Maple leaf was the brainchild of our Director Gail Roberts, who wanted to set up a training centre that specialised in counselling. She didn’t want it to be like a traditional school, as she wanted to focus on the vocational side of the work, so she included a number of private practitioner rooms as well so that the centre is a working therapeutic base as well.
Her aim was to be accessible to people from the wider society and we are currently working on how we access external funding to make the centre even more accessible.
We are also currently putting together our 2024 CPD calendar so if there is anything you would like to see on the calendar then please get in touch. Or if you are interested in offering CPD though the centre please complete the CPD practitioner application form. (This needs a link).
If you are a tutor interested in joining our team please go to the ‘Tutoring Opportunity’ (This needs a link) page to find out more info and apply.
I want to be a counsellor what do I do?
We have great respect for anyone who has decided that they would like to train to be a counsellor. And as a specialist centre that only trains counsellor and psychotherapeutic therapists, we have a unique insight into the industry.
We recognise that people bring a wide range of different skills to the table from previous careers and experiences. Generally, we suggest that anyone looking at training to be a therapist begins at level 2 as this gives a good grounding some of the modalities and theories that you will be building on as you continue your training.
On occasion, dependant on your previous experience you maybe able to use some of your prior learning and start at a different point. This is usually only possible if there has been as aspect of counselling either in your work or in other education i.e. Psychology degree with a counselling module.
If you are unsure which level is suitable for you then please click the button below and book in for a chat.
It is generally accepted that your Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling (or equivalent) is required level to work as a counsellor. This is the level of qualification that is expected by all main ethical bodies such as the NCPS and BACP.
Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB) & National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS)
CPCAB are our awarding body and they are currently the UK’s leading awarding body specialised in counselling. They pride themselves on being built on a premise of counsellors and practitioners training counsellors and practitioners. This means that all of our tutors have to be in supervised practice whilst working with you on the courses they teach. This is a wonderful base to come from as it means that we have a large body of different experiences from counselling children and young people to sex therapists, psychodynamic, gestalt and more. This means that we offer a rich base to do your training from. We also encourage all of our team to join whichever ethical body they feel suits them as we hold a firm stance that it is unethical to ‘force’ someone to join a particular ethical body.
CPCAB are regulated by The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) and Qualifications Wales. These are the public bodies responsible for regulating qualifications in England, Northern Ireland and Wales respectively. (CPCAB 2024)
Maple Leaf are a NCPS accredited centre and NCPS oversee our course content and training alongside CPCAB. NCPS audit on a yearly basis and CPCAB come in 2 -3 times a year to make sure that we are all running safe and ethical courses. All out tutors also attend standardisation training biannually, with the option to attend throughout the year as desired.
If you are interested in counselling and do not know where to start, then click on the link below to see some further info about starting your counselling journey.
(Can we pop this in as link / video page / whatever works and looks good!)