Counselling/Therapy

[InterfaceLeader]

Hey all,

I've been struggling with the direction I'm meant to be going in for a while. When I was younger I absolutely felt that I was meant to be a (fiction) writer/comic artist. I still do those things as a hobby, but I don't have the drive to turn it into a complete income source, and I also found that working on spec took a lot of the fun out of it for me. I'd rather keep it as a side hobby, or use it alongside something else.

Unfortunately, by the time I realised that, I was already in my last semester of an English & Creative Writing degree, and carrying an £11k student debt around.

Since then, I've done some travelling, worked various odd jobs, including a fun one with a game company. I'm also expanding out my freelance webdesign work. All of which is great, and yay for not working 9-6!

However, it's not what I see myself doing long-term. I really want to get into the counselling/therapy field, because I feel I could do a lot of good there. I've dealt with some pretty serious issues in a 'non official' capacity, and I am very good at detaching from other people's problems so that they don't overwhelm me, whilst retaining plenty of empathy. I am a very calm, focused person to be around (you wouldn't believe it to read my forum posts sometimes) and very non-judgemental.

I did some research into it, and to get a counselling qualification, it would take another three years of work, albeit part-time, more money, and there's only a couple of places in the UK that do it, so it would involve moving. It's not the kind of course you can do Open-Univeristy style, since it involves a lot of face-to-face interaction.

I don't have a problem working around a course, or even paying tuition fees as long as I don't accumulate more student debt (or any other kind of debt). But I don't really want to move somewhere that I don't know for three years, and I don't really want to spend another three years of my life in education.

So I was wondering if anybody else had any advice/suggestions? Or alternative ideas? I'm open to most things, this is all very nebulous planning of 'future career/value/contributions'.

[Holistic Star]

There is some useful information here about Counselling in the UK.

Counsellor Job Profile - Careers Advice by learndirect

It looks like a part time 12 week course might be the best way to try to see if it fits. (no point embarking on a 3 year programme if it isn't the right one for you).
Find out what introductory courses your local college has.

It also says various charities will train you for volunteer work which would be another way of finding out if it is right for you. Have you thought about contacting the Samartians or finding out about being a Youth Worker for example to see where that takes you?

Also and I know it sounds weird - how can you use your comic book skills to explain the issued counselling deals with, e.g. depression / anxiety / shyness? I saw this book recently Amazon.co.uk: I Had a Black Dog: Matthew Johnstone: Books
which might inspire you to create something.