Psychology or counselling

[ellistar]

Ok so having been binned off by BT after a spectacular two weeks. I am considering a change in career. I am considering doing a BSc in Pschology or to consider a career in the counselling area. This is in part because i am getting more sensitive to people both nice and not so and the sales game is becoming harder to stomach

Comments

[nyarbaggytep]

Counselling is a difficult gig to get into. It's not well-paid, and it's expensive to train in. It's also enormously worthwhile

[ellistar]

thanks Baggy that is great.

having spent a few mins scanning this it would appear i could avoid repeating my degree (i failed it) and get into a more worthwhile career. I certainly need to feel a lot more like i am achieving something significant. If that means pay cut then C'est La Vie.

Is there a helpline for advice on first steps as the info sent is all a bit general and non specific here?

thanks again

[nyarbaggytep]

All the courses I've ever seen have been part-time, so would go round work anyway.

I'd advise looking at local learning providers and compiling a list of what courses are available, then work out which route looks best for you. There are various. Local Colleges tend to offer Certs/Diplomas, Unis offer PGDips, and Masters, Specialist training Centres offer various options too. You're caguely near Manchester? I trained at Manchester Gestalt Centre in part, that's not a bad place, although I'd skip their fourth year. Once you have that list, feel free to ask more questions...

[november_girl]

Sorry to hear about BT - I was going to mail you and ask how it was going, but I guess I won't now! :-(

I can't help on the questions generally, but I do know that there's a lot more stat work in the Psychology degree than you might expect.

[kt_peasant]

Good to hear from you again! Yey :)

I have no practical comments (other than you've had a lucky break getting out of BT again - I'd run if I didn't need the money) but life is short, and if this is something that would let you be passionate about your day job, then you should give it really serious consideration.

Thinking about it, I've a feeling my sister-in-law lectures in psychology at Leeds. (Yeah - I shold know exactly, but we've both got small children, so when we meet we have what Roz calls 70/30 conversations interspersed with 'No put that down!' which kinda breaks up the flow). I'll have a little tug of the family grapevine and see what gives.