may have
- Offers you the opportunity to explore any unresolved issues from your past
- Enables you to recognise and separate your own personal issues from those of your clients when they manifest themselves in the therapeutic relationship
- Ensures that you will be able to stay more present and focused with your clients
- Gives you an opportunity to explore how your theoretical training relates to/impacts you
- Offers you a supportive space during your course
- Enables growth and self-awareness to take place
- Gives you the opportunity to find any blind spots you may have
- Offers you the opportunity to explore any unresolved issues from your past
- Enables you to recognise and separate your own personal issues from those of your clients when they manifest themselves in the therapeutic relationship
- Ensures that you will be able to stay more present and focused with your clients
- Gives you an opportunity to explore how your theoretical training relates to/impacts you
- Offers you a supportive space during your course
- I am a Registered Member MBACP
- I have worked with Trainee/Student Counsellors before
- I provide a Confidential, Safe and Supportive Environment
I am an integrative Therapist but Person-centred work forms the core mode of how I work. I focus on the here and now with a firm belief that everyone is an individual in their own right with a capacity to change, grow and heal given the right circumstances and environment. Whilst this is the focus of my work I will be interested and curious as to your background and family of origin as your present is informed by your past, especially by your attachment style and by any unresolved issues. Our work would also look at any unconscious processes that may be taking place either within our counselling relationship which can sometimes mirror life in the outside world.
Our therapeutic relationship is the heart of the therapy and my aim is to offer you a safe and supportive space for this relationship to grow and to allow you the environment to talk about any issues affecting you as well as enabling you to reflect on your own processes and explore anything that may emerge for you as a result of your training.
- Confidentiality is paramount and it is good practice to not use names if you are referring to other students on your course.
- I will not be able to read through nor assist you in the writing of your assignments.
- I understand and appreciate that for some trainee/student counsellors it is their preference to stay with one therapist throughout the course, whilst for others, they would prefer to change and experience another counsellor or a different type of modality. I am flexible and can accommodate both options.
- I appreciate that some trainee/students are happy to undertake additional sessions beyond the required number that need to be signed off and I can accommodate this.
- I take very seriously the importance of personal therapy for students wishing to become counsellors. It doesn’t help to come to counselling as an exercise in ticking boxes in order to meet the course requirements. It is best to fully engage with processes.
I have daytime and evening appointments available in Taunton. Book an appointment now.