Age is just a number…..right?

As I enter my 20th year since qualifying as a counsellor, I now find myself at the age most of my peers were during my training. The profession has certainly changed during this time and we find ourselves with more diversity within the therapeutic world, but there is still some stigma against younger people entering the profession. Most trainings have a lower age restriction yet not, quite rightly, an upper age limit.

One of the questions I get asked is whether younger people have enough ‘life’ experience or will they be taken seriously by their clients. I wonder if a different question to ask would be, do I have the emotional bandwidth to take this on? Counselling training comes with a lot of personal challenges, alongside financial and time commitments. We need to ensure that, as much as possible, we have the capacity to take the training on. We need to ensure we have support systems in place so we can manage our own self-care.

Each life stage comes with its own expectations, those imposed on us by family, work, friends, society. Maybe we need to take a step back and think, can I do this now? There is probably never going to be a perfect time, when all your metaphorical ducks are in a row – so if not now, then when?

We work with a huge range of people, from all walks of life and naturally, all ages. Should our counsellors not also be reflective of this? Maybe a person in their 20’s does not have as much life experience as someone in their 70’s but does that make the experiences they have had any less valid? Perhaps we could learn more from our younger colleagues as they may be more open to changes, such as technology and current social thinking. Perhaps we could learn from each other as we all bring something different to the community of therapists.

A career in counselling is a wonderful vocation. Like all things, it comes with its own unique challenges but overall, I would not change my own personal decision to train and make this my primary career. Let’s encourage all people to consider counselling as a good career path.

Author: Rachel Golding, Programme Lead & Diversity Champion

We provide a BACP accredited counselling service, however if you are in crisis, please call the Samaritans who are available 24/7 on 116 123 or call 111.