OPT - Online and Phone Therapy Training

The BSc Humanistic Counselling course also includes training around how to work with clients remotely via platforms such as Zoom and the use of the telephone. The OPT (online and phone) training ensures that trainees learn how to work remotely in a safe and ethical manner in line with the BACP OPT Competence Framework.

 

Course OPT Delivery

Six full training days on this course are delivered remotely via Zoom. Further elements of the OPT curriculum for this course are threaded through other training days and form part of course assessments. Each academic year two OPT training days are delivered on line via Zoom and students are expected, if they have a quiet and confidential space to work in and access to a computer, to work from home on these days.

If students do not have a private room to work from at home, good internet access or a computer then they are provided with a private room at the Institute and laptop computer to ensure they can fully participant in these training days.

 

BACP OPT Accreditation

Please note that the BSc Humanistic Counselling course is an accredited training programme. The course is also currently seeking accreditation from BACP for OPT training element of the course. We hope to hear if we have secured this accreditation by autumn 2023.

 

OPT Placement Hours

All students must be in a placement to work remotely. On this course students are not allowed to work privately with clients either remotely or in room.

Metanoia requires placements requiring students to carry out remote counselling to meet Metanoia Institute’s working remotely placement guidelines. These guidelines stipulate that a student offering remote therapy to clients must have good internet connection, technical ability to work online and a private space to either work from home, or at their placement. The Placement Team will ensure that any OPT placement, or placement requiring students to carry out any  OPT work, meet Metanoia Institute’s working remotely placement guidelines around safe and ethical remote working prior to any students being given permission to work remotely.

Student are assessed for their competence to work remotely in Year 2 of the training. No student is able to commence working remotely until they have passed their OPT assessment during BSc Year 2.

 

Personal counselling

All students are required to undertake 120 hours of personal counselling across the three years of the BSc degree. This needs to be a minimum of 40 face-to-face sessions per academic year. All personal counselling needs to be with a suitably qualified BACP or UKCP registered humanistic counsellor or psychotherapist. A third of these hours (40 hours) can be accrued online with your personal therapist but 80 hours are required to be in room. Please note that the cost for personal counselling or psychotherapy is not included in the course fees and needs to be funded separately by the student.

 

Supervised client hours

Students can only commence working with clients remotely once they have successfully passed their OPT skills assessment during year two of the training and with the permission of their primary tutor.   All client work undertaken must be with adults aged 18 years and over.

By the completion of training the student will have undertaken a minimum of 150 hours of client work supervised by the primary supervisor (or placement supervisors providing they have a Humanistic orientation). A minimum of 50 of these clinical hours can be delivered remotely. The other 100 hours need to be delivered in room with clients.

 

Supervision

Regular supervision is an integral part of the humanistic counselling training. All Metanoia students need to arrange supervision with a Metanoia-approved Humanistic primary supervisor, in consultation with their primary course tutor. At the point of examination, students need to have accrued a minimum of 35 hours of supervision. A third of supervision hours on this course can be accrued remotely with supervisors.

Please note that the cost for supervision is not included in the course fees and needs to be funded separately by the student. Sometimes the placement where the student gains their client hours provides free supervision.