You may be thinking about becoming a therapist yourself or you may be curious about what to consider before choosing this career path.
As a qualified CBT therapist, I would like to share with you 3 things I wish I knew before becoming a therapist in the UK.
Firstly, it is important to emphasise that those things may not be applicable to everyone as there are several ways to become for example a CBT Therapist in the UK.
1. Importance of having prior experience in the mental health field.
Of course I should say I know people who started on a therapeutic journey without prior experience and for some courses, it is not essential. You should not be discouraged if you do not have prior experience. However, jobs in the mental health field such as support worker or healthcare assistant can provide you with a unique opportunity to familiarise yourself with the supporting or clinical nature of such roles. Therapeutic training in CBT involves learning not only about treatment plans for various mental health conditions but also developing skills around safeguarding, ethics or research. Having worked in the mental health field prior to my CBT training enabled me to have an understanding of managing safeguarding concerns so that I could focus more on areas in which I needed to develop.
2. It may be a bigger time commitment than you may account for.
You may be drawn to courses due to the flexibility they offer around your full-time job, for example by seeing that the classes take place once a week or 1 weekend per month. It is important to remember the training often involves placement which usually requires to be available during the same times every week (for example from 5pm till 8pm on Tuesdays). Therefore, if you work a rota pattern in your full time job, you may consider how this would fit around your schedule or which placement may be suitable for your needs. You also need to account for independent learning, webinars or clinical supervision. What is also often required is documentation of your reflective practice. All in all, the more time you can allocate towards your training, the more you can learn from it and the less stress you will experience.
3. There are more costs involved than the cost of the training course.
The cost of the course itself can guide you on how much you may want to save, however, please bear in mind there may be additional costs such as supervision, insurance, membership in a suitable accreditation body or transport to the placement location (if you are required to complete the client hours face to face). It may be helpful to research placement providers around your area so that you can have an idea about how far you may be required to travel. Accounting for those additional expenses can help you focus on learning rather than experience additional stress related to your financial situation.
But overall, although therapeutic training may require a lot of sacrifice and effort, It is definitely worth it! Seeing the clients achieving their goals and believing in themselves again, is priceless and incredibly rewarding.