{"id":31578,"date":"2018-05-12T11:30:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-12T11:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/counsellingtu.onpressidium.com\/?p=31578"},"modified":"2023-08-15T14:02:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T13:02:51","slug":"077-fitness-to-practice-in-counselling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/counsellingtutor.com\/077-fitness-to-practice-in-counselling\/","title":{"rendered":"077 \u2013 Fitness to Practice in Counselling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\t\t\"CT\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t

077 – Age of Counselling Students – Working within Your Competence – Fitness-to-Practise Letters<\/h1>\n\t
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In episode 77 of the Counselling Tutor Podcast, Ken Kelly and Rory Lees-Oakes discuss whether age is a barrier to starting counselling training. ‘Practice Matters’ then looks at working within your competence as a counsellor. Finally, the presenters talk about getting signed off as fit to practise.<\/p>\n\t

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Age of Counselling Students (starts at 1.54 mins)<\/h2>\n\t

Is it possible to be too old to train as a counsellor? Ken and Rory think not, and both entered the profession themselves after experience in other fields. Rory began training aged 42 with few formal qualifications, and was one of the younger members of his group. Learning is lifelong: we can always learn more, however old we are.<\/p>\n

Becoming a counsellor is a vocation, often attracting people who have come through difficult times themselves. It’s more about who you are than how old you are or how academic you were when at school. Not all learners prosper in the school environment – for example, as Ken points out based on his own experience, young people with dyslexia may be seen as lazy and incapable when really it’s simply that the learning style at school doesn’t suit them.<\/p>\n

So if you feel drawn to counselling training, go for it! And if you’d like to discuss this topic with other actual or potential students of counselling – and some qualified counsellors and counselling tutors – do visit our Facebook group<\/a> and start a conversation.<\/p>\n\t

Working within Your Competence (starts at 9.48 mins)<\/h2>\n\t

Working within your competence as a counsellor is vital whether you are qualified or a student. If you don’t have the right knowledge, skills and experience to help a potential client, it’s important to make an ethical referral.<\/p>\n

How do counselling students know whether or not they are working within their competence? It is not at all uncommon for students – and others – to experience feelings of incompetence (FOIs). In fact, Dave Mearns and Brian Thorne write about FOIs in their book Person-Centred Counselling in Action<\/em><\/a> (Sage, 2013).<\/p>\n

Rory offers some tips to help you ensure you work within your competence as a student counsellor:<\/p>\n