Child Counselling Course (Diploma) - The Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education
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Diploma in Child Counselling

Course start/end dates

September 2026 – July 2027.

Time commitment

Year 1: a maximum of 27 weekend days (mostly on Saturdays) over three academic terms.
Year 2: Tuesdays over three academic terms with occasional weekend days.

  • Tuesday – 9.30am-5pm
  • Saturday – 10am-5pm

Clinical placement begins in the Spring term of Year two. Supervision is attended at a ratio of 1:4. Weekly personal therapy from the start of the training programme (minimum 35 hours per academic year of training).

What qualification will I obtain on completion?

Diploma in Child Counselling (leading to Diploma in Child Psychotherapeutic Counselling if optional 3rd year is completed)

What affiliated organisations will I be registered with?

After successful completion of the training, accruing 100 client hours and passing BACP’s Certificate of Proficiency (multiple choice test) you are eligible to apply for BACP registration. This means being added to the national register for counsellors (used by the general public to find a counsellor).

Who is the Awarding Body?

Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education.

Entry requirements

  • Emotional robustness, self-awareness, empathy and an interest in the arts.
  • Undergraduate degree desired but not essential.
  • Counselling Skills qualification (can be completed whilst undertaking training). If you do not have a Level Two or Level three counselling  qualification (it cannot be simply a certificate of attendance) to fulfil this requirement you will  need to attend on our  internal counselling trainings. You have a choice:
    a) Live : Certificate in Counselling Skills (teenagers and adults) this is 4 days over two weekends.
    b) On-line Certificate in Child and Adolescent Counselling Skills (6 days over weekends)
    These both run twice a year, please enquire info@iate.uk

What qualifications or skills do I need before I can enrol?

  • A demonstrable interest in counselling, psychotherapy or working therapeutically with children is essential. Experience of working with children is desired but not essential. Previous short courses or experience working therapeutically with children or adults is a plus.

Expected prior knowledge

  • The ability to work with competence, empathic attunement and depth with a full range of affect states or the willingness to do so.
  • Emotional and social intelligence and the capacity for introspection. To have an awareness of own personal history from a psychological viewpoint.

Fees

Year 1: £7,800.00
Year 2: £8,700.00
(but you can pay termly or monthly direct debit)

Additional Fees for 2025/26

Year 2 Case Presentation  £236.00
Year 2 Case Study  £236.00
Counselling Skills qualification

Additional Fees for 2026/27

Year 2 Case Presentation  £245.00
Year 2 Case Study  £245.00
Counselling Skills qualification

Students that have completed the taught component of the course but still have outstanding assessments or are working to complete their clinical hours must enrol as an Interim Student for each academic year until they receive their award.

The fee to enrol as an Interim Student for 2025/26 is £194. The interim fee for 2026/27 will be £240.

Please note additional fees for personal therapy, supervision, DBS, insurance and travel costs.

Funding & Visas

IATE courses do not qualify for government education funding. As such, students cannot fund our courses via the Student or Advanced Learner Loans.

As we are not able to sponsor international students, you must have the right to live, work and/or study in the UK to join one of our on-site training programmes. Please note that we do not give advice on visas or visa requirements to live, work and/or study in the UK.

What if I miss a day?

It is essential that all days are attended and 100% attendance is expected of all students. However, we understand that sometimes illness, child care, religious holidays or other life events get in the way.

Students are allowed to miss one day per academic year but any further missed training needs to be re-attended the following year. This is because there are a specific number of days/hours required for registration/accreditation. 

Missed days will need to be paid for at the retake day fee for the year it will be attended. If you have approval from the course director, or extenuating circumstances, the fee may be waived.

It is the student’s responsibility to liaise with the Academic Officer and book in and pay if necessary for any missed days.

Is this course eligible for the Bursary?

Bursary funding is possible, and discounts are spread over Year 1 and 2, for candidates without previous counselling training.

Employment opportunities and typical employment pathways

  • Child counsellor.
  • School counsellor.
  • CAMHS worker.
  • Mental Health Lead in schools.

Overview

This training is for people who want to become registered child counsellors, enabling them to apply for public sector jobs requiring registered child counsellors. To be eligible to apply for BACP registration, Year 1 and Year 2 of the Diploma in Child Counselling are required. This will give you the required number of training hours and clinical hours.

That said, some people wish to complete just Year 1, which is a stand-alone course. All years of the training are very practically based with a wealth of interventions focused on trauma recovery and the alleviation of mental health problems in children and young people. Play therapy, sandplay and use of art media are key interventions.

Syllabus overview

Year 1

  • Fundamental principles in counselling children.
  • Key child counselling skills practice.
  • Unconditional positive regard, active listening and empathic response.
  • Attachment theory and practice as related to child mental health and ill-health.
  • How people change people for better or worse: the relational nature of transformational change in counselling and psychotherapy.
  • Introduction to the greats of psychoanalysis and how their work helps us think about child mental health.
  • Transactional Analysis and its relevance for working with children and teenagers.
  • Working to address developmental deficit in child counselling.
  • Use of creative media in counselling children: paint, mental imagery, clay, music, puppetry,
  • Therapeutic storytelling.
  • Deepening communication with children through sandplay therapy.
  • Using drama to explore embodiment, empathy, attunement & prosody.
  • Social Justice, Mental Health & the Power Threat Meaning Framework.
  • Self-regulation and the arts.
  • Exploring unconscious bias, oppression and anti-racist practice.
  • The impact of endings, transitions & ruptures.
  • Personal & professional listening groups.
  • ‘Watch and Wonder’ – observing live parent and baby interactions in the room.

Year 2

  • Principles in child therapeutic practice (Ethics & Professional Issues).
  • Working with transference & countertransference.
  • Child Protection, Child Rights and the Children’s Act.
  • Child psychiatric diagnosis, diagnostic Inflation and medication.
  • Working with schools and relationships with parents and school staff.
  • First sessions, what to say and how to be.
  • The causes of mental Ill-health in children and models for treatment.
  • Assessment & treatment planning – from observation to the identification of need.
  • PACE Revisited (play, acceptance, curiosity, empathy).
  • Royal Roads to the Unconscious.
  • Effective & ineffective treatment with children: Avoiding the pitfalls.
  • Working with therapeutic stories.
  • Working online with children & young people.
  • Child Development: Traumas of commission & traumas of omission.
  • Big Empathy Drawing based on student clinical cases.
  • The role of mentalization in counselling children & young people.
  • Daniel Stern & the Babywatchers: Linking observation & theory.
  • Art therapy for troubled & traumatised children.
  • Working therapeutically with children with complex needs.
  • Working with Gender, Transgender and Sexuality.
  • Themed groups for teenagers e.g., being a young carer, parent to parent conflict, separation, divorce/ living with a parent with mental health problems, living with anxiety.
  • Short term & time limited interventions.
  • Loss, separation & endings in therapeutic work with children.
  • Academic writing & preparing for assessments.

Course content

  • Year 1: Skills in therapeutic counselling with children, using play therapy and arts as key interventions. Essential psychotherapeutic and neurobiological theory, and a wealth of hands on practical therapeutic tools.
  • Year 2: This year builds on the psychotherapeutic theory and practice with more in-depth knowledge of effective interventions for behaviours that challenge, mental health problems, specific to various stages of child development. Supervised practice for your clinical placement takes place from the second term of the second year. A Placement Officer will find a placement in a geographical area of your choice. There is also the option of you finding your own placement setting, providing this meets our standards and requirements.

An optional additional third year after this two-year course leads to the Diploma in Child Psychotherapeutic Counselling.

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