Many people today log on and are showered with the adverts for ‘psychological’ distance learning and hit by the pages claiming fantastic results and powerful learning!

It is even possible to attain a distance learning “psychotherapy” award over the internet and what is more unfortunate is that there are insurance companies who are ready to insure people in their award. This seems to be an extremely risky field of business when it gives open option to get into the helping people industry. The risks involved are

1.
It can take years of practice, trial and error to become proficient at understanding people’s emotions and how to work through them. This style of training can lead a student into a false sense of proficiency placing them at a high risk of damaging a clients well being.

2.
There is a great risk also to the student as if they do make a serious error leading to the worst case scenario of a client taking their life through depression, it could leave devastating guilt for years

3.
If low skilled practitioners start to flood the market it makes the general public very wary of trusting skilled practitioners

4.
If an unskilled student makes an error and the media decides to make a national story of it, it could severely damage the psychological industry as a whole

It is essential that people be aware that distance learning is only an awareness programme and if no practical training is given then the students practical skill can not develop, therefore the student must take adequate steps to gain practical training before working with the public.

In conclusion we need to look at this from both sides
Firstly, from the student’s view it is important that they are not duped into giving their money over to a company that is selling nothing more than a dream. In the people helping industry more emphasis needs to be placed on practical learning rather than the piece of paper that comes at the end of it. Failure to do practical training could literally give false sense of ability and put peoples lives at stake.

From the public’s point of view, care should be taken when choosing a coach or healer of which ever field. Never judge a book by it’s cover and never assume that the award or qualification that a practitioner has is a mark of their skill or ability. Find out where they gained their qualifications from and more importantly find their experience, grill them thoroughly – it is your psychological health at stake.