🌻 Advancing Your Counselling Practice: Level 5 Diplomas at Aspire Counselling Academy

After qualifying as a counsellor, many practitioners feel ready to specialise, refine their approach, or deepen their understanding of complex client work.
That’s where the Level 5 Diplomas at Aspire Counselling Academy come in — offering advanced, practice-focused training for qualified counsellors who want to extend their skills and professional scope.

Our January 2026 Level 5 programmes provide opportunities to explore new modalities, specialise in key areas of client work, and continue your professional growth within a supportive learning environment.

🌿 The Aspire Approach to Advanced Counselling Training

At Level 5, learning is both academic and applied. Each course encourages you to integrate new theory into your existing practice, while deepening self-reflection and professional confidence.

All Level 5 programmes are:

✨ Delivered by experienced tutors with specialist expertise

✨ Structured around live discussion, casework, and reflective practice

✨ Designed to meet CPCAB standards of ethical, professional development

✨ Built around small-group, relational learning

🌼 Level 5 Diploma in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapeutic Skills and Theory)

For counsellors seeking to integrate CBT principles into their existing practice, this diploma provides a structured and experiential route into understanding the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.

You will learn to:

• Apply CBT frameworks to client work within your existing modality
• Use evidence-based tools for identifying and challenging negative thinking patterns
• Integrate behavioural techniques to support client change
• Evaluate the boundaries and ethical considerations of CBT practice

Who it’s for:

Qualified counsellors who wish to broaden their theoretical range and incorporate structured, solution-focused methods within an integrative or humanistic approach.

Duration: 1 academic year

Next intake: January 2026

🌸 Level 5 Diploma in Working with Suicide and Suicidal Ideation

This specialist diploma is designed to equip counsellors with the confidence, knowledge, and sensitivity to work safely and effectively with clients experiencing suicidal thoughts or distress.

You will explore:

• Theoretical and ethical frameworks for working with suicide
• Trauma-informed approaches and risk management
• The emotional impact of suicide work and practitioner resilience
• Understanding rupture, empathy, and referral in high-risk contexts

This course encourages a trauma-aware, person-centred approach that balances compassion with professional boundaries.

Who it’s for:

Qualified counsellors who wish to develop advanced competence in suicide prevention and crisis work.

Duration: 1 academic year

Next intake: January 2026

🌻 Level 5 Diploma in Working with Children and Young People (Awaiting CPCAB Accreditation)

This forthcoming diploma has been developed in response to growing demand for counsellors skilled in supporting younger clients.

The course explores the developmental, emotional, and systemic factors that shape childhood and adolescence, and prepares practitioners to work ethically and creatively with these age groups.

Focus areas include:

• Child and adolescent development
• Attachment theory and relational safety
• Creative and play-based interventions
• Safeguarding and ethical practice with minors
• Family systems and communication

Who it’s for:

Qualified counsellors seeking to extend their practice to children and young people, whether in schools, agencies, or private settings.

Status: Awaiting CPCAB accreditation

Planned launch: January 2026 (subject to approval)

🌿 Level 5 Diploma in Transactional Analysis (Awaiting CPCAB Accreditation)

Transactional Analysis (TA) offers a powerful lens for understanding human communication and relationships. This diploma will introduce counsellors to TA theory and its integration into therapeutic practice.

You will study:

• Ego states, transactions, and scripts
• Life positions and psychological games
• The Parent–Adult–Child model in counselling
• Applying TA concepts within an integrative framework

Who it’s for:

Qualified counsellors interested in relational and structural models of therapy, and those who wish to apply TA principles in counselling, coaching, or supervision.

Status: Awaiting CPCAB accreditation

Planned launch: January 2026 (subject to approval)

🌸 Level 5 Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling (Awaiting CPCAB Accreditation)

This diploma offers counsellors the opportunity to explore the psychodynamic approach — understanding how unconscious processes, early experience, and relational patterns shape present behaviour and emotion.

You will learn:

• Core psychodynamic theory and technique
• Transference, countertransference, and resistance
• The role of the unconscious and defences
• Working with endings and attachment

Who it’s for:

Practising counsellors seeking to deepen their understanding of depth work and integrate psychodynamic principles into their practice.

Status: Awaiting CPCAB accreditation

Planned launch: January 2026 (subject to approval)

🌿 Why Continue Training with Aspire Counselling Academy?

At Aspire, we believe that professional development should remain relational, reflective, and rooted in care.

Our Level 5 tutors are experienced practitioners with specialist expertise, and our small-group format ensures that each learner receives personal attention and mentorship.

You’ll also join a community of counsellors who value continuous growth — people who are as passionate about their own development as they are about supporting others.

🌸 Advance Your Counselling Career in 2026

If you’re ready to expand your practice and deepen your professional confidence, our Level 5 Diplomas offer a range of pathways to suit your interests and client focus.

➡️ Enrolment for January 2026 is now open

Learn more and register your interest at:

🌐 www.aspirecounsellingacademy.co.uk