I'm new to online counselling — will this help me start?

At a Glance

Yes. The course is designed to take you from face-to-face practice into confident, ethical online and telephone work, step by step. You don't need any prior online experience to start.

What "starting from face-to-face" looks like

If you've been a face-to-face counsellor and are now considering moving online, you have a strong foundation. Your therapeutic skills, your ethical framework, your reflective practice — these all transfer. What you need is the specific knowledge of how online and telephone work differs, and how to adapt your practice for those modalities.

What the course teaches you to do

By the end of the course, you'll be able to:

• Set up your online practice — choosing platforms, setting up the digital environment, managing the technology

• Contract effectively for online work — addressing the specific considerations of remote sessions

• Conduct ethical online and telephone sessions — working safely across video, telephone, and text-based modalities

• Manage risk and safeguarding remotely — including crisis situations when you can't be in the room

• Work within UK GDPR — and other relevant legal frameworks

• Practise with a peer and reflect to refine your developing online style

The practical exercises matter most here

If you're new to online work, the buddy work is particularly valuable. It gives you a safe space to practise — building skill and confidence with a peer of your own choosing before you sit with a real client online.

By the time you take the work into your real practice, you've already done the practice runs.

What members new to online work tell us

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.