Diploma in Counselling Teenagers
Course start date
October 2026 (Route Two)
January 2027 (Routes One and Three – please see below for descriptors)
Duration and length of training
Two years part time.
Time commitment
- Approximately two full weekends per month (some variations with single weekend days and at least one Friday towards the end of year).
- Clinical placement begins after the first term has been completed.
- Supervision attended at a ratio of 1:4 (one hour of supervision to every four client hours). There is some group supervision included on the timetable.
- Weekly personal therapy from the start of the training programme (minimum 36 hours).
What qualification will I obtain on completion?
Diploma in Counselling Teenagers.
Certificate in Child and Adolescent Counselling Skills (ROUTE 2 ONLY)
Who is the Awarding Body?
Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education.
What affiliated organisations will I be registered with?
After successfully completing the course and accruing 100 client hours then you are eligible to apply for BACP registration as a registered counsellor.
Entry requirements
ROUTE ONE
Year One
Module One: Level one syllabus
The Psychology and Neuroscience of Therapeutic Change and Counselling using the Arts
222 hours
Year Two
Module Two
Young People’s Mental Health: Prevention, intervention & Safe Practice
Module Three
Counselling teenagers: Clinical Skills and Creative interventions
147 hours
Total hours: 369 hours
ROUTE TWO
Year One
Module One: Dip TIS syllabus
Trauma Informed & Counselling Interventions in Schools & Communities
70 hours and 50 hours work based learning
Year Two
Module Two
Young People’s Mental Health: Prevention, intervention & Safe Practice
Module Three
Counselling teenagers: Clinical Skills and Creative interventions
Child & Adolescent Counselling Skills (included training hours)
266 hours
Total hours: 336 hours
ROUTE THREE
(only for qualified counsellors)
Year Two
Module Two
Young People’s Mental Health: Prevention, intervention & Safe Practice
Module Three
Counselling teenagers: Clinical Skills and Creative interventions
147 hours
Route three not eligible to apply for BACP registration
(insufficient training hours)
Expected prior knowledge
- Successful completion of Post-graduate Certificate in the Therapeutic Arts (University validated) (commonly known as Level 1) or
Certificate/Diploma in Trauma Informed Schools - Counselling skills training (covered in the above courses).
- Some experience of living with or working with teenagers.
- Empathy and in-depth capacity for reflection.
- Self-awareness, good contact and therapeutic presence.
Fees
Route 1: £7,600.00
Route 2: £9,600.00
Route 3: £7,600.00
(but you can pay termly or monthly direct debit)
Additional costs include:
- Personal therapy.
- Clinical supervision.
- Insurance.
- DBS – £61.60 paid to DDC.
- Travel expenses.
- Level 2 Safeguarding Certificate
- Interim Student Fee*
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?
In order to fulfil the training hour requirements as set out by our regulatory bodies, only one ordinary day training may be missed.
This does not include Core Lecture Days, all of which must be attended in full. Should additional days be missed, they must be made up and paid for separately in addition to the original fees; please speak with your Academic Officer to discuss and arrange payment.
Missed Day: £260
Students who 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 is £194. The interim fee for 2026/27 will be £240.
Is this course eligible for the Bursary?
This course is not currently eligible to receive bursary funding.
Employment opportunities and typical employment pathways:
- In-house school counsellor.
- University/ College counsellors.
- Private Practice.
- CAMHS worker.
- Working within organisations supporting adolescent mental health.
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.
(Qualifying you to work with young people age 12 to 25)
Overview
The course aims to train counsellors to support teenagers to be able to enjoy deeply fulfilling relationships with others, a far more compassionate accepting relationship with self and to have a mind that is in peace not in torment. It comprises a wealth of therapeutic interventions, clinical skills practice, fascinating theoretical underpinnings from the latest research in adolescent psychology, neuroscience and medicine. As well as working one-to-one with vulnerable teenagers, the course will also equip students with evidence-based psychoeducation for teenagers. This includes vital knowledge to enable teenagers to successfully process painful life experiences and make informed decisions about key aspects of their lives.
Syllabus overview
Key models for therapeutic work with teenagers
- Mentalization based interventions (MBT).
- Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP).
- Affect Labelling and Mental State Talk.
- Psychological Formulation/Collaborative sense making (BPS).
- Power Threat Meaning Framework (PTMF).
- Emotion Focused Counselling (EFT).
- Neuroscience of Emotions and Relationships.
Teenage concerns (one to one and psycho-education groups)
- The neuroscience and psychology of what every teenager needs to know about life in order to live it well, your teenage brain, your brain chemicals, how to have emotions instead of your emotions having you, drugs, sex, porn, social media, social comparison, the skill of happiness, the art of relationship.
- Addressing climate emotions.
- Diversity, difference and discrimination.
- Identity: Therapeutic conversations with teenagers, exploring gender and sexuality, including trans, gender diverse and re-emergent identities.
Ethics and the law
- Protecting teenagers: what every professional needs to know about safe practice with teenagers and working ethically.
Skills-based practice in counselling teenagers
- The integration of different counselling models for working with teenagers: MBT, DDP, EFT.
- The role of emotion in the process of change: EFT.
- Using arts, imagery and sandplay in therapy with teenagers:
using the arts to access core pain: EFT. - Skills practice using “Helping Teenagers Talk about their Lives Cards”.
- Big Empathy Drawing practice with peer and staff supervision
of cases. - Sensory Integration for teenagers (theory and practice).
- Work with the therapeutic relationship, countertransference, transference, communication by impact and virtual work.
- Parent-teenager dyad work: Ensuring safe and structured communication.
- Clinical supervision, case presentations for teenagers (throughout the training).
- The role of social injustice in the counselling room.
- How to meet the unmet emotional needs of the teenage client.
Adolescent mental health and psychiatry
- Key causes of adolescent mental health problems: The muddle between trauma and psychiatric diagnosis (ADHD, ASD, Bipolar, Borderline, Anxiety and Depressive Disorders).
- What every mental health professional needs to know about giving psychiatric drugs to young people.
- Counselling for specific teenage mental health issues: Anxiety, Depression, OCD, eating disorders, self-harm.
Working with different client groups and specific realms of adversity
- Working with specific vulnerable teenage client groups: refugees, victims of incest, the allure of gangs, addiction, teenagers in extremis.
- Teenagers affected by parental alcohol use/mental health problems.
- Connecting with angry and highly defended teenagers in ways that help them access core pain safely: EFT.
- Working with grief, separations and endings, in life and in counselling.
- Positive ways of working with challenging teens through understanding the adolescent within us.
Course content
Key models for therapeutic work with teenagers: Emotion Focused Counselling, Mentalization based interventions/Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy/Affect Labelling and Mental State Talk/Psychological Formulation/Collaborative sense making. All theory is deeply enriched with practical skills sessions, moving case material, supervision of student’s clinical work and group work practice.
Additionally:
- Addressing teenage concerns (one-to-one and psychoeducation groups).
- Protecting teenagers: what every professional needs to know about safe practice with teenagers and working ethically.
- Skills-based practice in counselling (for Route 2: an additional certified Child & Adolescent Counselling Skills is included)
- Adolescent Mental Health and Psychiatry.
- Diversity, Difference and Identity.
Assessments:
- Facilitation Skills.
- Case Presentation.
- Written Case Study (5000 words).