Chrysalis courses receives consistently positive reviews. Customers particularly appreciate professional and service, though some mention concerns about communication and expensive.
Sandra our tutor for year 2 has been so supportive and helpful and brings passion and knowledge in abundance. She shares so much and her feedback is thorough and thoughtful and so helpful. She's been amazing and I'm excited to continue the second half of the year and progress onto year three. Thank you so much to the staff behind the scenes and placements team too for always being ready to answer queries and help where they can.
I have found crystals to be great training Especially silly with Melanie Phelps, great teacher
I have been with chrysalis for 2.5 yrs, my 1st year was enjoyable, with a great tutor, my 2nd year not so much, however, on year 3 1st session in January, my current tutor gave me structure, with slideshows & video clips to explain in more depth and giving examples of the different topics, I have thoroughly enjoyed my first 5 modules as I am a visual learner, the guidance given is great by Sarah Jones and she is a real fit for our group, I am looking forward to the rest of my final year with Chrysalis
I have had a great experience training with Chrysalis. The pluralistic content of the course has been very interesting and I believe has put me in good stead for my future as a counsellor. Most beneficial to my experience though is my tutor, Martina. Martina is incredibly knowledgeable, always puts us at ease, fills us with confidence and gives valuable feedback.
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I am just over half way through my 3 years of study. It has been a very positive experience in which I have learned much about myself and developed the skills to help others and set up my own hypnotherapy practice. I have been part of a really supportive tutor group which has greatly enhanced the experience and kept me motivated at times when I seemed to struggle. As for chrysalis the administration has been disappointing and from my experience tutoring issues have made me question my continuation of the course. I have however continued with the encouragement and support from fellow students and on the basis you get out of anything what you are prepared to put in.
Date of experience: August 12, 2015
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I t took me a long time to sign up for this course I deliberated and wondered if I should have applied to The Open University but as I had not worked at this level before I wanted to ease into higher education but in hindsight , I wish I had applied to the OU I was persuaded to sign up for 3 years. The first year was Hypnotherapy, which I did not really want to do but actually was given a distinction and really enjoyed it Although I was perplexed with the whole distinction thing as apparently it was up to the Tutor to award only a couple of people distinctions Why could she not have pointed out to the whole class what was needed to achieve a distinction and then awarded whoever met the criteria ?I was also told by a fellow student that she must of made a mistake giving it to me I did wonder, as she seemed to get confused with her pupils The 2nd year started off ok, many of the pupil’s shared their personal stories/tragedies, (It seemed to attract people that need counselling or who have had it ) . It was up to pupils to find people to practise on at home The Tutor varied on how approachable he was At first he came across as “A character “ as stated by several pupils and many were vying for his attention I really liked him too but as time went on, he could be moody and sometimes looked positively bored or tired. or a combination of both By year 3 all he seemed to say was "Get into your practice groups and discuss" There was only a handful of us left by then There were people who had signed up to do year 3 but left and asked for a refund . Some of the content was good and I found it interesting I really enjoyed researching and writing my essays but I do not believe the tutor's comments on essays were constructive enough, I wanted to work to a high standard but was not encouraged to do so again , why could he not led us to know what was needed to achieve a distinction He did not say goodbye to me at the end of the course, he just walked off (Obviously not one of his favourites?!! ) In terms of academic achievement, I wish I had chosen OU although I can now start a degree with some CAT points under my belt but it took 3 years of my life On the positive side it does not require as much work per month as a degree course What about the qualification? Well you can set up a private practise as a Hypnotherapist, which I achieved You can also set up as a Counsellor and Psychotherapist in private practice but the qualification really does not have any kudos or recognition out in the real world amongst IAPT teams within the NHS and it is not applicable to work with children. However I do use a lot of techniques I have learnt in my role working for a Mental Health Charity I would say look at all the options before you sign up I did gain some good knowledge but I wish I had the confidence to complete a proper degree ....Another positive is that the Chrysalis course is cheaper than a degree course
Date of experience: August 10, 2015
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I am completing the Advanced Diploma in Psychotherapeutic counselling and the course is very well structured. I have without doubt an excellent teacher who teaches in a very positive way. I have benefited immensely from the course and have valued the expertise of the course tutor as well as sharing information with my fellow students. I would strongly recommend Chrysallis to potential Counselling students.
Date of experience: August 9, 2015
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I completed the Advanced Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling, starting in year 2 because I had already completed a level 3 course. As with most education success comes down to you putting in the hardwork and the quality of your tutor. My 2nd year tutor Maggie was highly qualified and a successful counsellor in her own right and was wonderful in all aspects. This course in itself is probably not enough to make you a counsellor at least not a good one. If however you are prepared to do additional CPD and other higher level learning then this is an excellent foundation.
