Counselling and psychotherapy student placements

We offer work experience placements to people undertaking training at diploma, degree or masters level in:- 

• counselling
• psychotherapy
• CBT
• group pschotherapy
• dramatherapy
• arts psychotherapy 

Our placements are highly valued and vacancies are taken up quickly. Placements are structured to offer the trainee the best possible opportunity to be able to pass their course, function in the workplace as a qualified therapist and be able to compete with confidence for employment. The placement offers regular support from our multi-disciplinary team of experienced therapeutic practitioners – counsellors, psychotherapists and social workers.
 
Student requirements
Students at our agency must attend weekly personal therapy with a practitioner approved by CASSEL. The student’s therapist needs to:-

• Have a similar qualification to the course of study;
• Have sufficient post-qualification experience (usually at least 3 years);
• Provide therapy to the same therapeutic model that the trainee is studying, and that s/he is expected to provide to CASSEL clients.

 Students at our agency are also expected to:-

• Attend weekly supervision sessions with a CASSEL Centre supervisor – with a current contribution level of £30 per session, or with an external supervisor should this be agreed;
• Attend in-house CPD/training sessions for diploma-level students each week, on Thursdays from 2pm – 3pm;
• be responsible for their course fees, personal therapy, supervision and CRB disclosure costs.

Future opportunities
Towards the end of the placement the student and supervisor will complete a professional development plan. This may include the recommendation that the student may continue to practise at CASSEL as an Honorary therapist, with the possibility of applying to be an Associate therapist once s/he meets our criteria. 
 
Applying for a placement
First, make sure you can meet all of the requirements stated above.
Then please send your current cv with a covering letter for the attention of the Chief Executive.

The recruitment process is competitive, so you need to provide full information- we are interested in  your transferable knowledge and skills, so include details you consider relevant about your previous working and student life.
New student applications can be submitted at any time and are reviewed monthly by our supervisors group. After this, we will contact you to provide feedback and to let you know if we would like to invite you to take the process to a formal application and interview.