Diploma in Adolescent and Schools Counselling

Applications Closed

Key Information

Field of Study

  • Diploma in Adolescent and Schools Counselling

Duration

  • 1 year (part-time)

Start Date

Teaching Institution

  • Metanoia Institute

Awarding Institution

  • Metanoia Institute

Accrediting Professional Body

Location

  • Online

The Diploma in Adolescent and Schools Counselling is a one-year, post-qualification programme designed to equip practising counsellors and psychotherapists with the skills, knowledge, and professional confidence needed to work therapeutically with young people in school and youth settings. The course explores safeguarding, ethics, child and adolescent development, school systems, and supervision, blending seminars, experiential learning, and collaborative group work to support professional refinement and development.

Course Philosophy

The programme is rooted in reflexive and ethical practice, emphasising sensitivity, responsiveness, and inclusivity in therapeutic work with young people. It supports practitioners to navigate the particular challenges of adolescence and school environments with confidence and care, and to contribute positively to the wellbeing of individuals and communities.

Course Modules

The programme consists of seven units:

  1. Complexities of the School Setting: Mediating the cultures of counselling and schooling

  2. Safeguarding, Ethics, Best Practice, and Reflexive Practice: Including assessment, referral systems, and waiting list management

  3. Child and Adolescent Development, Attachment, and Neuroplasticity: Including exploration of early experiences, family, and school

  4. Intersectional Identity in Adolescent Counselling

  5. Research and Evaluation, Adolescent Process: Understanding ‘tenuous contact’

  6. Service Development and Systemic Responsiveness: Engagement with whole-school systems and wider initiatives

  7. Interest Areas, Student Presentations, and Endings

Supporting Information

Teaching Methods

Teaching is experiential and practice-focused, using seminars, practical exercises, presentations, and discussion. Each module integrates group supervision, supporting students to apply learning to their work with young people. The programme benefits from the expertise of tutors and the lived professional experience of participants, creating rich, reflective dialogue.

Assessment Methods

Students complete a series of assessments across the seven modules, including written assignments, reflective work, and group or individual presentations that draw on real or case-based counselling experiences.

Clinical / Placement Information

Students must complete 60 hours of supervised counselling with young people in a school or youth counselling agency during or after the training year. Some opportunities may be available through Metanoia Institute’s school-based counselling service, Here4You.

Alumni Path

Career Pathways

Graduates commonly progress into roles such as school counsellor, youth counselling practitioner, specialist adolescent therapist, or continue into further CPD or formal training in child and adolescent psychotherapy.

Training Options

This one-year, part-time diploma is delivered entirely online through live teaching sessions. Running from October to April, the programme is structured around seven units integrating seminars, experiential exercises, and group supervision. Students are supported to complete their required 60 supervised counselling hours during or following the training year. The annual October intake and online delivery model make the programme accessible alongside ongoing professional commitments.

Key Contacts

Peter Pearce

Director of Clinical Training

Email peter.pearce@metanoia.ac.uk
Dr Peter Pearce, UKCP Reg. Psychotherapist, EAP Reg. Psychotherapist, BACP Senior Accredited Counsellor Peter is Director of Clinical Training at Metanoia. He has been active in the development of counselling, psychotherapy and the broader psychological professions for many years , having begun working in mental health and disability during the closure of long stay hospitals in the early 1980s. At Metanoia, Peter has led the development and running of a wide range of post qualification career development programmes for therapists. For example, he led the Metanoia Institute team which collaborated with BACP on the development of the National Curriculum for Counselling for Depression (now PCE-CfD - one of the NICE recommended modalities for depression available free at the point of delivery within NHS Talking Therapies across the country) and the successful Metanoia bid to be appointed by Health Education England to develop a ground-breaking, full-time, salaried training route into the NHS psychotherapeutic counselling workforce. As a working-class boy from a big family, himself only able to train as a therapist because of funding support from the innovative NHS community team he worked for, he is particularly pleased to have an involvement in this development.

Entry Requirements

  • Applicants must have completed a full professional counselling or psychotherapy training to at least Diploma level. They must also provide evidence that they are working towards BACP Counsellor/Psychotherapist accreditation or an equivalent professional status.
  • For students whose first language is not English, an IELTS score of 7.0 (with a minimum of 6.5 in each component) is required unless you have a prior higher education qualification taught in English. We also offer a supportive process to establish equivalencies in qualifications or experience (APL/APEL).

Fees and Funding

£1,150

Applications Closed