I'm a counselling student in placement — can I take this course?

At a Glance

Yes — the course is open to diploma-level counselling students who are currently seeing clients in placement. Building a trauma-informed foundation early gives you both confidence and a safer way of working with clients who bring trauma into the room — which they often will, regardless of how a placement is framed.

Eligibility for students

To enrol as a student, you should:

• Be working towards a counselling or psychotherapy qualification at diploma level or above

• Be currently seeing clients as part of your training (in placement)

• Have a professional body affiliation appropriate to your stage

• Engage in regular supervision

If you're earlier in training and not yet seeing clients, the course will likely make more sense once you're in placement.

Why students take this course

Most counselling training doesn't cover trauma in any meaningful depth. Yet placement clients regularly bring trauma into the room — through bereavement, domestic abuse, childhood experiences, accidents, and the many other forms trauma takes. As a placement counsellor, you can find yourself sitting with material your core training didn't equip you to recognise, let alone respond to.

This course closes that gap. Students consistently tell us the course makes their placement work feel safer, more grounded, and more confident.

What changes for student counsellors

• You arrive in placement with a trauma-informed lens already in place — recognising signs, working safely, stabilising when needed

• Your supervision conversations become richer — you have frameworks to discuss rather than relying purely on instinct

• You build a specialism early — by the time you qualify, you're already trauma-informed, which strengthens your professional positioning

• The community of peers on the course — many of whom are qualified practitioners — gives you exposure to thinking and experience beyond your own training cohort

A note from a recent graduate

Want to know more?

You can see full course details — including upcoming start dates and the course handbook — at the Trauma-Informed Practice Course 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.