Level 5 OCN London course in counselling children and young people

Application to this course is via an interview which costs £50. The interviews are being held on Saturday 21st September and Saturday 19th October 2019. If you are successful in gaining a place on the course, the £50 fee for the interview can be put towards the total cost.

The course is open to counsellors who hold a level 4 qualification or above in counselling of any modality, who are receiving supervision for a minimum of 1.5 hours per month, and are a member of a counselling professional body.

Course outline

This Course, accredited by OCN London, is for qualified, practising counsellors and psychotherapists. It will cover all of part one of the BACP’s counselling young people (11-18 years) training curriculum but will also cover working with children from age five. If the BACP’s counselling children training curriculum is available, we will endeavour to cover all of part one of it also (currently being written by BACP).

There is rising concern for the mental health of young people, and this course will provide a clear and relevant understanding of the basic professional knowledge and skills needed to be an effective counsellor of children and young people and will allow counsellors to explore and increase their knowledge and clinical skills in their work with children and young people, in line with the current expectations of the profession.

In addition, it will also actively engage participants with the BACP ethical framework and will apply it to best practice in counselling children and young people, promoting the best outcomes for young people and their mental health and encouraging counsellors to practice in ethical and effective ways.

Using both theory and practical activities, the course will encourage individual and group learning and will be ideal for those who recognise the importance of experiential and practical learning – crucial in working with this age group.

Participants will be expected to take responsibility of their own learning. Our facilitator will use communicative education techniques throughout and participants must be willing to engage with all the group members during all group activities, to further advance all participants’ learning, as practice time, including creative and expressive exercises, are built into every session.

The full course guide will be provided on day one.

Course dates

29th February 2020

• Introduction and overview.
• Major differences in clinical work with young people.

7th March 2020

• Key concepts in the person centred approach to children and young people.
• Clinical application and practice issues - person centred approach to children and young people.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

4th April 2020

• Key concepts in the cognitive behavioural centred approach to children and young people.
• Clinical application and practice issues - the cognitive behavioural centred approach to children and young people.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

9th May 2020

• Key concepts in the psychodynamic approach to children and young people.
• Clinical application and practice issues. Psychodynamic approach to children and young people.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

13th June 2020

• Key concepts of developmental models of childhood - Bowlby and attachment theory.
• Clinical application and practice issues - Bowlby and attachment theory.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

4th July 2020

• Key concepts of developmental models of childhood - Erikson and the psychosocial stages of development.
• Clinical application and practice issues - Erikson and the psychosocial stages of development.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

5th September 2020

• Key concepts of developmental models of childhood - Klein and introjection/projection.
• Clinical application and practice issues - Klein and introjection/projection.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

3rd October 2020

• Key concepts of developmental models of childhood - Winnicott; the false self and the facilitatory environment. Clinical application and practice issues - Winnicott; the false self and the facilitatory environment.
• Case study applications and skills practice.

7th November 2020

• Ethical framework, challenges, and risks when working with young people.
• Rights and responsibilities - relevant case law and safeguarding, and risk assessment.
• Safeguarding case studies.

5th December 2020

• Ethical framework- contracting, assessment, and engagement.
• Organisational contexts.
• Relationship with caregivers.
• Use of supervision.
• Ethical framework - engaging with outside agencies, onward referrals, data sharing.

23rd January 2021

• Ethical framework: review, treatment plans, endings.

6th February 2021

• Conclusions and questions – preparation for written assessments.

Facilitator and assessor

Mary Clair Kelly Ad Dip PC, MNCS (Accred), MBACP

After setting out as a bereavement volunteer for Cruse Bereavement Care, Mary Clair worked for five years as a Special Educational Needs Learning Support Assistant in a mainstream state secondary school while undergoing her training as an integrative psychotherapeutic counsellor. Now she provides therapy for children from a variety of backgrounds aged five-18 years in private practice, and as a School Counsellor at one of the country’s few state-run boarding schools where she has been instrumental in developing and delivering a highly successful counselling service. She has also consulted on provision of in-school support and reducing school refusal in other schools in Tandridge.

Her training experience includes her posts as training facilitator for Jigsaw South East, a children’s bereavement charity, and training young people in peer support for 11-25-year-olds for mental health charity, Mindfull. More recently she has written and delivered an accredited level 4 course for other therapists on counselling children and young people and runs inset sessions on various subjects including bereavement and self-care for newly qualified teachers.

A passionate advocate for better understanding of development and mental health, she is currently writing a book for parents based on what she has learned through her work and personal experience.