Chrysalis or Psychodynamic?

[Issey]

thanks Mel. I just looked up the web site and will call them tomorrow.

[mel]

Great!
I think she is out of her office until the 27th but there is usually another man who works there called John.

Good luck with your inquieries and studies!

And I wish you lots of hard work in your personal therapy

[andyhp]

Hi Issey,

As mel has said big difference between an accredited course and gaining personal accrediation from a governing body.

I don't have personal experience of the Chrysalis course but as a 'general rule' I would always suggest opting for a course that is accredited by say the BACP. The issue of whether a course insists on personal therapy does not affect whether it has accreditation or not. The fact is some accredited courses do and some don't. There's another thread by cherrypie on the issue of personal therapy and whether it should be compulsory or not so I'll go no further than the facts here.

It can be important later in your career whether your course was accredited or not. If you wish to apply for personal accreditation to the BACP then you will have to do more to gain that status if your course was not accredited e.g. you will have to provide a case study which you wouldn't if you had already done one as part of an accredited course. I think, but am not certain, that the number of hours you have done can be affected as well. You have to do 450 hrs post qualification for personal accreditation (and have been in supervised practice for 3 years) and if you were on an accredited course you can count the hours you did while on the course. If it's not an accredited course I'm not so sure you can. Could well be wrong so it's something to ask BACP.

In the present 'climate' with registration looming I strongly suggest you choose an accredited course. Have Chrysalis applied for it, if not, why not and if so, why didn't they get it, did they have it and has it been taken away?
There's quite a few well known places that have had accreditation taken away.

Best of luck with your training and your future.

[SJSotomayor]

When I went for my Chrysalis interview alarms bells started ringing when I asked the interviewer why they did not make personal counselling manditory, his reply (I'll give him due credit for being honest) was that it was for financial reasons - it would be costly for students and might put them off joining!!

When I asked whether there were other students from my county/area joining the course I was told catigorically yes, that there were two from a local town. Funnily enough these never materialised and I had to attend practice groups nearly 2 hours away on a weekly basis to get my (50) practice hours up.

The interviewer seemed more interested in whether I was paying for the three years up front and my methods of payment (this was brought up 4-5 times) rather than actually sussing out whether I was a suitable for the course.

I would love to hear from any current Chrysalis students who have had different more positive experiences|!

[Jenny]

Wow that's very interesting regarding Chrysalis.. I remember enquiring about a course with them ages ago and afterwards they called me regularly to try to get me to enrol but I didn't.. they seemed rather professional if a little keen lol.

I do find it worrying that people can qualify to be counsellors without having had counselling themselves.. to me it seems such a fundamental thing.. and actually if I do seek counselling again in the future I may ask who they trained with and whether they have been in therapy too!

Thanks for sharing your experience though.. would be interesting to hear from others too