Welcome to the V.I.P. Lounge for Coaching Skills for Counsellors
First of all, thank you so much for showing an interest in our course: Coaching Skills for Counsellors.
This VIP page has been created for your eyes only (well, and the 15 other people we've hand-picked for this invite-only cohort).
Having worked a whole year on putting together this programme, we're really excited and proud to be able to finally introduce it to you. We're looking for counsellors dedicated to personal and professional development and growth, who are eager to add to their skillsets, who already work with an open-mind and curiosity and are eager to add new ways of working to their existing practice with their established client group. In other words, this is not for those wanting to specifically set up a separate practice as a coach or who don't believe their existing therapeutic framework can incorporate coaching skills.
We're seeking to find a small cohort of passionate ambassadors and community founders for our core course Coaching Skills for Counsellors - and we're wondering if that might be you?
Any therapist who is looking to enhance their skills, add to their toolkits or feel that their clients could benefit from a more goal or action-orientated, future-focused way of working will benefit from this course. The Coaching Skills for Counsellors course allows for a wider remit of tools and interventions to fit with the unique needs of clients. Perhaps you feel you’re already engaging in coaching when working with clients, but informally? Working as a counsellor with coaching skills means working at depth, as well as actively helping clients to work towards their aspirations and preferred future. Insight alone doesn’t always lead to change, so having something more future-focused to offer can really open up the work we do with our clients. Some clients seek progress and identify more easily as ‘coaching clients’ yet can come with deeper issues – therefore having the ability and choice to work with both modalities is a powerful offering for such clients.
Below, you'll find the programme details - what it contains, when it'll be run, what it'll cost and how to sign up, as well as FAQ's.
Course details
Session 1: Foundations - a day of practical knowledge and tools:
The difference between counselling and coaching
Who, why, how, when, where and what of coaching and coaching skills
The different schools of thought about coaching styles
Learning different coaching models you can apply today
The underlying foundations for this course, being person-centred and compassion focused.
The importance of the 'Art of the Insightful Question'™
Session 2: The Ego - a more theoretical and self-reflective day, covering:
Transactional Analysis (TA) through a coaching lens and how to apply it to practical, future-based goals, like securing a promotion
The Self in coaching (looking at ego-based drivers like the rescuer and the righting reflex, as well as your 'why' for adding coaching skills to your existing skillset)
Brief introduction to other therapeutic models and why and how they can be applied in coaching (gestalt, psycho-dynamic, existentialism...)
Session 3: The Subconscious - mixing practice and theory, we'll dive into subconscious drivers:
Key ideas from Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Values work
Identifying client strengths
Introduction to Systemic Coaching
Session 4: Behaviours - a pro-active and dynamic day:
Cognitive Behaviour Coaching (CBC)
Solution-focused Coaching
Positive Psychology
Session 5: Play - putting it all together – theory, practice, action - and let's have some fun!
The Art of the Insightful Question™ and Curious Enquiry™
Byron Katie’s The Work
Nancy Kline’s Thinking Environment and the Incisive Question™
Socratic Questioning
Creative coaching tools and techniques
And, how to Fail Brilliantly™!
Session 6: Next Steps
Ethics
Supervision
What’s next
How to apply/gaining clarity around future application
Course Dates
We'll meet online via Zoom, one Saturday per month, starting the 14th of October2023 then:
11th November
9th December
13th January
10th February
9th March
All sessions are between 9.30 am till 4.30 pm UK time.
Course Fee
We are offering our chosen ambassadors and community-founders a discount of £650. Our first October cohort will only be £249pp as opposed to the usual course fee of £899. It includes:
A Certificate in Counselling Skills
6 months of training, totalling 36 hours
Certificate of Attendance which will count towards your yearly CPD hours, as required by most professional memberships bodies
A pdf course workbook full of tools, research and practices you can apply with your clients from day 1
Access to our workshop Stop Throwing Money at Your Insecurities for free (you can read more about that here)
The chance to be part of a small cohort of like-minded and equally eager practitioners, working alongside fellow counsellors and expanding your network. In addition, becoming part of The Training ComPenDium's community of practitioners in the helping professions, full of free events and a growing resource library
Sign-up and Payment
Either use the form at the bottom of the page or email us directly on [email protected] and we'll send you the payment details (to a direct bank transfer).
FAQ
Is this course for everyone/anyone?
This course is specifically designed for qualified counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to add coaching to their existing skillset and practice.
So, it's not for the layman or trainee counsellor as the course will presume you already have and are confident in existing skills such as deep and reflective listening, asking open-ended questions, understanding the principles of person-centred therapy and the importance of empathy in client work. It's also not designed for those wanting to start a separate coaching practice as our focus will be marrying your current counselling skills with coaching skills. It's not to say that if you want to start a separate coaching business that you won't benefit from this course, but you may want to consider doing a diploma in coaching as we'll continually talk about integration and overlap of these two frameworks.
