Volunteer Counsellor (Jan 2026, Closing Date: 02/02/2026)
Our commitment to you
St. Martin’s Counselling ensures structured, professionally supported placements for trainee and qualified counsellors, psychotherapists, counselling psychologists, and those pursuing accreditation.
Here for you
Our team has successfully supported over 2,000 trainees in obtaining clinical hours and can offer you a challenging, varied caseload.
We maintain training agreements with over 20 universities and training providers, and welcome new partnerships with training organisations.
Skills and Experiences Required
We uphold the highest professional standards for our clients.
You must be qualified or studying Counselling and/or Psychotherapy at Level 4 or higher, and have clinical experience or a fitness-to-practise approval from your training provider.
Minimum Professional Practice Requirement
Preference is given to candidates with a minimum of 15 hours of professional practice delivering core counselling competencies (as defined by their training body or professional framework).
These hours may be accrued through paid, voluntary, or placement-based roles, provided the work involved:
- Direct client contact
- Application of core counselling skills (e.g. contracting, assessment, relational work, ethical decision-making)
- Appropriate supervision and governance
Where direct counselling hours are limited, we may also consider applicants who can demonstrate core professional competence through related roles such as social work, teaching, healthcare, youth work, or similar people-facing professions, provided this experience evidences appropriate relational skills, boundaries, safeguarding awareness, and reflective practice.
This ensures that all practitioners joining our service are able to work safely, ethically, and confidently with clients in a real-world therapeutic setting.
You must commit to at least 2 remote and 2 face-to-face clients each week for a minimum of 12 months. We interview all applicants, and, if successful, you will need to provide the following information before beginning client work. We will need you to provide evidence:
- Of your Identity - Photo ID such as a Passport or Driving License
- You are on a valid therapy training course.
- Of your registration with a recognised governing body
- £2 million in professional liability insurance covering you as a therapist
- You have a supervisor.
- On the DBS Update service, or willing and able to complete a new DBS
- Prevent Certificate: Link
- Level 3 Adult safeguarding certificate: Link
- Contact details for two people we can approach for references
What happens next?
Once you submit your application, we will review it and contact you to confirm whether you have been shortlisted to meet with a member of our management team. Following the interview, you will have up to three months to submit all required documents and supporting evidence. Please check your email regularly, including your spam or junk folders, to ensure you do not miss any correspondence from us.