Entry Requirements

These posts are full time, salaried NHS recruit to train positions, successful candidates will work within one of the identified eligible IAPT services, alongside joining the Metanoia training programme.  To apply for this exciting new opportunity, please complete the PCE-CfD NHS Psychotherapeutic Counselling programme application process by clicking on the Apply button on the main page.

As part of this application, you will be asked to identify which IAPT service (from the list provided) you are wishing to apply to join and, once academically shortlisted for the course, applications will be forwarded to the relevant IAPT service who will contact successful applicants to arrange an interview.

As these are training positions, applicants will need to be aware that they must remain employed in the Recruit to Train funded post (once appointed) to keep their  place on the course, and vice-versa.

If you are ineligible for the course, you will be unable to be offered the role. If you withdraw from an employment offer but have accepted a course offer, you will be unable to join the course.

 

The following academic entry requirements for candidates are in place:

1. All candidates entering the programme should hold evidence of academic credit or equivalence allowing entry to the Level 7 programme. A degree at 2:2 or above in any relevant subject, or equivalent, should be considered the minimum requirement for entry. Candidates without a degree at 2:2 or above may be able to secure a place by demonstrating competency via a portfolio of evidence, which meets specified academic equivalence requirements.
2. All candidates should have completed a Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills, which ordinarily involves a minimum of 10 days or 60 hours of face-to-face tuition at level 2 or level 3. Online asynchronous courses are not acceptable. Please note: L2 Award, Helping Skills and Introductory courses are not accepted.
3. Candidates should show proficiency in reading, writing and spoken English of a standard necessary to support academic study and professional practice at Level 7 - IELTS 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each element.
4. Metanoia Institute will apply contextual recruitment to support the equivalence framework to widen participation.

 

Potential trainees will be assessed for the following attributes or the potential for developing them:

• Warmth, kindness, compassion, empathy

• Authenticity, self-awareness, maturity and stability

• Ability to listen, be present and attentive

• Ability to come alongside people experiencing emotional and psychological distress

• Capacity for reflexivity

• Ability to be vulnerable and make use of and reflect upon own life experience

• Capacity to cope with the emotional demands of the course

• Ability to cope with the intellectual and academic requirement

• Ability to be self-critical and use both positive and negative feedback

• Awareness of and ability to explore issues of difference and equality and the nature of prejudice and oppression

• Ability to recognise the need for personal and professional support and self-care

This is an NHS-funded psychological professions training programme.

During their training, trainees are employed by an IAPT service and will be expected to carry out an average of two to three days per week of clinical practice in IAPT services alongside their Metanoia Institute training, once signed off by the Institute as ready to begin practice.

The first term of year one of the course will begin with a block of  in person attendance at Metanoia Institute in London  followed by online live training  3-4 days per week in order to support the development of sufficient competence in counselling skills to be signed off to begin clinical practice back at the IAPT host service.  

During the Foundation level training (first year), following sign off as meeting a Foundation standard of competence in simulation, trainees will work with people with mild to moderate depression in their IAPT host service.

Throughout the training programme, trainees must undertake a minimum of 90 minutes of training supervision to every six hours of client work (or the equivalent for group supervision). Supervision must be provided by training providers weekly and may be provided individually or in small groups of up to 3 trainees. The minimum supervision that trainees should receive is 90 minutes per week of training supervision, even if they have completed less than six hours of client work in the week.

Each trainee’s IAPT service will be responsible for providing PCE-CfD supervision on site, including oversight of case management, clinical governance and management supervision in line with the supervision requirements of the IAPT Manual.

Metanoia Institute will liaise with each IAPT service to monitor the supervision that trainees receive and the PCE-CfD training and experience of their supervisors in the IAPT services where they are placed.

On qualification, trainees will be required to meet the requirements for individual PCE-CfD registration as set out in the IAPT Manual.

Trainees will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of personal therapy over the three years, commencing in Year 1 prior to starting work with service users. Therapy undertaken prior to the commencement of training may not be counted towards this requirement. Personal therapy must be in the theoretical orientation of the training