Counselling and Psychotherapy

Have a look at Prospects and HealthCareersNHS to find out what roles in this sector involve and how to get into them. These are some of the job profiles available:

• Art therapist
• Child psychotherapist
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapist
• Counsellor
• High intensity therapist
• Mental health nurse
• Play therapist
• Psychological wellbeing practitioner
• Psychotherapist

• excellent communication skills with the ability to build a rapport
• observation and listening skills
• a non-judgemental attitude
• a sensitive and empathetic approach
• resilience, patience, and tolerance
• self-awareness and a sense of humour
• a clear understanding of confidentiality, equality and diversity issues

Starting salaries for graduate jobs in this sector can vary depending on the position.

To get an idea of typical starting salaries use the following resources:

• our Discover your Earning Potential Pathway offers access to The Pay Index. This shows you how salaries vary across different roles, industries and locations
• job profiles, such as those listed on Prospects or targetjobs
• vacancy sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn

For information about how to negotiate a salary, visit Handling job offers.

• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed
• use LinkedIn’s Alumni tool to find out what Newcastle graduates are doing now. You could ask to connect with them, to gain advice and insights into their career. See Newcastle Alumni on LinkedIn to help you get started or watch our quick tutorial on Getting inspiration from others [3:13]
• attend alumni events, such as Newcastle Develop, to hear directly from our graduates
• sign up for mentoring support with Graduate Mentor and The 1 Hour Project. These aim to match students with industry professionals who can provide invaluable insights. Register to be connected for a one-hour meeting
• attend events such as recruitment events and employer and sector insights. Hear about graduate jobs, placement schemes, build your network and ask questions

Searching for reviews online can be a useful way to get an idea of what to expect from certain roles or employers. Reviews are written by employees with different opinions about what makes a good employer.

Use the following review sites for inspiration and insight into the recruitment process:

• RateMyPlacement placement year reviews written by students.
• The Job Crowd – graduate job reviews
• Glassdoor – company reviews from employees

Read career guides for this sector, such as:

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) – careers in counselling
• UK council for Psychotherapy - Psychotherapy as a career and What is Counselling and Psychotherapy?
• NHS: Psychological professions
• Prospects: Healthcare and social care

Use online magazines and journals to follow news from your field. Reading about developments is important for applications and interviews.

Examples include:

• MIND
• SANE
• Guardian Mental Health
• NHS News: Mental Health

Attend events to hear directly from professionals in the industry.

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (bacp.co.uk) host counselling and psychotherapy events. Events take place all over the UK and online and are open to members and non-members.
• The BPS also have relevant events online and in person.

See also our events such as recruitment events and employer & sector insights.

Join relevant student societies . Examples include:

• It Happens Here - support and campaign for allies and survivors against sexual violence.
• Disability, Mental Health and Neurodiversity Society - a space for students who are disabled, neurodivergent or have a long-term health condition/mental illness. Also, a learning space for students who may not fall into one of these groups, to raise awareness and provide solidarity.

Use social media to find industry insights

Join sector-specific groups on LinkedIn to keep up to date. Posts often include news, events and opportunities. You can also find useful insights on careers on X and TikTok. Treat these with caution, as not all content may be accurate.

Find out more about how to use social media for your career.

Consider joining a relevant professional body/industry network

Professional bodies often:

• run networking events
• have specialist groups you could join
• post vacancies on behalf of their members
• have member directories, useful for speculative applications

Key organisations include:

• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
• British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)
• British Psychotherapy Foundation(BPF)
• British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP)
• Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA)
• British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT)
• Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP)
• The National Counselling Society (NCS)

GoinGlobal’s country guides include details of professional bodies. Find them under ‘Professional and Personal Networking’ on each individual country guide.

Voluntary opportunities are common in the counselling sector. These can offer useful experience and help you develop relevant skills. Some basic counselling training is usually required. Some agencies train their own volunteers. Voluntary experience may also lead to further training and paid work.

Relevant opportunities can be found below:

In the North East

• Mental Health North East - volunteering opportunities with organisations across the region
• Mind: Tyneside and Northumberland - volunteering opportunities
• NUSU Volunteering - volunteering locally and UK wide
• NUSU Nightline - volunteer for NUSU's confidential, anonymous support line for students

UK Wide

• Counselling helplines such as Relate and Samaritans recruit volunteers - see the NHS directory for specialist helplines
• NHS - NHS trusts offering voluntary experience
• Do-it - volunteering opportunities

See Volunteering for more opportunities.

Part-time work can help you develop relevant skills. Care assistant roles, for example, can be useful experience for getting into counselling. To search, see Finding a part-time job.

