Tony Donohue 2009

Qualified 2009

I would like to say what a wonderful experience my course has been. It has truly encouraged an organic change in my process and subsequently, in my life. I am coming away from my training at LC&CTA a transformed practitioner and much improved man. In an amazing way, things will never be the same again!

Selina Jane Brown

I chose to study at LC&CTA to complete my professional training as a Person-Centred practitioner. For me the journey of in-depth self reflection has been a process that has changed and enhanced my lived experience. During my study one of the most important decisions I made was to opt to work as a Study Supporter; to have the chance to work directly alongside LC&CTA's highly experienced teaching team was not only valuable in terms of my own academic learning, but it enhanced my personal and professional development. However, more importantly for me I have felt humbled to be included in the journeys of self-exploration and discovery that other students went through; whether their journey was one of pure self-development to support an existing professional role, or whether their journey was being taken with the intention of pursuing the qualifications needed to practice as a professional counsellor. My journey of self-development at LC&CTA has been one that has filled my life with many potentials and continues to do so. I have decided to take my teacher training on LC&CTA's new Teacher training Programme that starts in January 2013 so that I may continue to be part of the courageous journeys LC&CTA's students undertake.

Jacqui Neil 2009

Qualified 2009

I’m coming to the end of my studies vastly different from how I begun. I’ve acquired skills and knowledge which have equipped me for being a good (moving towards excellent) counsellor. I say this whilst being aware that there is still a lot for me to learn in terms of the profession and learning about myself. Studying at LC&CTA has been a rollercoaster ride for my emotions and for me as a person. I have been stretched in ways that I could not have imagined and parts of the journey have been hard, challenging and painful. However the things I have achieved from each experience resulted in euphoria, I do not regret, in fact I am grateful that I decided to study here. The tutors have been a very important part of the whole process. Both Juanita and Chris and their team have facilitated my learning in both practical and personal ways; supporting me when I’ve needed it and not allowing me to get away with the things that in the longer term would hinder my professional and personal development. When I started studying it might as well have been French the tutors were speaking; I did not understand a thing and never thought I would. I did not believe that I could actually counsel a cat, let alone another person in need. Now everything makes sense, I’ve learnt a new language and I am counselling effectively with positive results for my clients.

Jyoti Joshi

HPD in Counselling Student

I have been on an incredible journey since I began my Counsellor Training. I have cherished every moment of the process. I have been able to get in touch with my true self and become whole and able to appreciate what life brings my way. On my journey I have been supported well by my tutors and my student group on the HPD course. I have been challenged but have also been emotionally held by my peers which encouraged me to go further into self exploration. I have learnt a whole new way of appreciating the positives and negatives in life. All this would not have been possible without the unique training offered by LC&CTA.

Linda Harvey

My experience of LC&CTA has, so far, been a challenging journey of learning and self development. The learning is predominantly Person-Centred, however, it was good to learn of other approaches i.e. Existensialism, CBT and the Psychodynamic Approach; this gave me a greater understanding of the different counselling theories. The research project I was involved with was very challenging for me, however, I learned a huge amount from this experience. The residential weekends were enjoyable but very self-enlightening. It also presented a time to bond further with my peers and tutors, plus the food was great! LC&CTA has also given me more opportunities to learn through many workshops that I have found to be extremely useful and helpful. I was also trained to help with Interviews for the lower grade courses and have worked on the Reception Desk which gave me the chance to see more of how the organisation works.

Debra Tweed

Qualified Counsellor

I have attended a number of Continued Professional Development Workshops held by LC&CTA. My experience has been beneficial and rewarding in terms of being provided on-going opportunities to further develop my skills and professional awareness. The background experience of LC&CTA tutoring staff provides a constructive learning environment which is supportive and encourages a sense of freedom to explore a range of personal and professional development issues that are stimulating and informative.

Wesley Freeman Smith

Put simply, it has been an incredible journey. The Diploma course under leadership of Juanita and Chris was deeply involving, challenging, and enriching. I look back in awe at where I was when I began in comparison with where I am now. Change is not always easy, and change is not always fun; throughout the course I have come up against things which are difficult. But in a reflection of the theory that underpins the whole experience, even at it's most challenging there is an eventual understanding that the direction all along has been toward personal growth and higher awareness. The tutors possess great insight into people - insight that at critical moments on the course has proved invaluable. In my experience person-centred counselling is the opposite of the caricatured 'nodding dog therapist'; it is a deeply relational process that requires the therapist to extend his/her whole being in response to the client, and is far from passive in this pursuit. The real learning for me as been here, in fostering a trust in and rapport with my own visceral, emotional, and organismic experiencing to the service of the therapeutic work. Needless to say I am now on wider journey that I am only just beginning, but LC&CTA has helped lay the foundations - by showing me all I can achieve and facilitating the confidence in me that I can do it.

Henry Sycamore

The most important learning I had was how to be strong in myself, trust my experience and find my own inner resources. I also discovered who I am and found a new confidence in myself. I got sick of hearing its a process and trust the process but these statements proved to be true. I found a place in LC&CTA in which I could really discover and be me without external expectation. It was this experience that allowed me to begin and continue to flourish as person and a professional with a bright future as I see it.

Carey Buchannan 2010

Qualified 2010

I found that at LC&CTA I was helped to experience the person-centred approach in practice and not kust in theory through the way that the tutors interacted with me. I was also encouraged to explore my potential to relate to others fully. I am just at the beginning of my journey as a qualified counsellor but my experience at LC&CTA has helped to give me confidence to pursue my dreams more and more in the future.

Mo Lishmoma

As a white woman, when Chris Brown spoke to a racially mixed group of students about her inherited racism, it was so healing for me to hear it openly acknowledged. It means a lot ... and also it means the white students don't just switch off defensively (as they might if a black person was speaking about racism). I've grown personally from taking the HPD course. I can communicate more honestly and openly and I can feel and express my anger much more appropriately. The growth continues. I'm also looking at my attitude towards and relationships with men and I am looking at my blackness, my whiteness and other things and issues raised by the course. Because I'm mixed race there's so much about race, identity, anger ... so much 'stuff' to explore. I just wanted to tell you and share my appreciation of the course. And for Chris' braveness in flagging up the issue of my whiteness (though I'm not visibly white it's still part of who and how I am). I fly the LC&CTA flag regarding diversity, multiculturalism and the mixedness of the course all over the place. I also share with people that it's not an easy process to study at LC&CTA and that Chris is charismatic and volatile woman!!! But I also want to share my love and appreciation for all that I experienced, the good the bad and the fucking horrible; in all its dimensions!!! Another thank-you and blessings is due to Linda Hafez as a Supervisor she is good at what she does and is a very good woman.