Description
A BACP-Informed CPD Training for Counsellors & Psychotherapists
Duration: 8 Hours CPD
Format: Blended Learning (4 hours self-study + 4-hour live workshop)
Level: Suitable for qualified practitioners and trainees on placement (with supervision)
🔹 Overview
Online and telephone therapy are now an integral part of contemporary counselling practice. However, working at a distance brings distinct clinical, ethical, and relational challenges that require thoughtful adaptation beyond traditional face-to-face skills.
This specialist CPD training is designed to support counsellors and psychotherapists in developing confidence, competence, and ethical awareness when working with clients online and by telephone.
Grounded in the BACP Online and Phone Therapy Competence Framework (2021), this training focuses on real-world clinical practice rather than technical instruction. It explores how to maintain therapeutic presence, assess suitability, manage risk, and work relationally in digital settings.
Participants will engage with both structured self-study material and a live, interactive workshop designed to deepen understanding and apply learning to practice.
🔹 What This Training Covers
This course explores key areas of online and telephone therapy, including:
- Understanding online and telephone therapy as distinct therapeutic settings
- Ethical decision-making and assessing client suitability
- Contracting, boundaries, and maintaining the digital therapeutic frame
- Trauma-informed and neuro-aware practice in online settings
- Managing relational depth, online disinhibition, and rupture
- Risk assessment, safeguarding, and crisis management at a distance
- Therapist wellbeing, supervision, and maintaining professional competence
🔹 Learning Outcomes
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Understand the differences between online, telephone, and in-person therapy and their impact on the therapeutic relationship
- Make informed and ethical decisions about client suitability for online and telephone work
- Establish clear, appropriate contracts for remote therapy, including boundaries and crisis protocols
- Apply trauma-informed and neuro-aware principles to support client regulation in digital settings
- Recognise and manage online disinhibition, intensified disclosure, and relational ruptures
- Assess and respond to risk and safeguarding concerns when working at a distance
- Reflect on their own competence, use of supervision, and professional responsibilities in online practice
🔹 Course Structure
Part 1 – Self-Study (4 Hours)
Participants will receive a structured training manual covering the theoretical, ethical, and clinical foundations of online and telephone therapy.
Part 2 – Live Workshop (4 Hours)
An interactive session focused on:
- Applying learning to clinical scenarios
- Exploring ethical dilemmas
- Reflective discussion and case examples
- Integrating learning into practice
🔹 Who Is This Training For?
This training is suitable for:
- Qualified counsellors and psychotherapists
- Trainee counsellors currently on placement (with supervision)
- Practitioners looking to develop or deepen their online/telephone practice
🔹 CPD & Certification
Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion (8 hours CPD) upon completion of the training.
This course is informed by the BACP Online and Phone Therapy Competence Framework (2021) and is designed to support safe, ethical, and reflective practice.
🔹 Important Information
This training provides professional development and does not constitute a formal qualification in online or telephone therapy. Practitioners are responsible for working within their competence, supervision, and ethical framework.
🔹 Why This Training?
Unlike generic online courses, this training focuses on:
- Real clinical decision-making
- Ethical complexity and risk
- Trauma-informed practice
- The realities of working with clients at a distance
It is designed to support practitioners in feeling confident, grounded, and ethically prepared in their online and telephone work.
