Planning my studies

Credit transfer

If you're intending to study Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240) with a view to qualifying for the OU Foundation Degree in Counselling, it would be worth transferring credit from the practising qualifications counting towards the Foundation Degree as soon as you have gained them. To get your CPCAB study linked to the Open University's Foundation Degree in Counselling, you will need to complete and return the Credit Transfer application form together with your original CPCAB module certificate/s. You do not need to provide a transcript or syllabus for this CPCAB study.

Check credits for your previous study

Which courses should I take first?

The Foundation Degree in Counselling is designed to be as flexible as possible to enable students from a wide variety of backgrounds to complete it as easily as possible. However, there are some restrictions and also some recommendations for the order of study.

First steps

You will need to complete an introductory counselling studies course (such as the OU course, Introduction to counselling (D171) or equivalent) and also a counselling skills course (such as the CPCAB Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills).

Progression from D171 on the Foundation Degree in Counselling

We would like to inform students that progression from D171 on to the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma that is part of the OU FD in Counselling is not automatic and all students will be interviewed by the individual training centre to ensure they are ready for this course. As we are sure you understand, the FD is a qualification to practice as a professional counsellor and as such progression on the award is dependent on more than just academic success. It is vital that all students who complete this award are fit to work as a counsellor and so additional requirements are necessary beyond academic achievement, as is common with all such trainings. Whilst many students will have the necessary experience to progress once they have completed D171 some students may need to take additional steps to ensure they are ready for the commitment that is required for the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma (and indeed, future work as a counsellor).

Interviews for places on the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma will include consideration of the following.

The need to:

• Identify reasons for training beyond just personal development
• Provide references
• Cope academically & emotionally with this level of training
• Be able to work with difference and diversity
• Possess personal qualities, imagination, intuition, openness and ability to benefit from self-development
• Be able to form a therapeutic relationship
• Demonstrate some self-awareness, insight, honesty and the ability to make links
• Be emotionally stable and be without personality disturbance
• Be able to challenge and be challenged
• Be able to respond sensitively and empathically to others

It is important therefore that you prepare yourself for such an interview and ensure that you adequately meet these requirements. There are three key elements that definitely need to be addressed - above and beyond the taught content available by completing D171 - should you wish to continue your training to become a professional counsellor and these include:

1. knowledge of counselling agencies
2. self awareness
3. additional skills practice (beyond that achieved by completing an initial counselling skills course).

There are a number of ways you can do this to enhance your chances of success in securing a place on a CPCAB Level 4 Diploma (assuming you do not already have such experience):

1. Undertake some personal therapy/personal development work;
2. Research an agency/do voluntary work with an agency;
3. Practise your skills (if you have already done the skills training) with a peer group of fellow students or helping agency (e.g. Victim support, Samaritans)
4. Approach a centre delivering the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma and discuss how you might prepare for the assessment interview at that centre (in advance of applying for the Diploma).

What next?

You must complete the Open University course Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240) and the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling but they may be done in any order or at the same time. Be warned this is a huge commitment and unless you are very prepared and have plenty of time on your hands will probably be too much. Many students will wish to begin with the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma (especially since Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240) will not be available until May 2010) and then complete Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240) towards the end of their studies on the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma. Whilst completing the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma you will also need to be in an appropriate counselling placement and be receiving supervision (the local learning provider delivering the CPCAB Level Diploma will provide information about these elements of your studies).

Then what?

Once you have completed the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240) you will need to take one of either of the two CPCAB Level 5 awards (PC-L5 or CBT-L5) and 60 points of optional courses from the OU (which include: Exploring psychology (DSE212), Child development (ED209), Diverse perspectives on mental health (K225), Challenging ideas in mental health (K272), Death and dying (K260) and  The science of the mind: investigating mental health (SDK228)). Please note the comment about the availability of CPCAB Level 5 provision in delivery of the foundation degree. The more students request Level 5 CPCAB provision (whilst taking the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma and/or the OU core and optional courses) the more likely a learning provider is to deliver the course. It is the local learning provider who decides whether or not to run a course (and not the OU or CPCAB) and the most important thing in making such a decision is whether there are sufficient students interested in taking it to make it worthwhile to offer a course.

Which optional courses are right for me?

You have a number of options available (in addition to completion of the core course Counselling: exploring fear and sadness (D240)) with the OU knowledge-based courses and you may be confused about which is best for you. You will need to take 60 points of options and this might be through taking one of the two 60 point courses available (Exploring psychology (DSE212) or Child development (ED209)) or by taking some combination of the three 30 point courses on offer (Diverse perspectives on mental health (K225), Challenging ideas in mental health (K272), Death and dying (K260) and The science of the mind: investigating mental health (SDK228)). This is of course a personal choice and we strongly recommend you visit the OU pages describing these courses in order to make your decision. However, we can also offer you some advice here to help focus your decision-making process. One aspect which may guide your decisions about which options are best for you may be your personal and professional interests. If, for instance, you are interesting in working with bereavement (or you already do) then you may find Death and dying (K260) particularly appropriate for your needs. You would then also need to take one of the other 30 point courses in mental health on offer. If you have particular interests in working with children (or simply an interest in child development) then Child development (ED209) would clearly be the best choice for you. On the other hand, you may want to understand more about psychology and also learn some of the methods of how to conduct psychological research and in this case Exploring psychology (DSE212) may seem the best choice. Finally, your particular interest may be in mental health and here the three mental health courses (Diverse perspectives on mental health (K225), Challenging ideas in mental health (K272) and The Science of the mind: investigating mental health (SDK228)) will be the options of choice for you.

One other thing to consider is whether you wish to study courses which are more academically focussed or more practice focussed. The two psychology courses (Exploring psychology (DSE212) and Child development (ED209)) are part of our psychology programme and have been written to satisfy the academic needs of the psychology programme. We provide additional resources to support your learning on these courses and help you apply this knowledge to your practice because these are fundamentally academic knowledge-based courses rather than courses written for practitioners. The three 30 point options on the other hand are more practice focussed as they were designed for practitioners in a range of professions.