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Certificate in Counselling Skills

Your first step to becoming a counsellor

  • 20 weeks (2×10 weeks) part time
  • Bishop Otter Campus (Chichester)
  • Discover humanistic theory, values and ethical practice
  • Use University facilities, resources and study spaces
  • Start your journey to become a qualified counsellor 
  • Learn to improve your personal and professional relationships
  • 1st in Counselling for learning opportunities National Student Survey 2025
  • 1st in Counselling for Student Union representation National Student Survey 2025
  • 1st in Counselling for freedom of expression National Student Survey 2025
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  • Saturday 20 June 2026
  • Saturday 10 October 2026
  • Sunday 25 October 2026
  • Saturday 21 November 2026
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Certificate in Counselling Skills
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Overview

Counselling is rapidly growing as a profession and is increasingly valued in education, medicine, the caring field and most workplaces.

If you’re looking to become a professional counsellor, our Certificate in Counselling is the ideal first step to start your training.

With this Level 4 course, you’ll begin to develop your counselling skills and understanding. After completing this programme we offer the next stage in counselling training: BA (Hons) Humanistic Counselling. During this BA (Hons) degree you will become a fully qualified counsellor after completing all practical and academic requirements of the second year.

Who is this qualification for?

This course is ideal if you:

  • Want to begin your training as a professional counsellor.
  • Want to change your current career to become a counsellor.
  • Wish to understand and adopt counselling skills to your current role.
  • Or would simply like to improve personal and professional relationships.

The Course

What you will study

You will study a range of topics during the course. The topics you will study could include:

Indicative Course Content Phase 1:

  • Philosophy of Humanistic Practice
  • Carl Rogers Core Conditions
  • Acceptance
  • Empathy
  • Genuineness
  • Presence
  • Effective Listening
  • Non-verbal and Para-verbal Communication
  • Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback
  • Introduction to Transactional Analysis
  • Introduction to Transference
  • Loss and Change
  • Perceptions and Attitudes towards Diverse Cultural Forms.

Indicative Course Content Phase 2:

  • Exercises to Continue Self Awareness
  • Resistance and Reluctance
  • Immediacy
  • Defences
  • Challenges (Self and Others)
  • Johari Window
  • Appreciation of Difference
  • Hierarchy of Human Need
  • Group Process and Dynamics
  • Practice in Small Groups
  • Peer Assessment of Taped Interaction
  • Core Conditions of Humanistic Practice Accentuated
  • Transactional Analysis
  • Transference
  • Feedback.

Teaching and Assessment

How you will learn

The Certificate in Counselling Skills is a free-standing course that has two modules, Phase 1 and Phase 2. There’s a total of 20 sessions (10 in each phase) with two entry points for Phase 1 (September and February) and Phase 2 (February and April).

Both phases combine humanistic theory, values and ethical practice to counselling skills used in one-to-one, face-to-face situations and wider social contexts at work as well as in the community.

The sessions at the University are delivered on weekday evenings and Saturdays to give you flexibility around your current commitments.

Facilities

Use University resources, equipment and study spaces

Use facilities including the Brain Imaging Unit, VR Immersive Suite, Psychological Test Centre, Interview and Observation Suite and individual fully equipped testing cubicles and use industry standard equipment and software throughout your studies.

Learning Resource Centre

The Learning Resource Centre (LRC) contains the library, a café, IT/teaching rooms and the Support and Information Zone (SIZ).

Library

Our campus library holds more than 200,000 books and over 500,000 eBooks.

Careers

Where you could go after your studies

You can apply for progression onto the BA (Hons) Humanistic Counselling once you complete this Certificate.

Students with additional qualifications/credit can progress from Certificate level to degree level in five years. The BA (Hons) in Humanistic Counselling is also an excellent development for students already holding a Diploma in Counselling.

As a student in the department, you will also have access to a range of opportunities, including:

  • Study abroad
  • Erasmus
  • Internships
  • Placements
  • Voluntary research assistance

Student

BA (Hons) Humanistic Counselling

Chichester came highly recommended for this course. It is the only course I have ever participated in that has changed my life and given me a direct route into my chosen career, it has essentially created that career for me. I am working in a private counselling practice, and this course has given me the skills to be successful and the confidence and courage to step out of employment into self employment.

Course Costs

Course Fees 2026/27

UK fee

£1,440

Price per each 15 credit module

Please note, this course consists of two modules.

Part time fees are calculated based on sum of module credits taken per annum.

For further details about fees, please see our Tuition Fee page.

For further details about international scholarships, please see our Scholarships page.

To find out about any additional costs on this course, please see our Additional Costs page.

Entry Requirements

This course is open entry for students by application and reference.

Apply

September 2026 entry

To apply for the September 2026 entry route for this course, please click the button below.

Apply for September

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