Unprecedented times in the professionalisation and state regulation of counselling and psychotherapy: the role of the Higher Education Institute

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article considers a number of issues facing those involved in counselling and psychotherapy training within United Kingdom Higher Education Institutes. It is proposed that the increasing professionalisation of counselling and psychotherapy has significant implications for lecturers and trainers. The article will explore the tension between the Higher Education Institute's responsibility to maintain an ethical position when the market driven work place into which trainees enter is calling for greater specification and standardisation in practice. Finally, the paper draws from the work of Paulo Freire and calls for a radical alternative pedagogy in response to the increasing standardisation of counselling and psychotherapy education. The proposed alternative explores the role and position that the lecturer-trainer might adopt when delivering and developing psychotherapy curricula.