I'm already working online — is this still for me?

Created by Colette Kelly, Modified on Thu, 7 May at 1:47 PM by Colette Kelly

At a Glance

Yes. Many of our members are practitioners who have been working online for years — often since the pandemic forced the shift — and want a recognised qualification to formalise their practice. The course frequently fills gaps that members didn't realise they had.

A common pattern

You may have started working online during 2020, when the pandemic made face-to-face counselling impossible overnight. Like many practitioners, you adapted quickly, learned by doing, and now have years of experience working remotely. The course is for exactly this kind of practitioner.

What the course gives experienced online practitioners

A recognised qualification demonstrating your competence — useful for professional body annual reviews, insurance, directory listings, and client trust

Alignment with the 2021 BACP competence framework — explicitly mapping your practice to recognised standards

Filling gaps you didn't know you had — many members tell us the course articulated practices they'd developed instinctively, while introducing specific frameworks and considerations they hadn't encountered

Confidence in your ethical and legal positioning — particularly around contracting, risk, GDPR, and supervision in online practice

Why formal training still matters

Working online without formal training puts practitioners in a vulnerable position. If something ever needs explaining — to a supervisor, a professional body, an insurer, or a complainant — having a recognised qualification in online practice makes the conversation much easier.

It's not that you're doing it wrong. It's that the qualification provides a clear, externally-validated demonstration that you've trained specifically in this area.

What members say

"I had been working online for years but the course filled in gaps I didn't know I had."

"It articulated and formalised what I was doing instinctively, and gave me confidence in the parts I was unsure about."

"The recognition matters — particularly when clients ask about my online qualifications."

Want to know more?

You can see full course details — including upcoming intake dates, current pricing, and the course handbook — at the Certificate in Online and Telephone Counselling page.

If you have a specific question we haven't answered here, email us at support@counsellingtutor.com — a real person will reply within 24 hours.