Counselling Psychology trainees and qualified Counselling Psychologists are an integral part of NHS England services. However, for more than 20 years, Counselling Psychologists have self-funded their training.
Data collected in Mar 23 from 8 Counselling Psychology doctoral training programmes identified 194 trainee Counselling Psychologists providing 1120 hours of therapy to NHS England patients each week, for which the vast majority receive no payment. The cost to NHS England of providing these therapeutic contracts would be approx £1.4 million. The Division of Counselling Psychology at the British Psychological Society find NHS England’s rationale for failing to equitably fund all practitioner psychologist’s training difficult to comprehend.