Level 5 Integrative Counselling Training Course in Liverpool

This page focuses on the counselling element of our training. Counselling and hypnotherapy are delivered together as part of a Dual Diploma and cannot be taken separately.

£3,750 total for the Dual Diploma, counselling and hypnotherapy taken together.

Approx £156 per month over 24 months, exact payment plans may vary.

Application and enrolment form Course structure and overview Read about the hypnotherapy course
Study pattern
One session per week, term time only
Delivery
In person teaching with e learning support
Class size
Small, personalised groups, typically under 30
Placement
Placements can start after the first year of study, you will have up to two years to complete the required 100 hours

Venue and contact

In person teaching takes place in West Derby, Liverpool. Course materials, reading, and reflective learning are supported through our online learning platform.

Venue
St. Mary’s Millenium Centre, West Derby, Liverpool, L12 5EA
Call
0151 272 1092
Email
nicholadoyle@uktherapyguild.org

What this counselling course gives you

This Level 5 counselling training is designed to develop ethical, reflective, and competent practitioners. You will build a strong theoretical foundation, practise counselling skills in a supported environment, and develop the self awareness required for professional practice.

Preparation for real client work
Structured skills practice, observation, feedback, and reflection throughout the course.
Ethical and professional focus
Clear understanding of boundaries, confidentiality, supervision, and professional responsibility.
Designed for adult learners
One session per week in term time, supported by structured online learning.
Further learning opportunities
Optional workshops and CPD style sessions may be available during and after training, for learners who want to broaden skills further.
Download the prospectus

Integrative counselling and modalities

Integrative counselling means learning to work across different counselling approaches, and to choose the approach that fits the client and the work being done, rather than forcing every client into one method.

What a modality is
A modality is a therapeutic approach, for example psychodynamic, person centred, CBT, Gestalt, and transactional analysis.
Why integrative training helps
Clients rarely present with one tidy issue. Integrative training supports flexible, ethical decision making based on client needs, goals, and suitability.
Fit with the Dual Diploma
Integrative counselling supports safe, coherent practice alongside clinical hypnotherapy within the same overall training pathway.

For the hypnotherapy element of the Dual Diploma, use the hypnotherapy course page linked at the top of this page.

Placement requirement

To progress into practice, students must complete a minimum of 100 hours of supervised client placement after the taught elements of the course.

We provide guidance, documentation, and support to help students understand placement expectations and identify suitable settings.

Placement and supervision arrangements are separate from taught sessions and may involve additional external costs.

Accredited training pathway

The counselling course forms part of an accredited Dual Diploma training pathway. Accreditation applies to the overall programme structure.

Syllabus

The following units outline the integrative counselling content. Delivery order may vary slightly across the academic year.

Unit 1: The Self Structure
  • What Constitutes ‘SELF’:
  • Models of the Person and the Concepts of Self
  • The influence of social, cultural, ethnic, philosophical and political issues
  • Becoming Self-Aware
  • The Johari Window
  • Change and how it happens
  • Revisiting the Self and noting personal development as the course proceeds
Unit 2: Determinism or Free Will
  • Are our lives predetermined or do we have free will?
  • Soft Determinism Vs Hard Determinism
  • Soft Free Will Vs Hard Free Will
  • Humanist or Behaviourist
Unit 3: Professional and Organisational Issues
  • Empathy, Defining and Maintaining Boundaries, Code of Ethics and Practice, Moral, Ethical and Legal Issues, The Counselling Relationship, Confidentiality, Transference and the Counselling Relationship, Ending Counselling, Referrals, Client in Crisis, Supervision
Unit 4: Counselling Skills and Theory Update
  • The Structure of Counselling
  • Theoretical Approaches in Counselling
  • Paraphrasing, Summarizing, Reflecting
  • Guided Discovery through open ended questioning, challenging
  • The Counsellor’s Role
  • What Counselling is NOT
Unit 5: Psychodynamic Counselling
  • Key Concepts
  • Defence Mechanisms
  • Freud’s Structural Theory
  • Transference and Countertransference
  • Object Relations Theory
Unit 6: Attachment theory and the Strange Situation
  • Introducing the Work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth
  • Stages of Attachment
  • Four Attachment Styles
  • Attachment Styles & T.A. Life Positions
Unit 7: Gestalt Therapy
  • Wholeness and Integration
  • Awareness - Ground and Figure
  • Five layers of Neurosis
  • Field Theory
  • Unfinished business
  • Empty Chair
  • Closure and Resolution
Unit 8: Phenomenological and Humanistic Approaches
  • The Meaning of Phenomenology in Relation to Clients
  • Rogers and the Person-Centred approach
  • Maslow and Humanism
  • The Existential Approach
  • Summary
Unit 9: Transactional Analysis
  • Introduction
  • Ego States
  • Life Positions
  • Life Scripts
  • Karpman’s Drama Triangle
  • Contamination of Ego States
  • Exclusion of Ego States
  • Games People Play
Unit 10: Grief counselling
  • The Five Stages of Grief
  • Attachment, Loss and the Experience of Grief
  • Understanding the Mourning Process
  • Dual Process Method
  • Worden’s Four Tasks
Unit 11: Narrative Therapy
  • Prominent Social Discourse
  • Problem Saturated Stories
  • Externalising
  • Deconstruction
Unit 12: Family counselling
  • Family Sculpting – Theory and Case Studies
  • Bowen’s System Theory
  • Strength Based Family Therapy
  • Family Therapy Techniques and Applications
Unit 13: Couples‘ Counselling
  • Unconscious Dynamics of Relationships
  • Transactional Analysis and Couples’ Counselling
  • The Gottman Method
Unit 14: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
  • Evolution of Behaviour Therapy
  • Behaviour Therapy and its view of the person
  • The Cognitive Emphasis
  • Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
Unit 15: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
  • Why we should always strive for the highest ethical practices regarding: age, disability, gender, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race. Religion/belief, sex, sexual orientation, etc.
  • Anti-Discriminatory Practices
  • Mental Health
  • Competency
  • Wider Health and Social Care
  • Safeguarding
  • Suicide Awareness
Unit 16: Preparing for Placement
  • Case Studies
  • Practice Sessions: opportunities to assess, and reflect on the competency of the developing trainee counsellor with staff, taking into account feedback from fellow students within the learning environment
  • Preparation for placement: Fit to Practice Letter, Four Way Agreements
  • Supervision

