Apply now for courses starting in 2024.
“I have felt cared for by the Banbury Counselling Academy. I don’t feel like just another number passing in and out. I feel you really try to present information to us well in advance, and think about making it accessible. I feel you are an incredibly inclusive and kind organisation.”
About us
The Banbury Counselling Academy was founded in 2011 to provide affordable gold standard counselling training, to meet a desperate need for high quality counsellors and psychotherapists, given the decline in mental health resource in the local community. Since then we have grown into a stable and flourishing organisation with 160 students, graduating 30 counsellors a year. Our team of tutors specialises in delivering face to face counselling training to small groups, of no more than 12 students. We offer Counselling Skills and Studies on site at various levels to suit all requirements.
CPCAB Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills (Starts September 2024)
CPCAB Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies (Starts September 2024)
Some people find that having started on a level 2 Counselling Skills course to improve and develop their listening skills, they remain on the counselling career development pathway with the Level 3 Counselling Studies course and go on to achieve the Level 4 BACP Approved Practitioner Diploma, the Level 5 Psychotherapeutic Counselling Diploma and the Level 6 Diploma in Supervision.
Diploma graduates of the Academy work in a variety of professional contexts, some working with counselling agencies, others work as private practitioners. Some have joined the Academy tutor team, giving back to others what they learned on their journey. Many have joined our sister organisation, The Banbury Therapy Centre, providing our local community with universal access to counselling and psychotherapy. We are enormously proud of all their achievements, and grateful to them for showing us the way and helping us to develop what is a truly exciting, relevant and robust training organisation for support workers, counsellors and psychotherapists.
“I thought the course was excellent and the lessons were delivered really well under the difficult circumstances of having to work online due to the pandemic.”
Where do I start?
You can start by enrolling on the Level 2 Counselling Skills course. This will give you an idea of how to support people to talk and will also give you an insight into relationships and patterns of behaviour. Having achieved the Level 2 Certificate, you might choose to progress to the Level 3 Counselling Studies Certificate, where you will be introduced to Counselling Theory and Practice and from there go on to the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling for a vocational qualification. You can find out more about the career pathway on the CPCAB website here.
WHAT MAKES US GOLD STANDARD?
“The support from tutors and peers has been amazing, as well, the integrative training has been a great learning experience to me. I feel much more confidence on my approach as a counsellor, and also my self esteem as a person has grown.”
Tina Poke - Tutor Interview
We are committed to teaching in small groups of a maximum of 12 people. Small groups are essential to building trust within the group so that our students are able to honestly and openly interact with each other to develop their understanding. Our experience is that when in large training groups, students will stay safe by not taking risks or pushing beyond their comfort zones. Trainees who play safe do not gain the learning they need to hold clients in a robust way.
We have tried and tested curricula at all levels. At Level 4 we integrate three complementary and reinforcing modalities, Person Centred, Gestalt and Transactional Analysis, with the integrative framework of the Therapeutic Relationship. This provides our graduates with a flexible humanistic practice, adaptable to their clients’ varying presentations and needs.
Our tutors are of the highest calibre. They are qualified and experienced counsellors, psychotherapists and supervisors with a wide range of specialisations which they bring to the training. Our Programme Management team is qualified and experienced in offering and developing excellent educational courses.
We are constantly evolving and changing in response to feedback from our students. They lead our progress and have direct input into the running of the Academy through regular student body feedback and response meetings.
We are supported and accredited by the CPCAB. This excellent awarding body provides a successful model of criteria that our courses are contained within. The CPCAB has provided counselling qualifications for 30 years and helped to change countless lives for the better.
We provide a BACP-approved qualification, meaning that our graduates are immediately eligible to be listed on the public register of the largest regulating body in the UK, the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.
We have developed a highly responsive and relevant online platform to support our learners with all their materials and programmes. Should the need arise, we have robust online delivery options to allow learning to continue uninterrupted in the event of a pandemic.
We have a new (to us) building located in the heart of Banbury which has been fully refurbished and resourced to provide the ideal environment for therapeutic training. We have paid attention to the need for break out rooms which allow for realistic skills practice in an environment that is conducive to building a safe space for sharing and experimenting.
It is our intention to continue to develop and nurture the next generations of counsellors and psychotherapists as our organisation goes from strength to strength.
For short trainings, visit our sister organisation Banbury Therapeutic Training.