Course details

Structure

We offer our Introduction course (Level 2 Award):

• one day a week for eight or
• one evening a week for 16 weeks.

To receive certification for the course, you must attend all sessions, complete all coursework, and meet all criteria. 

Weekly training sessions

This course involves attending weekly training sessions at your chosen venue in London or Manchester. Sessions include counselling theory, group discussion, experiential exercises, skills role play, a check-in, and a closing circle.

Independent study time 

Throughout this course, you will be expected to study independently outside of your training sessions. The amount of independent study you complete will be unique to you. Ideally, we would like you to complete 2–6 hours of independent study time each week. Independent study will give you time to:

• work on your coursework
• complete any reading relevant to the course
• continue your personal development journey. 

Assessed coursework

During the course, you will be required to submit coursework on our e-learning platform, Moodle. Our tutors will assess your written coursework against criteria agreed with the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB). Assessed coursework includes reflective assignments, reading groups, skills practice, tutor observation and a final essay. 

Tutorials

Tutorials will be conducted both halfway through and at the end of the course. During tutorials, you will have the opportunity to discuss your coursework and personal development with a tutor one-on-one.

Certification 

Your certification will follow the completion of all coursework, meeting all criteria and having attended all classroom workshops and tutorials. Once we complete our quality assurance, you’ll receive an accredited Level 2 Award certificate from CPCAB.

Training venues

We run our Introduction to Child Counselling Skills (Level 2 Award) course at:

• London: Place2Be, 175 St John Street, London, EC1V 4LW
• Manchester: We will confirm details of our Central Manchester venue in May 2024..

Accreditation

Our Introduction to Child Counselling Skills (Level 2 Award) is accredited by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB). The course includes 43 Guided Learning Hours.

Entry requirements

Essential

To be eligible to book a place on our Introduction to Child Counselling Skills (Level 2 Award), you must:

• have completed our Taster Day in the past 18 months at the time of booking
• be willing to be playful and creative 
• be passionate and motivated about helping to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
• be able to attend all sessions unless there are exceptional circumstances
• have basic IT literacy skills, confidence in using word processing software and the ability to navigate our e-learning platform
• the ability to speak and write English to GCSE level
• have sufficient internet access to use our e-learning platform.

Desirable

Being a counsellor involves a lifelong journey of personal development and self-discovery. That's why we suggest you receive counselling yourself while starting your training journey. You must have completed at least six counselling or psychotherapy sessions to progress onto our Intermediate Child Counselling Skills (Level 3 Certificate).

Course fee

London courses: £1,100 
Manchester courses: £750

At the time of booking, you will need to choose one of the below payment plans. 

1. Full course fee.
2. Two equal payments, one month apart. The first payment is made at the time of booking. 

Sponsorship for your course fee

If your course fees are being paid by a sponsor organisation (e.g., your employer, a government department, a charity etc.) or you have an organisational grant, please contact our team by filling out an enquiry form before you book. We’ll be in touch with a link to our sponsorship form. This is so we can contact your sponsor and confirm the arrangement.

How to book

Before you book onto our Introduction to Child Counselling Skills (Level 2 Award) course, please make sure you:

• can travel to your chosen location, can attend all of the course dates
• have read our counselling qualifications terms and conditions.

To book, please head to the bottom of this page and select a location and course dates that work for you. You'll then be taken to our booking form, where we'll ask for:

• your previous counselling training
• any relevant employment or voluntary experience
• your payment information.

Once you submit your booking, we'll send you a confirmation email with important information about the next steps.

The date you choose to book via our website will be the date when your course starts. Please make sure you book a course you can attend. We can only offer transfers and cancellations in certain circumstances, which are set out in our counselling qualifications terms and conditions.

Get notified when new course dates go live

If your preferred course is full, please choose another available date. Unfortunately, we do not operate a waiting list. If all courses are full or current options aren’t suitable, please register your interest in our Level 2 Award course, and we'll let you know when new course dates are available.

Progression to other courses

After successfully passing your Introduction to Child Counselling Skills (Level 2 Award), your next step will be completing our Intermediate Child Counselling Skills (Level 3 Certificate) course. This course will build on your knowledge and understanding of theories and techniques used by mental health professionals in our partner schools.

Do you want to apply for our September intake of qualifying courses that will qualify you to practice as a child counsellor? To be eligible to apply, you will need to have completed your Level 2 Award and Level 3 Certifications by 31 March.

Please take a look at our How to become a Child Counsellor pages to learn more about your journey to becoming a child counsellor with Place2Be.

Find out more

For more information, please read our Counselling qualifications FAQs, get in touch through our enquiries form, or call us on 0207 923 5558.

Are you not quite ready to start your training but would like to receive updates about our counselling training courses and general mental health news? Sign up for our Mental Health Professionals Network newsletter to stay in the loop.