Courses FAQ’s

The British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) defines counselling and psychotherapy as “…umbrella terms that cover a range of talking therapies. They are delivered by trained practitioners who work with people over a short or long term to help them bring about effective change or enhance their wellbeing.” Islamic counselling may be for the individual or take the form of Islamic family counselling.

Islamic Counselling is a unique stand-alone model that involves specific techniques and a strong emphasis on character development via the therapist, including qualities such as trust, humility and compassion. While other models also emphasise ethics, we believe that a good counselling relationship (including its therapeutic value) arise from intense work by the therapist on their own selves spiritually and psychologically. In this way the therapist offers steadiness and clarity of heart (highly developed fitra). This enables a person to increasingly act in a way appropriate to both the circumstances of a situation and its meaning. 

Over time these intentions and behaviours become the foundation of an integrated self – one which is at peace with itself and our world, the Nafs al-Mutma`inna – the contented self. This gives people a lightness of being, a depth of understanding and something else, which could be said to be purity of heart through which light can shine.

We respect and incorporate techniques from other models where these sit with The Quran and the Prophet’s conduct, which are the two main foundations for our model.

While most of our participants are Muslim, our courses are designed to reflect the universality that is at the core of Islam. We ensure our all courses offer Islamic counselling – an introduction to theory and practice – that allow all students to benefit.

Our courses contain a strong emphasis on self reflection and self development. Student comments show the tremendous personal growth they experience during training and we offer a facilitated open environment that is warmly accepting and embraces everyone.

This answer is quoted from our award body, The British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, “Counselling is not a statutorily regulated profession which means the title of ‘counsellor’ is not protected by law. However, there are recognised benchmarks for practitioner training set by the professional bodies and awarding bodies which are associated with entry to practitioner registers and with opportunities for employment. The current absolute minimum qualification requirement is a Level 4 Diploma in Counselling although some professional bodies require higher level qualifications. 

In 2012 the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) introduced a system of ‘Assured Voluntary Registers’. The PSA’s role is to host ‘approved’ registers so that the public and employers can be confident that the counsellors on the register have met the necessary standards for safe practice. Organisations are not obliged to set the same entry qualifications but they are obliged to take account of what it generally accepted in the field.”