Next steps

If you feel this training is right for you, the next step is to complete the application and enrolment form. This is used to assess suitability and readiness for Level 5 study.

Application and enrolment form Course structure and overview

How Our Dual Diploma Compares

Our Level 5 Dual Diploma combines Integrative Counselling and Clinical Hypnotherapy into a single, coherent training pathway. Below is a clear comparison between UK Therapy Guild and other providers offering similar qualifications.

Counselling + Hypnotherapy Level 5 Professional Training Designed for Adult Learners
FeatureUK Therapy GuildOthers
Total qualification Level 5 Integrative Counselling
+ Level 5 Clinical Hypnotherapy
(Dual Diploma taken together)		 Level 4 or Level 5 delivered separately
Often staged over multiple certificated courses
Total price £3,750
Both qualifications included		 £6,283.89
Counselling and hypnotherapy combined
Course duration 2 academic years 2 to 3 years
Entry requirements No formal qualifications required
Life experience welcomed. For learners without a Level 3 certificate, additional Level 3 content is covered within the programme to bring students up to speed. This learning is not certificated and does not require a separate course. 		Level 4 qualification required
Earlier levels must usually be completed and certificated before progression
Delivery format 80% in person, 1 day per week in term time
20% online via a dedicated eLearning platform		 Higher reliance on classroom or online only delivery
Class size Small, personalised cohorts
Typically under 30 learners		 Larger groups
Accreditation NCIP
ACCPH
GHSC		 NCIP
ACCPH
Other awarding bodies
Guided learning support Guided learning hours are supported through our extensive eLearning materials and structured online resources Varies by course and pathway
Professional focus Integrated therapeutic practice across counselling and hypnotherapy Often modality specific

In addition to university and college routes, Liverpool students may also choose professional training providers such as the UK Therapy Guild. The UK Therapy Guild offers diploma-level counselling and psychotherapy training accredited by recognised professional bodies including the NCIP and ACCPH. Graduates can progress towards BACP registration via the BACP Proficiency Route, following successful completion of training and required practice hours.

UKTG

Eligibility Checker

Welcome! This is your eligibility check for the Counselling and Clinical Hypnotherapy dual diploma.

Before we start, we want you to know that we won't add you to a mailing list or bombard you with emails. There is a real person at the other end of this, carefully reading every application.

Don't worry if you don't have everything to hand. We genuinely want to help you become a counsellor, and where possible we will find a way to make that happen. We value life experience just as much as qualifications, and you certainly don't have to start from scratch.

Once you complete this course, you can practise as a qualified counsellor and clinical hypnotherapist.

Here is what you will need:

  • 👤
    Two references Name, contact details, and address for each referee.
  • 📚
    A summary of your education, qualifications, and employment You don't need certificates right now, just a brief overview. We'll ask to see evidence at interview.
  • 📋
    Disclosure information We'll ask about any medical, psychological, or criminal history. An enhanced DBS check will be carried out as part of the interview process.

This usually takes around 10–15 minutes.

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Don't worry if the answer is very little or none. You don't need prior qualifications to join this course, and we'll only ask to see any certificates at interview.

Please tell me about your employment history and any relevant skills.

You may add a brief supporting statement, if you wish.

For safety and suitability, we ask about any medical or psychological conditions that may be relevant to your training.

Having a condition does not automatically prevent you from training. We ask so we can support you properly throughout the course.

Please tell me about any criminal convictions, whether spent or unspent.

We ask because counsellors work with vulnerable people, and we have a duty of care to protect them. A conviction does not automatically disqualify you, but anything that raises a safeguarding concern will be carefully reviewed. Please be honest. It is always better to disclose than for us to find out later.

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🤖 You would not believe how many bots try to apply to become therapists. Unfortunately for them, they are not eligible.
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A real person (not a bot, we promise) will now carefully review everything you have sent us. You can expect to hear back from us within 10 working days.

If your application is successful, we will invite you for an informal interview where we will ask to see your original certificates and carry out an enhanced DBS check. This is nothing to worry about, it is a standard part of the process for anyone working in a therapeutic setting.

In the meantime, if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch. We are here to help.

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