Dear Counselling Student… You’re Doing Better Than You Think

So, you’ve signed up to train as a counsellor. You probably imagined thoughtful conversations, life changing moments and feeling calm, wise and centred at all times. And then reality arrived. Suddenly you’re juggling assignments, placements, supervision, skills practice, personal therapy, reflective journals and a reading list that could double as a doorstop. At some point you’ve almost certainly asked yourself:

“What on earth have I done?”

Welcome to counselling training. Pull up a chair.

Let’s Talk About That Imposter Syndrome

If imposter syndrome hasn’t visited you yet, don’t worry, it will.

It usually shows up right around the time you sit in front of your first client and think:

• “I don’t know enough.”

• “Everyone else seems more confident than me.”

• “Any minute now someone is going to realise I’m basically winging it.”

Here’s a little secret…..Every single counsellor you admire has felt exactly the same.

Feeling like an imposter doesn’t mean you’re on the wrong course. It means you care. It means you understand the responsibility of what you’re training to do. And honestly? A slightly wobbly, reflective trainee is usually a far better counsellor than someone who thinks they’ve already got it all figured out.

“But HOW Will I Fit It All In?”

Ah yes…. the great time management panic. Between placement hours, supervision, essays, skills practice, reading, and trying to have something resembling a life, it can feel like a very unfun game of counselling Tetris.

My honest answer.... You won’t fit it all in perfectly.

Some weeks you’ll feel on top of everything. Other weeks you’ll be googling “can I become a counsellor if I move to a small island with no Wi-Fi?” Be kind to yourself. Break things down. Do a bit at a time. Ask for extensions if you need them. Eat biscuits, drink plenty of tea and breathe.

This training is a marathon, not a sprint.

Use What’s Already Out There

The good news is you don’t have to do this alone. There are brilliant resources created especially for students:

• Counselling Tutor  an absolute lifesaver for making theory feel human and understandable.

• The work of Jane Jarvis, especially around setting up in private practice.

• The Counselling Tutor Podcast, The Thoughtful Counsellor perfect for car journeys to placement when you need to feel like someone actually understands your world.

  
  

And books like “Keep Breathing – Honest Reflections on the Things They Don’t Always Tell You in Training.” That title says it all really, doesn’t it? Sometimes just realising that everyone else is wobbling too can make the whole process feel a little less scary.

Personal Therapy – Non-Negotiable

Most courses insist on personal therapy, and there’s a very good reason.

Training will poke at your stuff.

Clients will poke at your stuff.

Life will poke at your stuff.

Having your own therapeutic space is not a luxury, it’s essential support. Those emotional wobbles you experience along the way? They aren’t a problem to be hidden. They’re part of becoming a thoughtful, grounded, empathic counsellor.

Use them.

Learn from them.

Let them shape you.

Make Supervision Your Best Friend

Supervision is not just somewhere to get your hours signed off.

It’s your safety net, your thinking space, and sometimes your emotional life raft.

Bring your uncertainties.

Bring your questions.

Bring the sessions where you thought, “Well… that was interesting.”

Good supervision helps you grow, not just as a practitioner, but as a person. (And if you’re ever looking for a supervisor who truly gets the trainee rollercoaster… you know where I am!)

Network Like Your Sanity Depends On It

Talk to other students. Join groups. Compare notes. Laugh about the madness of it all. Some of the best support you’ll ever have will come from people who are sitting in the same classroom thinking, “Is it just me?”

Spoiler: it’s never just you.

And Above All – Just Be You

This is the part I feel most passionate about.

Please don’t try to turn yourself into some “textbook version” of a counsellor.

Clients have brilliant radar for authenticity. They will see right through you if you’re pretending to be something you’re not. What they need is you, your warmth, your personality, your humanity.

You don’t need to be perfect.

You don’t need to have all the answers.

You just need to be real.

If you’re reading this as a student and thinking, “I need someone in my corner who understands all of this,” then you’re exactly the kind of person I love to work with.

Whether you’re looking for your own counselling, or a supervisor who remembers very clearly what it feels like to be in training, you would be warmly welcome here.

And if today is one of those “what am I doing with my life?” days…

Take a breath.

You’re doing better than you think.