When is it time to stop training

Hi Susanna

i suppose it depends on what therapy you are practicing etc. I studied counselling and psychology about 17 years ago, and over the years have done the odd top up course, such as NLP, life coaching etc, but dont feel that I would now have enough skills to run a full time practice without further study, because therapies evolve, we get new ideas and information.

In my own sports therapy profession, I have seen so many changes, and new techniques that benefit both the therapist and client. If I were to stick with things I was taught a few decades ago, I would not have a business.

I understand that courses cost money, but I always think that you speculate to accumulate, its always been my motto, and it (nearly) always works.

I hate to study, I hate exams,

Must we spend our whole career going on courses, paying out heaps of money that takes weeks to recoup only to find that another idea has hit the headlines and we need to be certified to practice it.

I haven't had one career to follow and I've just starting my 3rd career in my 50th year. I've always done some sort of education, most has been profession related and some hasn't.

I don't think you should see education as something that's just to maintain your career, but you should see it as self development. Perhaps I'm an extreme case because like you I hate certain types of study, I definately hate exams and I'm dyslexic. But they just add to the challenge of self development. While I have been on vocational or academic courses, I've also completed; the RHS certificate, painting and decorating, and ceramics.

Ok, I've got enough certificates to paper the house. But it's not about pieces of paper, but developing as a person, and gives rise to some interesting conversations in job interviews.

Would I stop training, nah... Looking forward to doing 2 - 3 short courses this year and then starting a Level 3 course in September.

Myarka

Must we spend our whole career going on courses, paying out heaps of money that takes weeks to recoup only to find that another idea has hit the headlines and we need to be certified to practice it.

Hm. The day I stop learning will be the day I stop living.

But I share your cynicism about expensive courses that aren't worth the paper they're written on. I'm in the position of doing some training to do something I've been doing all my life intuitively just so my insurance company will accept I can do it. But hey ho, I am learning some things on it I didn't know before so it will be worth it.

Hi Susanna

Sometimes I think that, "Oh not another course, when will it all end?" But a lot of courses I have done recently have paid for themselves. Two years ago I studied Indonesian Traditional Massage which cost about £600 to increase my skills as a bodywork therapist. I got that back in 2 months and still today earning regular money from it. What other ways could I had invested that money and would have I had such a high return? We're talking a return in the £1000's.

I consider the therapy world in terms of who dares wins. I regularly talk to students, new therapists, and wannabes, and often surprised at their negative attitude at seeing this as a career to invest in. May be it's a lack of confidence? Who knows but if I didn't get off my backside and developed my skills, I wouldn't be now a skilled, experienced and busy therapist. I'm only on here now because a home visit client has cancelled, so "doing paperwork" and having a break Off to teach Tai Chi later.

Sometimes I do wonder whether or not the drive of PA's for us to do CPD is just a money spinner. Yes CPD is important but I look at some of these courses and they seem a poor quality - my main complaint is two days of info & skills squeezed into one day.

Also training courses can be like a drug, hence the need for more. Personally I like to study one thing at a time to consolidate the information.

And just thought of another thing: many therapists do is try to jump onto the next thing, hoping that this will be the next therapy that will really make them succeed financially or make them feel good inside! For example (a gross generalisation): tried Reiki, tried crystals, tried selling Hello Vera products, tried BSY hypnotherapy course, tried EFT and still get nowhere.....

I have to admit in my own career it took me a while to find my own feet and that is oriental therapies, and now just focus on that. Always new things to learn and discover. Otherwise it would bore me!

Best Wishes

RP

I've just started a new thread on the dodgy courses I'm seeing out there and then I saw this one.

I do think that sometimes therapists can get caught up in doing loads of CPD and ending up being "jack of all trades and master of none". I know of a therapist who has a list of treatments as long as their arm and I can't see how they can be good at all of them.

Personally [and I know I'm going to get shot down in flames here] I get disheartened to see course after course coming out when someone has just tagged the word tibetan/eastern/indian on the front of it to make it look like it's something new. My immediate, albeit cynical reaction, is to wonder what real tibetans would think of it? They'd probably die laughing. Once again, I stress, these are my personal thoughts and observations, before I have other forumites telling me I should be watchful of making defamatory comments.

To go back to your point of many new things not being very far removed from your original training - on my massage course we learnt very good face massage techniques. Now you see "miracle non-surgical facelift" massage courses, which, as far as I can see teach nothing new.

I think carefully chosen training, at the right juncture, with good course providers is beneficial.

I am hoping to start my degree in counselling next year and I love the acadmeic side of it as well as the hands on side of it.
The reason I love the studying is because I love to be with people [especially the PD groups] and I love learning [about myself and others]
I love being in a group of people who share the same passion as I do. I wish my studying would never end. There is so much knowledge out there. So much to see and so little time...

On the other hand I also love one to one work.

One of the main reasons for me to become a counsellor and hopefully an analyst later on is that I never stop learning. I do it because I am passionate about it. Not because I see it as a chore. It is an absolute pleasure.

One of my tutors told me once that if something is bugging you, take it as a gift. Something inside of you needs looking at and attention.