Date of experience: August 8, 2015
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I simply loved the chrysalis course - Diploma in Hypnotherapy. I had been practising hypnosis for nearly 26 years before I started this course and still got so much from the course. It is not a course for the faint hearted, there is a lot of information to process and then there is the homework. The great thing about the course is that it eases you in and then get more intense - designed to push and expand your understanding of Hypnotherapy. From this course I have started two quite successful businesses. I fully recommend this course and also Chrysalis as a provider of quality psychological teachings.
Date of experience: August 7, 2015
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I was very sceptical about hypnosis and hypnotherapy before the start of my course. But once the course started I loved every minute of it thanks mostly to our great tutor, Bob Collins. He cganged my perspective of what hypnotherapy is and I enjoyed the year and the course tremendously. My classmates were great too and I made some good friends.
Date of experience: August 6, 2015
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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.
Date of experience: August 5, 2015
As with all courses, the more one puts in (and the better the tutors), the greater and the more phenomenal one's experience and outcome will be. The course tutors I had were lovely warm individuals and very experienced professionals from whom I learnt a great deal, and the course's recommended reading is also an essential part of the tuition as this is a course that also relies a lot on one being enthused and self-motivated. My fellow students were very lovely people that I enjoyed study and practice with. The Chrysalis courses have been life changing personally as well as professionally, and I really can't imagine life without the richness of perspective that I now have! One caution, make sure that that you are fully aware of what is required of you if your goal is BACP or UKCP membership, and do this before you start a course. I have no reservations in recommending Chrysalis as I did the courses while in full time employment, and what they offered suited my scenario. Addendum: I am so sorry that others had such a different and awful experience and feel very fortunate. I took my course in South Hertfordshire and we had three very experienced tutors, Karen Ferguson (Hypnotherapy), Lorna Cordwell (Psychotherapeutic Counselling), and Melanie Phelps (Advanced Psychotherapeutic Counselling). You can do a web search on the instructors that I had and you will find that they are very highly regarded, and from my experiences with them I can see why. I learnt so much from them about being a good therapist. All three gave us practical work to do with fellow students during classes (and to do in our study groups during the month). The essays were challenging but I learnt a great deal from doing them too. I agree with criticisms about classroom organisation, but again we were fortunate to have class mates who contributed biscuits, tea bags, shared, and who had local knowledge of where to get sandwiches if we forgot etc. I agree printed materials were not physically of the highest grade, but their content taught a great deal. It appears that consistency of training is the issue, and I feel even more fortunate to have experienced Chrysalis as they intended it to be. I agree that administration was somewhat haphazard, but any concerns I had were voiced to both instructor and Chrysalis directly, reporting my experience and suggesting a solution. In my third year my results (case study marking) were delayed two months because it had been sent for second marking by independent examiners - Chrysalis do this for self auditing. I dreaded the worst because of this delay of course, but that was because of my invested effort to be the best therapist I could be (as we all do) magnified my feelings. Chrysalis did not contact me to tell me this is what was being done so I pointed out how awful the experience was from a student's perspective. They appeared to take this on board when I discussed it with them. I was delighted when I eventually found out that I had been given a distinction but the delay was awful for me, it was however for practical reasons even if handled clumsily from my perspective. I could complain about the stress of a delayed result, but isn't this something that I also needed to address and understand properly? No matter what my academic result was, hadn't my case study made the most amazing progress? It taught me that this was the most important thing to me, it was them that mattered above all else. I had used my training and reading to the full, and I could go for further training if the worst came to the worst (something we do anyway later). This challenge was itself something of an opportunity for me to look at myself. The horrifying experiences of others do leave me speechless, but I want to point out that the courses do what they are supposed to in other locations, and that there are other quite amazing tutors. I realise that this no consolation for you if your experiences have been horrible, and Chrysalis need to address your complaints if they have not been already. My heart definitely goes out to you.
Date of experience: August 5, 2015
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Our course tutor was awful! If you have problems reading English you may be impressed, she simply read the notes from the sheet word for word, then handed them out at the end of the session. She seldom answered a direct question, but said she would come back to it but never did. The bordom level was very high in the class. Being motivated, I did lots of independent research and practice, so passed the course despite the poor tuition. Hypnotherapy is something I had been interested in for a while, so I don't regret doing the course as it gave me direction in my breadth of study. I have also helped two people to completely stop biting their nails and another friend to stop smoking. It is great to help people!
Date of experience: August 5, 2015
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I did the three year course in advanced counselling and psychotherapy and I have no hesitation in recommending it to others. The course itself is life-changing in more ways than one. Not only does it teach you a valuable profession and give you a whole new skills set but can also offer you a different view of the world and the way you approach life if you let it. This is a great reason to do the course on its own ! Professionally, it's approach is quite different. In doing hypnotherapy you gain an understanding of the operation of the brain that puts you in a great position to learn the different approaches to counselling as well as giving you a useful skill to use where applicable. That's a unique insight that you don't get elsewhere but it's one that will make the whole course much more easy to understand. I am now a working psychotherapist in a clinical setting so I have no hesitation in suggesting that this course will get you where you need to be.
Date of experience: August 5, 2015
