Are you ready to take the next step towards a rewarding career in counselling?
This Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies, awarded by NCFE, builds on your Level 2 Counselling Skills and helps you develop the confidence, knowledge, and professional insight needed to follow a career in counselling.
You’ll explore a range of counselling theories and approaches, learn how to apply them to real client issues, and deepen your understanding of mental health, ethics, and professional practice. Through practical and reflective learning, you’ll strengthen your ability to support others and prepare for employment or further training as a professional counsellor within an agency or community setting.
This qualification is eligible in England for Advanced Learner Loans (19+), making it an accessible next step for those passionate about helping others and advancing their counselling journey.
This is a progression course with limited spaces. To enrol, you must:
- hold a relevant Level 2 Counselling Skills qualification (for example, an NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills or equivalent)
What you'll learn
This course will give you some knowledge of various types counselling theory and how to apply it to client issues. You will also learn about ethics and mental health aspects which will prepare you for work as a professional counsellor within an agency setting.
- Prepare to work within an ethical framework for counselling
- Understand the counselling relationship
- Understand difference and diversity issues to develop empathic understanding
- Work within a user-centred approach to counselling
- Use counselling theory to develop self-awareness in counselling practice
- Understand theories of counselling and mental health
- Use feedback, reflection and supervision to support counselling studies
The awarding organisation for this course is NCFE. Learn more about Level 3 specifications.
How you'll learn and be assessed
- Five-hour sessions take place each Wednesday from 9.30am-3.30pm for 18 weeks.
- Classes are structured with a tutor-led element followed by a skills element, where you will put into practice what you’ve learnt.
- You will receive one-to-one feedback from your tutor at key points during the course to help you develop your skills and assess areas for development.
Time commitment and independent study
Homework will take approximately two hours per week, however this will increase at key points during the course, such as when producing the two required assignments.
The course has two formal assessment elements and candidates need to be proficient in both to pass the course:
- portfolio of evidence, which will involve a variety of documents including two assignments.
- reviews of your learning and feedback.
Progression
The awarding organisation for this course is NCFE.
This qualification does not lead directly to employment but is designed as pre-practitioner training for professional counselling qualifications. It can also support career development in related fields.
After completing Level 3, you can progress to a Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling, which qualifies you to work as a Counselling Practitioner, or consider progression to our Foundation Degree in Counselling.
Entry requirements
You will need a level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills or a recognised face to face equivalent qualification of at least 75 Guided Learning Hours.
Following application to the course candidates will be contacted by a member of the counselling team to ensure that those joining are able to meet the academic and emotional demands of the course.
