Are you already working as a counsellor or therapist and looking for the next step in developing your practice? Why not look at training to be a couples counsellor?
What would this mean for me and my work?
Working with couples is not the same as working with individuals - with three people in the room, as you can imagine, its totally different.
You would need to train in couples counselling so you know what you are doing and are confident in your knowledge and skills.
Training in couples counselling is usually part-time or a short course and can be done in addition to your normal work.
You can add couples clients to the clients you already have and would be able to introduce the change at your own pace.
Does this whet your appetite a little? If you'd like to know more, I've put together some reasons on why you may want to look at couples counselling as an option.
Variety and interest
Adding couples counselling to your client work gives you another professional area - giving variety to your practice and a change of energy to your day. Adding another professional specialty can also help your overall private practice profile because you appear more often in directories or searches.
You might want to eventually specialise in couples work or, like many therapists I know, continue to have a mix of client types that you work with.
Rewarding work
Quite often, couples counselling is about repairing the communication and understanding between people. Helping a couple develop new skills in communication or develop a different level of emotional intimacy can be really satisfying.
Maintaining new enquiries
Did you know that there is an increase in people looking for a new job after a) Christmas break and b) summer holidays. This trend is mirrored in couples counselling. There is something about spending time with family and having a bit of time to reflect that triggers the need for change. Many of my therapist colleagues find that enquiries about couples therapy go up significantly at these times. Even so, there is a steady demand of people looking for couples therapy with so many colleagues having waiting lists.
Want to train as a couples counsellor? - so where do you go from here?
There are many models of couples therapy out there. Which you choose depends on your personal preference - and some input from your clinical supervisor.
Imago Relationship Therapy is one of the models available. At Northside, we offer the 2 day introduction course Getting Started in Couples Therapy - the first stage (Imago Foundations) of training to become a certified Imago therapist. Our trainer, Ian Tomlinson, is an Imago International Training Institute Faculty Candidate and trains the full training in Imago.
Click here for full information and course dates.
*Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash
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