Two Year Diploma in Mindfulness based Therapeutic Counselling

Two year professional counselling training at Levels 4

Designed for counsellors and those who use counselling and related skills

A thorough and extensive grounding in the theory and practice of mindfulness in relationship, specifically oriented to counselling practice.

Your qualification will be nationally recognised and also provide 120 credits towards an Open University Foundation Degree in Counselling.
Course accredited by CPCAB and run by experienced staff from the Karuna Institute.

The course is intended for

• Anyone wanting a professional counselling qualification
• Qualified professionals seeking to deepen and enhance their work and increase their sense of personal enrichment
• Workers in challenging caring or health profession roles, who feel stressed or in need of support, validation and clear guidance concerning supporting both themselves and their clients
• Practitioners seeking in depth training in counselling
• Those who are interested in Mindfulness and would like to experience an in-depth training as a personal resource
• Those interested  in undertaking some substantial CPD in a rich and supportive learning environment
•  Those attracted to the Karuna Institute’s Core Process and Mindfulness Psychotherapy model, who may not wish to attend a psychotherapy training, including students who have completed one of our Introductory or Foundation programmes
• We welcome enquiries from anyone who can show they have successfully completed a Level 3 Counselling training, or have appropriate equivalent experience (APL)

We have external accreditation for  this brand new course with CPCAB, the central awarding body for counselling trainings.

Students will be awarded a nationally recognised qualification on successful completion of all course requirement. This also provides 120 credits towards an Open University Foundation degree in Counselling.

A Diploma will also be awarded by the Karuna Institute.  Each session of the course is mapped to extensive learning outcomes and criteria.

Course participants will develop an extensive repertoire of advanced counselling skills, combined with an understanding - in both theory and practice - of our model of mindfulness in relationship, and working in the relational field.

Our work is designed to support and hold the practitioner equally with the client, and to bring nurturing qualities of mindfulness, spaciousness, warmth and compassion into your own everyday work and relationships. We recognise that many working environments are less than ideal, and also that many clients - and indeed colleagues - are stressed and traumatised.

We offer a unique blend of skills and resources that are empowering and which enhance wellbeing.

At the same time, we aim to create a learning environment that is both safe and nurturing, stimulating, and constructively challenging.

The Karuna Institute & CPCAB Two Year Diploma in Mindfulness Based Therapeutic Counselling (Level 4)

This is a structured professional training that will be delivered through personal experiential learning, group enquiry, reflective practice, skills training, live supervision, tutor presentations, seminars, mindfulness practice and workshops.

There will be self, peer and tutor feedback and support, and also formal assessments and assignments.  The emphasis is on practical skills training and experiential learning, including group inquiry, but we welcome students with diverse learning styles. Wide reading and lively discussion will be encouraged. Individual tutorials will be available, where your individual learning needs can be explored and supported.

Our theoretical base is humanistic and existential, integrated with the Core Process model of mindfulness in relationship, and supported by mindfulness teaching and traditions drawn from Buddhist psychology.

Course Requirements
There is ongoing assessment throughout the course, based on your skills practice work and interaction with your peers, a written assignment each term, and also an examination in the final stages.

Students are asked to engage in supervised counselling practice in an appropriate agency setting, and your learning from this experience is an integral part of the coursed. 

Full attendance is required except in exceptional circumstances.

Students are also asked to attend some individual psychotherapy or counselling, (a minimum of 30 sessions completed before the end of the course) with either a UKCP Registered psychotherapist or a BACP accredited counsellor) and you may also need to attend professional supervision for your counselling practice work (if appropriate supervision is not supplied by the agency where you see clients.)

Prospective students should factor in the potential costs involved. Students will be asked to complete a training contract with the Karuna Institute, where you will be asked to make a commitment to complete both training years. All fees and costs will be clearly stated and explained when you complete your application.

The Karuna Institute is a not for profit mindfulness based training Institute situated in Dartmoor National Park, and has been established for over 25 years as a centre of excellence in psychotherapy training, with two MA trainings leading to registration with UKCP, and validated by Middlesex University. This is our first counselling training, where our tried and tested principles, teaching and learning methods, and therapeutic models are brought into the counselling context. The trainers on this course are experienced counselling trainers and are also fully qualified and practising counsellors and psychotherapists.

We welcome enquiries from students with dyslexia and with disabilities, and we welcome diversity and difference in our learning community. We welcome applicants regardless of ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or disability, and we particularly welcome students from minority groups.
 
 

course details

Starts January 2012
Held at the Waterloo Wellbeing Centre, Plymouth
Commences in January 2012.

Please contact one of the tutors to discuss the course and your possible application; entry is by interview, following completion of your application form, and demonstration that you have completed previous counselling skills training, or equivalent, up to at least Level 3.
Application Forms are available from the office and from the tutors.

Core Staff: 
Julie Jeffs (MBACP, UKCP Reg) and Alyss Thomas (MBACP, UKCP Reg)

Tutors are Julie Jeffs MA, and Alyss Thomas MSc, who are both experienced  UKCP registered psychotherapists, counsellors, supervisors, group facilitators and counselling trainers, with guest staff. Julie is the director of the Waterloo Wellbeing Centre, and Alyss is a core member of staff at the Karuna Institute. Both tutors maintain an active therapeutic practice as well as teaching. Guest tutors include Franklyn Sills, Director and Co-Founder of the Karuna Institute, and Annie Greenacre.

Application Form (pdf)

Course Fees
£1750 per year; this includes a non-refundable application fee of £50. (If your application is successful, this is deducted from your total course fee)

The course is held in term times on Thursdays in Plymouth, and as far as possible we follow school term times. Due to popular demand we can make this available as an evening class.  There are approx 210 contact hours, and the maximum group size with be 16 students.

There is a 3-day residential Mindfulness in Relationship group retreat each year, held at the Karuna Institute, and you are asked to pay the residential fees separately (all meals provided).  We also ask for a £20 fee at the beginning of each year to go towards the cost of supplying teaching materials

Contact:
Karuna Institute: Natsworthy Manor, Widecombe-in-the-Moor, Newton Abbot, Devon TQ13 7TR  Administrator: Jacqui Aplin; Finance Officer: Michelle Davey.
Please contact the tutors in the first instance with any enquiries.

Julie Jeffs - 01752 318595; email: 
Alyss Thomas - 01803 812566; email:   and/or