Practising at Spiral

We have four beautiful second/third floor consulting rooms consisting of a counselling/bodywork room, which can also be used as a group room for up to 10 people, and 3 smaller therapy rooms. We also have a larger ground floor group room and garden, for up to 20 people.

The therapists at Spiral share a vision of the interconnected nature of mind, body, heart and spirit. We have a commitment to keeping the energy flowing through mindful attention to our environment and to each other. Spiral therapists and clients come from diverse and multicultural backgrounds.

Joining the Team - Placements for associate counsellors and psychotherapists

Voluntary placements at Spiral are open to trainee or qualified counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to practise in a holistic and multicultural setting. We especially welcome those from minority groups but others should not be deterred as we carefully consider all good applications. We are looking for people who resonate with the energy of the centre and who can commit to a placement of at least a year, seeing three clients per week in a morning or afternoon (occasional evening slots are open to qualified therapists). Because some of the work is likely to be longer-term, applicants will need to have already experienced deep therapeutic journeys of their own, and be able to work at depth with clients. So this may not be a suitable place to have your first placement unless you already have considerable therapeutic understanding or experience in a therapy-related field.

The placement is supported by fortnightly individual supervision, which ensures a great depth of holding and learning. Because we receive no funding, there is a reasonable charge for this. Occasionally, for applicants who would otherwise be unable to have their placement at Spiral, we can offer a bursary towards the cost of supervision. The supervision is from an integrative perspective, and therefore if your training is not integrative, eg. purely person-centred or psychodynamic, you will need to demonstrate that you understand and are willing to work from an integrative frame.

Placement requirements

• Considerable depth of personal development
• Commitment to at least a year on placement
• Membership of BACP, UKCP or equivalent (This can take some time so you may want to apply straight away to avoid your placement start being delayed)
• Professional insurance
• Commitment to regular counselling or psychotherapy for the duration of the placement
• Commitment to contributing to the energy of Spiral, including attendance of 4 days a year organised by Spiral including workshops, supervision groups, open forum and social time. The dates for 2025 will be March 2nd, May 25th, September 7th and November 23rd. You can still apply if your training dates clash with any of these dates.  
  

Placement application procedure

If you would like to apply, please send or email a relevant CV, and a letter of no more than two A4 pages. Or you may send us a voice recording of your application of no more than 15 minutes. The application, whether written or spoken, should cover the following:

• In what way have you personally experienced a deep therapeutic journey, and what have you learned about yourself through it? This part of the application is crucial, we want to know about you and your process and how you might relate your life experiences to your future work as a therapist.
• In what way do you work holistically in the therapeutic setting?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses as a therapist?
• Have you been in a relationship with any of the therapists currently or previously at Spiral? This includes therapeutic, supervisory, friends, and any other relationship. If yes, can you tell us your thoughts about being in dual relationship.
• Do you have any physical or learning needs for access with which we can support you?
• How many client hours have you done to date?
• What times are you available for a three hour slot, Mondays to Fridays between 9.30am – 5pm (and evenings and Saturdays if qualified)?
• What times are you available for fortnightly 50 minute supervision? We cannot guarantee that this will be on the same day as a placement slot.
• Does your supervisor at Spiral need to be UKCP registered? (We do have some UKCP registered supervisors.)

We want to tell you that we will hold your personal information for the sole purpose of providing therapy at Spiral. You can withdraw consent at any time and we will delete your information immediately rather than our standard practice of deleting details within two years since your last contact with Spiral.

Qualified counsellors, psychotherapists and complementary therapists who practise from a holistic and empowering perspective, and who have considerable depth of experience, are also welcome to submit applications to join the therapy team.

In addition to this, we offer supervision for counsellors & psychotherapists and complementary therapists

Therapists can also attend trainings and continuous professional development workshops.