The Realities of Counselling Placements: What Every Student Counsellor Needs to Know

The waiting game: When theory meets reality

Finding a counselling placement is one of the last big hurdles in training, and if you are a student counsellor, you will already know that placements are often described as the place where theory meets practice, where you finally sit down with “real” clients, and build up the counselling hours needed to qualify. By the time you reach this point, most of your criteria are complete, the end is in sight, and you can almost touch the diploma.

What people do not always tell you is how long, stressful, and at times almost comical this part of the journey can feel. You get the green light, you are good to go, and all that is left is to send off an application and then instantly step into a counselling room.

But unfortunately, quite often it feels more like applying for a golden ticket, and instead of the prospect of visiting Willy Wonka’s factory, you get an empty diary, endless emails, and tutors reminding you to be patient. That patience becomes increasingly difficult when all your peers seem to find a placement and you are still left with what feels like searching for the orange one in a bag of Revels and constantly getting coffee.

The search for the perfect counselling placement

When I started looking for a placement, I was determined to work in men’s mental health. That meant sending applications that often vanished into the void. Some organisations never replied. Others politely explained they were full. A few kept me dangling with “we’ll be in touch.”

Eventually, I was lucky enough to receive a few offers, but when I found an organisation that truly matched my passion, a men’s charity, it felt like winning the lottery. I thought everything would fall into place from there. Instead, I discovered that even once you secure a placement, the real waiting game has only just begun.

Sitting with an empty diary (literally)

This is the part no one warns you about. The excitement and nervousness mounted when my Clinical Lead informed me that they had the 'perfect' client for me. I contacted them, they responded, we set a date. For three consecutive weeks, I sat waiting for the same client to arrive. Each time, they did not show. Each time, they said that they would attend the following week. Each time, my nerves kicked in like it was my first session all over again. Every week, I asked about a new client. The answer? “We give every client three chances before allocating you a new one.”

That was the rule. Which meant three weeks of me showing up, preparing myself, and then sitting with silence. Meanwhile, my peers were already seeing clients and “steaming ahead.” They were racking up counselling hours, while I was racking up tea breaks, eating biscuits, and wondering whether my counselling career had ended before it began.

It was a painful and, looking back now, slightly absurd experience. Waiting for someone who never arrived taught me more about patience than any textbook. It also gave me an early taste of what it feels like when clients cancel or do not show up, something every therapist eventually learns to handle.

The lesson: you get the client you need, not always the one you want

That experience reminded me of something important: you often get the client you need, not the client you think you want. The waiting taught me resilience. It forced me to sit with uncertainty and to notice my own doubts. It showed me that growth as a student counsellor does not only happen inside the counselling room, it also happens in those long moments of waiting, worrying, and wondering if you are cut out for this profession.

The £1 jar: celebrating every counselling hour

Like many student counsellors, I set myself a small ritual to mark progress. For every hour I counselled, I put a £1 coin in a jar. The idea was simple: when I reached 100 counselling hours, I would use the money to treat myself to something memorable.

At first, that jar sat on my desk for three weeks with the same lonely £1 coin waiting to go inside. It felt like a cruel joke. But eventually, the hours came. The jar began to fill. When I hit 100, I made sure to celebrate the milestone, although the ritual had lost some of its shine by then as the process of collecting the £'s reminded me that every client hour was part of the bigger journey and, in the end, the pounds collecting in the jar paled into insignificance beside the meaning of each session.

Counselling placements test you before you even start

Placements are not just about gaining hours; they are about gaining perspective. They teach you patience, humility, and the reality that not everything is within your control. Clients may not show up. Supervisors, Tutors and Clinical Leads may tell you to keep waiting. Your peers may look like they are racing ahead.

But here is the truth: counselling training is not a race. It is a process. Your placement experience, with all its frustrations and funny moments, is shaping you into the therapist you will become.

Final thought

So if you are a student counsellor right now, staring at an empty diary or refreshing your inbox, wondering if anyone has remembered you exist, know this: you are not alone. Many of us have been there. Hold onto the belief that your first client will arrive. And when they do, you will be ready — because those weeks of waiting were never wasted. They were training you in the art of patience, resilience, and learning to laugh when things do not go quite as planned.

Search for placements with harmonia