What if I can't make the proposed dates - will I still get the special discount if signing up in January?
Unfortunately not. The £249 is only for those able to join the October 2023 cohort to make it fair on anyone signing up in January, paying the full fee.
Is there an early bird discount or can i pay the fee over time?
To make it an equal process for everyone, there are no further discounts to be had and the fee has to be paid all upfront before we start the course.
What if I miss a session? Will it be recorded or can I join a different cohort to catch up?
Sessions won't be recorded to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of those attending on the day. And, so it doesn't mess with group dynamics, we can't let people join different cohorts to catch up. If you miss a session, the handbook ought to guide you through most of the content and someone from your cohort will most likely talk you through anything you missed.
I'm an integrative therapist, will I learn anything new?
That really depends on your unique circumstances, training and knowledge. We've tried to make the course overview as clear as possible but if you feel there are things on there you don't know and would benefit from or like to learn, then yes, you will. Even if there isn't (in which case, maybe consider a different course), there will always be new things to learn when among a new group of people. There'll be an emphasis on looking at things through a new lens and understanding what you're bringing (potentially, projecting) into any relationship or framework, so there'll be less focus on teaching you absolutely everything about T.A. or M.I., but rather focusing on the ideas from TA and MI and how you, uniquely, can make TA and MI work for you and your unique client group. But you will also be introduced to new concepts, solely belonging to The Training ComPenDium, like The Art of the Insightful Question and Curious Enquiry. We're not here to teach your grandma to suck eggs.
I practice within a strict therapeutic framework, will I be able to apply this to my existing practice?
That's a question only you can answer. If your framework doesn't allow for mixing different modalities, maybe this isn't a course for you. However, if you're curious to learn new skills to then decide whether you actually do want to move more towards being an integrative practitioner, then yes, this course will benefit you. However, it does require an open-mind to new ways of thinking and doing things, while leaving you completely free to reject anything that doesn't work for/suit you.
What does being an ambassador and community-founder mean? What's expected of me?
As an early adopter on our core offering, Coaching Skills for Counsellors, you’d be helping to pioneer future versions of the programme through your valuable feedback, evaluation and testimonials. Your reduced course fee for the first cohort reflects this valued contribution. In addition, you’d be kick-starting a growing community of like-minded professionals, developing a space where ideas, learning and peer support can thrive.
What about accreditation and CPD points?
We won’t offer accreditation or points with any membership bodies. If that’s your motivation to buy training courses or for joining the Coaching Skills for Counsellors course or to do any of the other offerings available here at The Training ComPenDium that’s not only entirely okay but also understandable when you’ve paid to attend a course and to belong to a professional membership body who has CPD rules that need to be adhered to.
However, at The Training ComPenDium we’ve decided to apply a different model: Only sign up for our training because you feel passionate about learning more for the sake of learning more. Having said that most professional bodies require you to have a certain amount of CPD hours (different from points and accreditation) - for example, the BACP expects you to undertake 30 hours of CPD a year, which includes relevant radio programmes, attending conferences or lectures, reading books, participating in peer-support groups or supervision and indeed workshops and courses like this. Attending this course you'll gain a Certificate of Attendance of 36 hours.
What makes The Training ComPendium Different?
At the heart of TTC is the drive to help others continue learning and honing their skillsets and toolkits, but with a real emphasis on independent thinking and a genuine thirst for knowledge. We don’t assume expertise, rather, we feel it’s more valuable to create a space in which we share knowledge and generate confidence and competence in our abilities, we therefore offer training content that reflects this
Who will be facilitating this course?
The two founders of The Training ComPenDium, Nina Mitchell and Teri Kansted, will be facilitating this course. Both are counsellors, coaches, supervisors and trainers. You can read more about them and their qualifications here.
Will this course be in-person or online?
Our aim is to offer both - in-person, initially in London, as well as carry on offering online courses to maximise flexibility. However, our October cohort will only be online. In person courses are likely to have an increased fee attached due to the increased costs of running an in-person event, such as room rental.
Cancellation Policy
We appreciate that things can and do change in life; our cancellation policy aims to support this. You can cancel at any time, however, if you do so within 14 days of the course starting we will be unable to refund your fee. This takes into consideration the costs involved in running such a programme and the unlikely event that a substitution can be found at such short notice. However, you're free to sell your spot to someone else if you're able to find a substitute and you can sort payment among yourselves.
If your question wasn't answered here please get in touch so we can help you. We'll add your query to the list above to help others who might be pondering the same as you!