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The Link Centre Trainee FAQs and answers

• What are my Therapy hour requirements for each year of training? Who sets this?
• I have previous training and experience – can I leapfrog a training year (known as the APL process)?
• What are the supervision requirements for the Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?
• Can group supervision hours be counted towards training requirements?
• What are the required training hours for each year?
• You offer a Level 6 diploma that gives me the option to register with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society – with the Level 7 diploma, how can I get accredited by UKCP?
• Can I undertake all of my psychotherapy training online? If not, why not?
• How many clinical placement hours will I need to get my Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?
• How many hours of Counselling Skills training will I need to undertake my Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?
• I understand The Link Centre is transitioning to becoming a UKCP Organisational Member – What does this mean for me?
• What do the SCOPED training requirements mean for me?

1. What are my Therapy hour requirements for each year of training? Who sets this?

40 hours. This is set by the UKCP for all trainees undertaking the course.

Trainees are normally required to undertake 40 hours of therapy per year of training with a UKCP registered psychotherapist.

For any trainees who are clear that they only wish to pursue the Level 6 Diploma in Counselling and gain NCPS registration, then only 30 hours of therapy are required per year of training with a registered counsellor. However, we strongly recommend that you do not take this option unless you have discussed this with a Link Centre partner first.

Please note: The Foundation Year course is also a standalone certificate as well as forming the first of the 3 or 4 years.

2. I have previous training and experience – can I leapfrog a training year (known as the APL process)?

Yes. It is possible to have some of your previous training and/or experience count towards your L7 qualifications at The Link Centre. This process is called Approved Prior Learning (APL).

The L7 requirements are as follows:

• Training hours – 600
• Counselling skills hours – 30
• Client contact hours – 300 hours (supervised)
• Supervision hours – ratio of 1:6 hours
• Personal therapy hours -160 hours (40 hours per year for 4 years)

The maximum that we can APL is a total of 50% of any/all of the above requirements, except for the counselling skills hours.

You can APL 100% of all of the counselling skills hours that you have achieved prior to this training if you have completed them.

Any APL must be agreed via the submission of a portfolio and attendance to an interview with a Link Centre partner. An official letter of any APL agreements will be sent out to trainees following this detailing what prior learning and/or experience has been approved.

Applicants who are interested in pursuing an APL process with the Link Centre should contact enquiries@thelinkcentre.co.uk in the first instance.

3. What are the supervision requirements for the Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?

There are two aspects of supervision to consider when aiming to meet the training requirements for supervision:

• The amount of supervision hours.
• The registration and orientation status of your supervisor.

Supervision hours

Supervision requirements are established in proportion to the client contact hours and depending upon your level of experience in seeing clients.

For trainees who are seeing their first clients a supervision ratio of 1:4 must be adhered to. This means that for every 4 hours of client contact a minimum of 1 hour of supervision must be attended.

Once trainees have gained some initial experience with clients the ratio can increase to 1:6, upon your supervisor’s advice/discretion. This means that for every 6 hours of client contact, a minimum of 1 hour of supervision must be attended.

Therefore, in order to meet the training requirements, the following hours must be evidenced. See table below:

Supervisor’s registration and theoretical orientation

We strongly recommend that you seek supervision from a supervisor who is registered with the UKCP and is a member of their Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College (HIPC). We also recommend that some, although not all of the supervision received, is with a TA supervisor.

We stipulate a minimum of 10 hours TA supervision for L6 and 20 hours TA supervision for L7.

For trainees who are clear that they only wish to complete the L6 Diploma in Counselling, then a supervisor who is NCPS or BACP registered will suffice. However, we strongly recommend that you do not pursue this option unless you have discussed this with a Link Centre partner in the first instance.

Please refer to the table above.

4. Can group supervision hours be counted towards training requirements?

Yes. Group supervision hours can be counted towards your training requirements. However, the number of trainees in each supervision group will impact how many hours can be counted.

