Level 5 Advanced Counselling

Advanced Diploma Practitioner Training

Level 5 Advanced Counselling

In depth advanced counsellor training

Delivery Format

In person

Duration

Taken over 30 evenings 6pm – 9pm

Entry Requirements

Level 2, 3 and 4 counsellor training

Our Level 5 Advanced Counselling Diploma

Our Level 5 Advanced Counselling Diploma course broadens self awareness by engaging in crucial individual and group tasks/discussions. We have lined up some exciting topics for you to delve into. To build self-awareness in counselling we all need to learn about ourselves continually which is why continued professional development is so important. This Level 5 hits all the right notes.

Further more our Level 5 Advanced Counselling course extends the boundaries, pushing you far into your own personal stretch zone, testing personal limits and tolerances. But fear not, as a group, you will learn how far to stretch and when to rest your mind. Much like the Level 4 Counselling Diploma, this Level 5 Advanced Counselling Diploma is a life changing experience if you choose to engage fully.

How long is the course?

Entry onto this course requires the student to have completed classroom-based level 2 counselling skills course (minimum of 90 hours), and a classroom-based level 3 counselling theory course (minimum of 90 hours) including the successful completion of a practical 50 min skills assessment and received a ‘fitness to practice’ report to enable the candidate to seek a voluntary counselling placement. Plus, completion of your Level 4 Counselling Diploma and 100hrs Placement.

Our Level 5 year consists of 90 hours of classroom based training over 30 weekday evenings 6 – 9pm.

What is involved on the course?

Through a combination of theoretical learning and practical application, this course encourages personal exploration, helping you cultivate a richer understanding of how your own self-awareness impacts your interactions with clients. You will engage in reflective practices, peer feedback, and experiential exercises that deepen your insights and improve your empathetic abilities.

Group process discussions
Self awareness practical group exercises
Personal Values
Awareness of others
The influence of family
Our unconscious agreements in relationships with others
Primal wounds
Autonomy
How we relate to others
Feelings

Group process discussions

Group process discussions invite you to notice what emerges as people interact in real time—silences, alliances, tensions, and roles. By observing your own reactions within the group, you gain insight into your relational patterns. This live learning reveals how you show up with clients, highlighting habits, defences, and opportunities for greater presence and authenticity in therapeutic relationships.

Self-awareness practical group exercises

These exercises use structured, experiential activities to help you access your inner world in the moment. Through guided reflection with peers, you uncover automatic thoughts, body sensations, and emotional responses. This deepens your capacity to recognise your own material, so it doesn’t unconsciously shape or limit the space you offer clients during sessions.

Personal values

Your personal values shape how you see the world and make choices. In counselling, being aware of them helps you notice when your beliefs might influence your responses to a client. Rather than imposing your perspective, you learn to hold your values lightly—creating room for clients to explore theirs with freedom and dignity.

Awareness of others

Awareness of others means tuning into their experience without overlaying your own assumptions. It’s about being curious, not certain—listening to tone, pace, and unspoken cues. This skill allows you to meet clients where they are, fostering trust and creating the safety needed for them to explore their truth without fear of judgment.

The influence of family

Early family dynamics shape how we understand love, conflict, safety, and connection. Exploring this influence helps you recognise which patterns you carry into adulthood—and into the therapy room. This awareness prevents you from unconsciously replaying old roles, so you can relate to clients from a place of clarity, not unresolved history.

Our unconscious agreements

Unconscious agreements are unspoken rules we absorb early on—like “I must please to be loved” or “Strong people don’t show pain.” These shape how we connect. Recognising them helps you choose how you relate, rather than repeating automatic patterns. In counselling, this freedom allows for genuine, here-and-now presence with clients.

Primal wounds

Primal wounds are deep emotional injuries formed in childhood—often around belonging, worth, or safety. When triggered, they can cloud your perception or cause reactivity. By gently acknowledging your own wounds, you reduce the risk of them interfering with your work, allowing you to stay grounded and compassionate when clients touch similar pain.

Autonomy

Autonomy is your ability to act from your own internal compass, not from fear, approval-seeking, or external pressure. In counselling, it means trusting your judgement, setting clear boundaries, and staying true to your ethics. This inner strength creates stability for clients, showing them it’s possible to be both connected and self-led.

How we relate to others

How we relate—whether through caretaking, distancing, challenging, or adapting—is often habitual. Counselling asks us to become conscious of these patterns. When you understand your default style, you can respond flexibly to each client’s needs, rather than repeating the same relational script regardless of who is in front of you.

Feelings

Feelings are vital sources of information—for you and your clients. Learning to sit with your own emotions without fixing or avoiding them builds your capacity to hold space for others’ pain, joy, or confusion. This emotional presence, not technique, is what makes therapeutic connection real and healing.

Unlike traditional taught modules, the classroom-based personal development component of the Ridgeway Advanced Diploma in Counselling (Level 5) does not follow a lecture-based or syllabus-driven format. Instead, there are no formal modules during these sessions. All learning takes place through direct, experiential practice—including structured practical exercises, live group discussions, role-play, and reflective dialogue. This immersive approach is designed to deepen self-awareness, sharpen relational skills, and explore the personal dynamics that shape therapeutic presence.

As part of this journey, each student is required to maintain a personal journal throughout the Level 5 course. This journal is not assessed for content but serves as a private, ongoing record of your insights, emotional responses, and evolving understanding of yourself in relation to others. It becomes a vital tool for tracking your growth and preparing for supervision and reflective practice.

In addition to the personal development work, students must successfully complete the final assessment, which takes the form of an open-book examination. This question paper is designed to integrate theoretical understanding with your lived experience and ethical reasoning. Passing this examination is a key requirement for the award of the Ridgeway Advanced Diploma in Counselling (Level 5)—a qualification that reflects both professional competence and deep personal engagement with the counselling journey.

What do I do after I complete the Level 5 Advanced Counselling Diploma?

Once you have completed the Level 5 Advanced Couselling Diploma you may need a mental rest. But for those who need more, please see our psychotherapeutic courses below as some examples of how other counsellors build on their knowledge and self development.

If you need advice on setting up or growing your own private practice please do speak about this on the course as our tutors will have gone through this process themselves.

Some ideas of what you may need:

Extra Psychodynamic knowledge such as Hypnotherapy or CBT

A website and social engagement

An office space (individual or shared with another counsellor)

If you’ve been practicing as a counsellor for a number of years you may wish to engage on the Counselling Supervisor Diploma where you will learn how to look after newly qualified and experienced counsellors.

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The Level 5 course at Ridgeway has been the most demanding—and rewarding—stage of my training to date. The emphasis on personal development through experiential group work pushed me to confront my own patterns, assumptions, and relational habits in ways I hadn’t anticipated.

Level 5 Advanced Counselling

Advanced Diploma Practitioner Training