Good luck with your never ending journey

x

I absolutely love learning, having been doing it non-stop for the last 15+ years and would never stop. AND there are some courses that are worthless (however, I usually found something I could learn on those rare occasions when I've found myself on one of those - there were some excellent examples of how NOT to design/teach courses :)).

I have heard of some highly experienced, very qualified and over-qualified therapists who do some very questionable and unethical things in their practice. I have also met some people in the very early stages of their learning journey as a therapist/counsellor/people-helper, and they have a natural wisdom, warmth, congruence, and I would feel utterly safe in their hands as a client. I don't care if they have a certificate.

I do quite enjoy having some external evidence of my learning such as a certificate, but I mostly learn because I'm hugely curious, find it fun, and meet lots of wonderful people through courses I attend and teach myself.
Some of the most fabulous courses I've attended were not certified. E.g. there is one trainer from whom I learnt more in 3 days than from a whole bunch of internationally renown trainers over a period of some years.

Anyway, I think learning is an individual choice, and if you really dislike trianing (which is different from learning) - do something different instead, that would give you fulfilment and joy.

Masha

Great to see other's thoughts on training, I know everyone is different, I think my problem is that I hate role play and I hate essays, I should try some personal CBT to get to the bottom of it but I think mainly I would just like to be able to enjoy what I am doing - not continually be inundated with invitations to take this course and that training seminar as if I'm not qualified enough. I think the main trouble is that there is so much money to be made in training these days that the stronger more forceful amongst us (Warriors usually) persuade us Settlers that we are not competent if we do not possess their qualification.

The additional problem I have is my concentration, as I've got older I find it difficult to read and store the information, I can look at a page for 10 minutes and not tell you what was on it.

I was once told go out there and do it. Since I started in 1992 there have all these new techniques and in fighting. Now we have life coaches and you can't do it till you have been trained. I was doing it before anyone thought up the course does that mean I can't help people to manage their lives

I have heard of some highly experienced, very qualified and over-qualified therapists who do some very questionable and unethical things in their practice.

I guess I'm probably over-qualified lol and it hasn't stopped me being incredibly stupid sometimes, to my client's detriment and my embarassment.

I wonder if more education helps in this case. I'm pretty sure that the answer lies in working on empathy, presence.

How that is best done will depend on the individual. Get a good supervisor and listen, is my advice.

Once I achieved a certain level that I was confortable with then I found that simplicity was the thing for me, I try to approach things very simply, the simpler the better. I don't do counselingr anymore but as you say, listening to the client and empathy and also intuition are the most important thing for me.
bbd

I feel that it's never time to stop training, within reason.

I'm on a course this weekend (and should be in bed right now I suppose). I don't need the course for CPD, in fact my "CPD year" only began a few weeks ago and this course will give me 2/3 of the points my regulating bodies require for the entire year. However, as far as I'm concerned, there maybe some technique(s) in the course content that I haven't come across before which means that even if only a tiny snippet of the course is of value then I have furthered the ways in which I can help my clients.

That said, I do agree that many of the courses, particularly those aimed at already qualified therapists, are a waste of time and money. I recently looked through an entire list of courses from one provider and felt they were not covering anything that I did not already know and practice.

There was another provider I also looked at because I am rather anti the way their therapists present themselves and have a holier than thou attitude within the industry despite, in my opinion, being less qualified than the rest of us. I felt that if I held their qualifications then it would make my debates with them more interesting and would sort out my CPD for a full year. I was shocked to find that not only was the course only distance learning (which I do not believe can be done to practitioner level within hypnotherapy) but that they also wanted £2,400 for the course!

My answer would be never ............

Since I started on my holistic journey I have learnt such a lot about myself and other people, what makes me and them tick, how we can help ourselves and how to believe in myself that I can make it happen and if you believe in yourself you can also make a difference.

Over the years I have done a number of courses, but I always do a lot of research about the course, who takes it, etc, talk to people who have recently undertaken the course, get some feedback and then make a decision is this for me or you or not? What will I get out of this afternoon or day course? Let alone paying out for longer courses, is it going to be of benifit, cost effective, a useful learing tool.

Over the years I have taken a little of this, a little of that and added it to the relexology and IHM, whilst my journey with aromatherapy is a never ending journey of learning (so far).

I've had reflexology off people who still do the same routine time and time again, which is good, comforting, reassuring, but I know what is coming next, I like a bit of spontanaity, try something new, add something extra.

Sometimes jumping outside the box has it's advantages.

Fudge

I can understand why some of us love to keep training as we are all different, what I still don't get is why those of us who just want to get on with our work are made to feel 'insecure - inadequate - underqualified' just because we are comfortable that what we already know is enough for the way we run our business. After all, as a 'mind therapist' it's not like you need to be continually introduced to new equipment, it's just more research and different techniques, that are initially thought up by one person then marketed. Surely by talking to our clients we are researching every day, and if we do come across something that stops us in our tracks then we go to supervision and take it from there.

Hi Susanna

That's a valid point, why do some therapists feel 'insecure - inadequate - underqualified'? Was it that the training not up to it in the first place? Is it a class thing - being brought up with a sense of social inferiority? Is it because education has become a hugh industry? I don't know the answer, but I would like to hear some Hp opinions.

Best Wishes

RP