We're offering five progression-level bursaries for current counselling students to take courses at diploma level or above, starting in September 2023.
Your course must be core practitioner training that will give you with the necessary skills, knowledge and competence to work as a counsellor or psychotherapist.
What training does the scheme cover?
The progression-level bursary is available for core practitioner training in counselling and psychotherapy. This can be at the minimum level of a diploma in counselling or psychotherapy, but could be a bachelor's degree, master's degree or doctorate.
The course must meet the training requirements for BACP individual membership and include at least 450 hours tuition and a 100 hour supervised placement as part of the course.
These courses usually run at further or higher education colleges, universities or at private training institutions.
What does the bursary cover?
We will fund course costs of between £2,000 and £9,000, depending on the level of study and the training institution where you are studying.
We will also provide additional funding for:
- personal therapy – up to £1,500
- supervision – up to £1,000
- extra costs - up to £500
Who can apply?
You must have received confirmation that you've been accepted onto a qualifying course before you can apply for a bursary.
The scheme is open to all UK residents and we strongly encourage applications from racially marginalised groups. Applicants should be able to demonstrate that they are in genuine financial need.
How do I apply?
Applications for this scheme have now closed as we’ve reached the maximum number of applicants.
If you've submitted an application, you should still be able to access your account on the Blackbullion website, but you can’t make any changes.
The initial sifting and longlisting will begin in December 2022 through to January 2023. Your application will be assessed on a range of criteria, including:
- honesty, openness and ethical integrity
- creativity and imagination, as well as your sense of purpose and vision
- competence and aptitude in basic professional skills, and your capacity for self-management and communication
- capacity to cope with the emotional, intellectual and academic demands of the course
- self-awareness: how you use and reflect on life experiences, are self-critical, able to form healthy relationships and recognise the need for personal and professional support
- social justice: your awareness of the nature of prejudice and oppression, and of issues of difference and equality
Applications will be anonymised and ranked by Blackbullion. Those that meet the requirements will progress to for review by BACP. If you have any questions or concerns in the meantime, please contact support@blackbullion.com.
Following an exceptional and unprecedented response we’ve had to close applications for the bursary scheme as we’ve now reached the maximum number of applications (100). We’re overwhelmed by the interest in the bursaries and didn’t expect to reach the application limits so early. We’ll learn from this as we review the pilot scheme.
You can find more information in our Bursary scheme FAQs and Bursary scheme terms and conditions.