Work with our trainees as a placement provider

Thank you for your interest in becoming a professional placement provider with Long Valley Therapy Training.

Our second year trainee therapists must complete a 100-hour placement to develop professionally. This practical experience is essential for applying knowledge, building connections, and in the development of our trainee’s confidence as they work their way toward qualifying. This mutually beneficial relationship fosters professional growth for our students whilst enhancing your service and supporting your team’s goals.

Before we move ahead, we feel that it’s really important for us to be transparent about our expectations. There are a number of things we look for in a placement provider.

A nurturing, structured space – We are a good fit if you can provide:

• An established structure – Placement providers must have key policies (health & safety, safeguarding, data protection etc.) established and accessible.
• Workload – Counselling is emotionally taxing and we do not allow our trainees to work with more than five clients a week; this is number that should be gradually worked up to over the first few months. An additional consideration is that we require our trainees to deliver sessions that are between fifty and sixty minutes long.
• Age group – Our trainees are only taught the techniques and theories appropriate for work with adults and late teens, therefore, they are not permitted to work with anyone under the age of sixteen with no exceptions. Additionally, an absolute minimum of 60% of their placement hours must be with adults.
• Clinical supervision – Our trainees are required to have ongoing, fortnightly supervision with a qualified clinical supervisor. This must amount to no less that two hours per calendar month OR a ratio of 1:8 supervision to placement hours, whichever is the greater. If your cannot provide supervision with a qualified practitioner, you must agree to our trainees engaging with an external supervisor.
• Paperwork & line management – As part of their assessment, trainees are required to submit two key pieces of paperwork: a placement report and a supervisor’s report. You must agree to support our trainees in completing this within a reasonable time frame.
• Physical space – We are committed to protecting our trainees, their clients and the reputation of the profession. Counselling/therapy requires a suitable space that is respectful, safe, consistent and confidential. Before contacting us, please reflect on the physical space that you are able to offer our trainees.

Limitations – We are NOT a good fit if you are:

• An independent counsellor: we only work with established services such as schools/colleges, charities, counselling agencies etc.
• Trainee exploitative: We reject as exploitative…
• … the expectation that trainees to pay for the opportunity – they are professional adults who are already giving up a significant amount of their time and they will bring a lot to the table.
• … contracts or agreements that ‘tie in’ a trainee to voluntary hours beyond their mandatory 100.
• Professional body bias: If you require our trainees to be a member of a specific professional body other than the NCPS, we are probably not a good fit for you. All of our trainees are student members of the NCPS, a professional body that hosts an established PSA register and is an active member of the SCoPEd project.