Chrysalis courses
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I came to Chrysalis because I was seeking an update and needed an accredited course. I had already completed a 3 year psychotherapy course in London at the Institute for Arts and Therapy some years before but this was not accredited at the time. I completed one year (level 2) with Chrysalis and was very concerned at the poor quality of what was on offer. Many other blogs here use the word unethical I can only concur. Be clear that what you are paying for here is 10 sessions / 10 whole days of theoretical input with hardly any practical work – if you need to find a placement that is left to you entirely – no support is given. Some folk entered this course with NO prior experience of working with clients at all – and even at level 3 they still had not worked one to one with anyone except family members. This was encouraged – with no consideration/ discussion of the ethical or boundary issues involved when working with family/ friends. It is my belief that 10 sessions and 10 essays do not qualify you to work with emotionally vulnerable adults or even 2 years of this. If you go on a counselling course – 2 years once a week at an accredited college the input and structure is quite different – far more demanding and pedagogically sound but still you would not be able to call yourself a psychotherapist – simply a counsellor. This course is however a quick route to being self-employed and many have used it as a vehicle to launch themselves as therapists. Here are some of the points I raised about the course none of which were addressed. • Very poor communication from administrative staff - I paid for the course in August and had to make telephone calls over a period of three months before I received any satisfactory information about when the course was to begin or where it would be. • The information sent informed me that I could find out about my tutor on the website but that was not the case. • On arrival on the first day of the course I was expecting a group of 15 or so but there were 35 people in the room – AND the room was not large enough to accommodate us all. Thus we had to sit squashed in rows like schoolchildren. • The first hour or so of the course was taken up with complaints about poor administration. The tutor did her best to consider every point raised but was more or less barraged with complaint. Not a great start! But more importantly that meant that no time was given over for introductions and these never took place. A year later I was no more aware of what experience my fellow course members had brought to the course than when we started. • Some course members had not brought lunch – none was provided neither was tea or coffee - only hot water. The tutor had no idea where lunch could be found as none was available at the venue. • I was amazed to discover that the delivery of the course was to be from a well-thumbed and screwed up pre written flip chart. Not an overhead or anything involving the use of web pages/ sites. • The tutor read this word for word!!!! EVERY SESSION. When questions were asked these were not addressed. • There were often insufficient handouts for the group. • When discussing assignments we were offered three two hour slots where we could telephone the tutor for support but no email options – I found this incredulous. • Part of the course requirement was that we should form groups but this group was spread over a HUGE area covering Birmingham / Wolverhampton/ Lichfield/ Rugby/ Coventry/ Leicester and much further afield. Thus there was never any sense of ‘group’ or bonding established. • There was no CPD or Professional Development Group work throughout the course. • What little practical activities / skills work we did were for the whole group altogether and the tutor would wander around the room – listening in. No one to one feedback ever took place. The tutor was pleasant and helpful but seemed unconcerned about issues surrounding ethical boundaries - as a practising therapist I found this also alarming. Needless to say I would not recommend this course or this organisation. If you want to find a good one look on the B.A.C.P accredited courses site.