• MyCareer - often advertises paid, part-time personal carer, care assistant and support worker vacancies
• NHS Jobs - search for part-time healthcare assistant or related jobs
• Universal Jobmatch - regularly advertises part-time care assistant and similar roles
• Community Care Jobs
• jobsgopublic- includes part-time vacancies in social care
• UK Home Care Association - search for local care associations for vacancies

Placements and internships aren’t common within this field, although you might find related opportunities where you can build relevant skills. Examples could be doing a placement or internship with a mental health charity. Experience of working with a range of clients can be helpful.

Where offered, placements and summer internships are usually aimed at undergraduate students in and above their second or penultimate year of study. Some organisations will also consider first and final year students. UK applications typically open early in the academic year from September or October. Some close as early as November-December. Many employers close applications as soon as their places are filled.

Apply for advertised opportunities as early as possible.

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for internships and placements in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts
• Internships, placements & shadowing - links to vacancy sites
• Global work experience - for internships or placements abroad

The Careers Service runs flexible term-time and summer internships with local employers and on campus. NCL internships are aimed at all students, from any stage.

Search for these under Vacancies on MyCareer. Type in ‘NCL internship’ into the text search box.

You can find these advertised throughout the academic year. Full-time summer opportunities are advertised from around March.

Access GoinGlobal for internships in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:

• additional vacancy websites
• CV, application and interview advice

advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.

If you’re looking for inspiration, try searching our NU Work Experience Directory. You can see where our students have had internships and placements in the last five years. To see all results in a search category, keep the search field blank.

Use our resources to get started:

• MyCareer - search for graduate schemes and graduate jobs in the North East, UK and overseas. Register/log in to access vacancies and sign up for personalised email alerts
• Graduate Jobs – lists graduate vacancy sites

• NHS
• Community Care Jobs
• Pulse
• Healthjobs.co.uk
• Psychminded
• Jobs.ac.uk

See International jobs for details of overseas vacancy sites.

Access GoinGlobal for job adverts in over 120 global locations, updated daily. Search for opportunities in the local language, as well as in English. You can also use their country guides to find:

• additional vacancy websites
• CV, application and interview advice
• advice on living and working in different countries and cities around the world.

Start by identifying organisations you are interested in. Our guide to finding organisations below can help. Then use the following steps to approach them speculatively about possible opportunities:

1. Identify a contact name to address your cover letter to. Call or email to find out who handles recruitment within the organisation. Or, find a key contact in the department you want to work in.
2. Send them a tailored CV and cover letter. Express your enthusiasm for the sector. Show that you have researched the company.
3. Follow up your speculative application with a phone call, or email, around a week later. This shows you are serious and motivated.
4. If your application was unsuccessful, ask for feedback or advice, and keep trying!

You can use this approach at any point in the year. We recommend that you:

• start your research as early as possible to gather relevant contacts
• contact organisations around three months before you want the opportunity to begin

• find organisations on MyCareer. Select ‘search' then 'organisations’
• use the business directories and databases on our Researching employers page
• search for companies on LinkedIn. The Find Alumni tool shows you where Newcastle graduates are currently working
• browse our Work Experience and Graduate Employment directories. See where our students and graduates have had work experience, or been employed

Use the resources below to find organisations in the North East, UK and worldwide.

• Counselling Directory Tyne and Wear

Try the following sites to find organisations to approach:

• Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP) - directory of therapists
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) - directory of therapists
• NHS authorities and trusts
• Counselling Directory
• British Psychotherapy Foundation(BPF) - directory of therapists

Search GoinGlobal’s employer directory for company information in 196 countries. Their country guides list professional bodies around the world.

You don’t need a degree to train as a counsellor, but the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) do recommend a three stage route which can take three or four years. This includes:

Stage 1: Introduction to counselling: a short course of around 8 – 12 weeks on basic counselling skills.

Stage 2: Certificate in counselling skills: provides a deeper understanding of counselling theories, ethics and self-awareness. Typically one year part-time.

Stage 3: Core practitioner training: includes teaching of knowledge based learning, therapeutic competences and research awareness, as well as a 100 hour supervised placement. One year full-time or two years' part-time.

Training courses are provided by colleges, universities and private training organisations. Carry out research to make sure they meet your career needs before you invest time and money.

Accredited courses are offered by:

• BACP
• National Counselling Society (NCS)
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) (psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling).

Find out more about training to be a counsellor.

For most roles in psychotherapy, you will need a postgraduate qualification, such as a master’s or a postgraduate diploma.

For more information on the qualifications required for psychotherapy and related careers check the entry requirements for each role using the profiles in Roles, skills and salaries.