In groups of 3 trainees or less, the duration of the entire group can be counted. For example, if you are in a supervision group with 3 trainees and you meet with your supervisor for 2 hours, you can count the full two hours towards your supervision requirements.

However, if your supervision group contains more than 3 trainees, you will only be able to count 1 hour of supervision for each substantial piece of work that you present in the group. For example, if you discuss a client in your supervision group then you can count one hour for this. However, if you attend the group but do not discuss any of your own clinical experience, you will not be able to count any of this supervision towards your training requirements.

5. What are the required training hours for each year?

139 training hours are required for each academic year.

These take place over 10 weekend modules.

You must attend 80% of these hours to pass the year.

Please note: If any of these hours are missed, you will need to liaise with your tutor and/or secondary tutors to make up for the missed learning. They will decide upon the necessary reading to complete, along with the submission of a report to evidence this.

Additionally, you will be required to attend further training such as CPD, registration prep or study skills to make up the lost hours, so that each year still totals 139 training hours.

6. You offer a Level 6 diploma that gives me the option to register with the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society – with the Level 7 diploma, how can I get accredited by UKCP?

Once you have gained your L7 Advanced Diploma then there are some additional requirements that need to be met before you can become a UKCP registered psychotherapist. These are:

• Providing a portfolio of an additional 300 training hours (gained through mental health familiarisation placements, supervision, reading, writing, research, listening to podcasts, attending CPD etc.)
• Attending a mental health familiarisation placement (MHFP) and submitting a reflective account of this.
• Passing an examination which consists of 2 parts:
  • Written exam (12,000-word case-study of your work with one client).
  • Oral exam (presenting a taped recording of your work with this client and discussing this work with a panel of examiners).
• A more detailed account of these requirements can be found in the Trainee

7. Can I undertake all of my psychotherapy training online? If not, why not?

No. It is not possible to undertake your psychotherapy training online, unless there is a situation in which face to face learning is not possible. For example, Covid.

You are, however, able to complete your Foundation Year online but all subsequent years of training must be completed in person.

8. How many clinical placement hours will I need to get my Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?

To gain your L6 Diploma in Counselling – you need to have accrued 150 hours of supervised practice.

To gain your L7 Advanced Diploma – 300 hours of supervised practice is required.

9. How many hours of Counselling Skills training will I need to undertake my Level 6 and Level 7 diplomas respectively?

A minimum of 30 hours of counselling skills training is required, regardless of the level of diploma you are aiming to achieve.

The Link Centre provides a programme of counselling skills workshops for trainees – please contact enquiries@thelinkcentre.co.uk for further information.

10. I understand The Link Centre is transitioning to becoming a UKCP Organisational Member – What does this mean for me? 

This means that trainees who have received their L7 Advanced Diploma will be eligible to undertake the Link Centre’s UKCP assessment process to join the UKCP’s register of psychotherapists.

Please refer to Question 6. above in this FAQ. More information on this process is also available on our website and in the ‘Trainee Resources’ Dropbox folder.

11. What do the SCOPED training requirements mean for me?

SCoPED is a national framework that sets out the core training requirements and practice standards for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adult clients. Once this framework has been rolled out, qualified counsellors and psychotherapists will be assigned to one of 3 categories based on their levels of training: Category A, B or C.

These categories will then be used to indicate the competency of that therapist and therefore the types of work that they may or may not be suitable for.

Please refer to SCoPEd Framework January 2022 (bacp.co.uk) for further information.

Your proficiency as a clinician will therefore be based on the category that you have been assigned to, rather than on your specific skills and experience.

As such many qualified counsellors are now returning to training organisations to ensure their membership to the Category C column of SCoPED, which is required to be officially recognized as an advanced practitioner.

The Link Centre offers qualified counsellors the opportunity to APL some of their previous training and/or experiences to count towards some of their training requirements. If you feel you would like to discuss this further, then please contact enquiries@thelinkcentre.co.uk in the first instance.

You can download a word version of the FAQs and answers here.