Counselling placement opportunities

As part of the University’s commitment to learning and development, we offer placement opportunities for counsellors at various stages of training and early career development.

The Student Counselling and Wellbeing Service is a multi-professional team of Counsellors, Mental Health Advisors and Wellbeing Practitioners offering a range of services to support students during their time at the University of Leeds.

The Counselling arm of the service offers an effective, professional and confidential service to undergraduate and postgraduate students of the university, in accordance with the BACP’s Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. As part of the University’s commitment to learning and development, we offer supportive and structured placement opportunities for counsellors at various stages of training and early career development.

Counsellors work with a wide variety of presenting issues and offer mostly brief focused counselling of between 4-6 sessions. The service also provides a range of supporting workshops and webinars and weekly mindfulness and meditation sessions.

Trainee Counsellor placements

We offer training placements for those currently studying on a formal counselling/psychotherapy training course, who are seeking a placement as part of their course and who are keen to gain experience of working within a Higher Education setting.

Applications are now closed for Trainee Counsellor Placements for the 2024-25 Academic Year.

For future reference, in order to be eligible, you will need:

To be in your second or later year student on a BACP or UKCP accredited (or equivalent) counselling or psychotherapy course.
Have some prior experience in providing counselling or psychotherapy or extensive experience (over a year) of providing emotional support.
Have some understanding of academic related issues and difficulties presented by undergraduate and postgraduate students within a university environment.
To be able to commit to minimum of 4 hours per week comprising 3 clinical hours as well as admin time and weekly management supervision.
To have good organisational, admin and IT skills and be able to work with the systems and processes of the service which are delivered through a CRM.

Application Process

We welcome applications from everyone irrespective of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, faith, religion, disability and age. We particularly welcome applications from under-represented (ethnically minoritised) groups. If you have any further questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us on scw@leeds.ac.uk.

Please note: The University of Leeds Student Counselling Service is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). You will need to be a student member or above of a professional organisation in counselling or psychotherapy (BACP, UKCP or equivalent).

Professional Development placements

Our Professional Development placements offer counsellors who have completed their training and are working towards accreditation an opportunity to gain specialised experience of working within an HE setting. This structured scheme offers full administrative and management support, an opportunity to gain experience within a diverse multi-disciplinary team and paid supervision support in line with BACP guidelines. A high proportion of those completing a placement within our service are successful in gaining paid work in the sector.

We are currently accepting applications for our Professional Development placements (2024-25).

In order to be eligible, you will need:

To have successfully completed a Diploma or Masters level counselling/psychotherapy training and be working towards professional accreditation/registration.
To have completed at least 100 hours of supervised counselling practice.
To have some experience of personal therapy.
To demonstrate an interest of working specifically with students in a university setting and working within a brief framework.
To be able to identify clear professional developmental goals.
To be in a position to commit to a minimum of 3 -5 clinical hours per week in addition to admin time, in house management supervision and external supervision.
To have good organisational, admin and IT skills and be able to work with the systems and processes of the service which are delivered through a CRM.
To attend and participate in service and team development opportunities whenever practicable.

Application process

The application process for Professional Development Placements for the 2024-25 academic year is now open.

If you would like to apply for a professional placement, please complete the application form below and return it to scw@leeds.ac.uk, marking it for the attention of Madeleine Robinson, Senior Counsellor: Professional Development.

Professional Development Placement – Application Form

Professional Development Application Process Guidelines

Further information

If you would like further details on either scheme or wish to speak to someone about the placement opportunities, please contact scw@leeds.ac.uk stating which placement you are interested in.

*Please note that we are unable to hold details on file and encourage you to check the website for further details which will be posted once recruitment opens.