Counselling skills are the trained way of listening to someone in difficulty: giving full attention, reflecting back what you hear, asking questions that open rather than steer, staying with silence, and keeping the boundaries that make the conversation safe. They are used every day by care and support workers, managers, teachers, housing officers and helpline volunteers, none of whom are counsellors. A short online introduction teaches the skills in a few hours. The Lift College Introduction to Counselling Skills course does it in 5 modules and 4 hours, with a CPD Standards Office accredited certificate the day you pass.
Counselling, counselling skills and advice
The National Careers Service describes counsellors as people who "help people talk about their situation and feelings in a safe and supportive way, and help them to cope and make positive changes". Counselling is a contracted, confidential relationship with a trained and usually registered practitioner.
Counselling skills are the listening and responding skills that counselling relies on, used by people who are not counsellors and who are not offering counselling. A support worker who listens to a resident, a manager hearing a member of staff out, or a volunteer on a helpline all use counselling skills. The line that separates them from counselling is the role: they are not the person's counsellor and they do not run therapy sessions.
Neither is the same as advice. A trained listener does not tell someone what to do. The urge to rescue, fix, advise and reassure is one of the main blocks to listening, and most introductory courses spend time on recognising it in yourself.
What a good introductory course covers
The Lift College course covers, in order:
- What counselling skills are and are not: counselling, counselling skills, advice, befriending and mentoring, who uses counselling skills at work, and why a trained listener does not give advice.
- Attending and active listening: giving full attention and showing it, including by phone and on a video call.
- Reflecting, paraphrasing, summarising and questions: the core responses that help someone hear themselves, open and closed questions, and staying with silence.
- Blocks to listening and self-awareness: the urge to rescue, fix, advise and reassure, judging and comparing, your own triggers and values.
- Boundaries, confidentiality, safety and signposting: confidentiality and its limits, time and role boundaries, when someone needs more than you can offer, and how to signpost to a GP, a helpline or a qualified counsellor.
That last module matters most at work. Anything you write down about a person you are helping, including notes of a conversation, is personal data under the Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. And a helping conversation has limits: knowing when and where to signpost is part of the skill, not a failure of it.
Who uses counselling skills at work
- Care, support and housing staff who are asked to listen to people in difficulty.
- Managers and team leaders handling difficult conversations.
- Teachers, teaching assistants, youth workers and pastoral staff.
- Volunteers with helplines, charities and community groups.
- Anyone who wants to be a better listener for the people in their own life.
Where it leads: the counselling qualification ladder
An introduction is also the quickest way to find out whether counselling training is for you. The National Careers Service's route into counselling starts with "an introduction to counselling course", which it says can last up to 3 months, followed by the Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Skills, the Level 4 Diploma in Counselling Skills and Theory and the Level 5 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. It gives a counsellor's salary as £25,000 starting to £48,000 experienced.
Lift College's next step after the introduction is the TQUK Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills: an Ofqual-regulated qualification in four tutor-marked units with recorded skills practice and no placement. Neither the introduction nor the Level 2 qualifies you to practise as a counsellor; that needs Level 4 or higher training with supervised placement hours.
What the Lift College course gives you
The Introduction to Counselling Skills course is 4 hours of learning in 5 short modules, with a knowledge check after each and a final test at 80% with unlimited free retakes. Your CPD Standards Office accredited certificate (provider 51289) names the course, shows 4 hours of learning, your completion date and a refresh date 3 years on, and can be verified. It costs £19.99, pay once, with 14-day money back. Employers can put a team through it on a free organisation account.
Where to go next
- Unsure what counts as a counselling skill? Read what are counselling skills.
- Thinking further ahead? See how to become a counsellor in the UK and counselling qualifications explained.
- Ready for the regulated route? The Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills.
- Browse all counselling and wellbeing courses.
Ready to start? See the Introduction to Counselling Skills course.