Counselling skills: A journey of discovery

From the age of 16, Heidi Wildman had dreamt of becoming a counsellor. After completing an introduction to Counselling course, Heidi found that she was unable to progress in her studies due to the age restriction on further studies in the field. Heidi moved forward with her life in a different direction and started a family. 

Heidi said, “When the pandemic hit, I felt that I needed to start doing the things I had always dreamed of to forge a pathway of my own. I started researching Counselling courses and found that CRC offered all that I needed, flexibility, affordability, and great course content. I enrolled onto an evening class so that I could fit my learning around my full-time employment and family commitments.”

While studying for her Level 2 Counselling with CRC Heidi completed Level 3 alongside as a distance learner. With the goal of becoming a qualified Counsellor firmly in mind, Heidi intends to progress to the Level 4 next year and hopes to be fully qualified by 2025.

Heidi added, “One of the highlights of the course has been the self-awareness unit which has highlighted behaviours that we all develop to protect ourselves. It has been really interesting as you don’t always realise the unconscious decisions that you make as a result of personal experiences. I have also found the basic counselling and listening skills have taught me how to put boundaries in place, to stop people taking advantage. I have already utilised these skills in the workplace.

I feel as though this course should be mandatory for everyone, even if they don’t want to go into counselling as it teaches you essential life-skills that we would all benefit from such as the skill of listening, forming positive relationships and not feeling as though you have to take responsibility for fixing everything.

I would recommend this course, I have enjoyed the content, the pace and have found the workload manageable. The tutor is very helpful, hands-on and friendly. She has kept up the flow of the course while supporting those that have struggled at points.” 

Find out more about studying Counselling courses at Cambridge Regional College.