KM

Aug 4, 2015

Underwhelmed by the 'service' offered!

There have been so many issues over the past 2 years with the service from Chrysalis it is hard to know where to start with regards to feedback! Considering the cost of the course (not cheap!!!) and the promises made from literature on the website and enrolment packs, I feel totally underwhelmed and dissatisfied with the experience I have had. If I had known then what I know now I would certainly have started my 'new career' training with another company. However, with contracts that detail refunds will not be given, even if you are dissatisfied with the service, there was little choice to move once signed up! Initially we were told that our diplomas would be recognised by the BACP and apparently that is now in question/not the case which I find very disconcerting. The planning and issuing of dates for each year's timetable of lessons as been nothing short of appalling. Our lesson dates only being issued 4-6 weeks before we were actually due to commence the course. Considering the courses are aimed at mature students who work and/ or have families Chrysalis' lack of preparation for this does not allow for any forward planning for childcare, personal events etc...This has caused no end of problems for myself and my colleagues with regards to 'life planning'. The icing on the cake came at the end of our 2nd year (2015) when we received a letter to say our 3rd was being postponed for 8 months!! This meant that instead of qualifying fully in 2016 we would not have qualified until well into 2017! A considerable delay given we had signed up for a 3 year course that started in 2013! This notification was only received a few weeks before the year ended and without so much of a phone call let alone any sort of consultation with us. A serious state of affairs given that Chrysalis had already got all our money for this final year and claimed that the postponement was due to financial issues?!! Following a series of complaints from all the course students, our final year was eventually reinstated but this was not without considerable stress and anxiety (not to mention the effort on our part to secure a tutor as they had not attempted to do this!!). The room/venue we had for the first year was exceptionally noisy (almost impossible to practice hypnotherapy techniques in such an environment). Following notification of this to Chrysalis we were promised that someone from the company would visit the site and/or arrange to move us to a room that was more conducive to study. Neither of which happened so we suffered with the situation for the entire year. With regards to the teaching aspect of the course, during our first year we had to notify the company we were not getting any feedback on our work. After a number of complaints from the students things started to change but we were surprised we had to pick this up in the first place! The tutors input for our 2nd year was much better however I don't believe this is to do with Chrysalis but rather the integrity of the tutor involved. In addition, there is little guidance with regards to sourcing clinical placements either - if you want to progress to the professional level diploma (level 4?) you have to do all this yourself with minimal help so good luck if you get to that stage! In a nutshell, if I had my time again I would certainly look at a course run by a local college or university as my confidence in Chrysalis has gone.