Mindspace Foundation - Basingstoke

Claire A.

I completed a two year Level 4 Diploma in Counselling at Mindspace. I enjoyed everything about the course - it is a calm, professional environment and the tutors were the most supportive, responsive people I could have hoped for. The course content was varied and engaging. I would recommend Mindspace to anyone - my only regret is that it was over too quickly!

Hannah F.

I studied my 2 year level 4 with MindSpace and had a great experience. The building is a really nice place to come to each week, the tutors made each lesson engaging and challenging and they supported us all really well throughout the course. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is looking to do their level 4 in a supportive and engaging environment.

Simone W.

I have just qualified as an Integrative Counsellor after 2 years of training- Level 4 CPCAB Therapeutic Counselling- at Mindspace.
Highly recommended. Excellent tutors.
I am starting the Level 5 CYP in October & can't wait to further my learning at this amazing organisation.

Andrew W.

I have just passed the Level 3 Course in Therapeutic Counselling at Mindspace and have signed up for their (2-year) Level 4 Course.

The course was well-structured and paced. Although I was, initially, surprised by the apparent youth of Nathan, our tutor, I was really impressed by the depth of his knowledge and by his ability to teach, and to answer questions in detail and without waffle. (Having 30 years’ experience of teaching and training, I know that’s no small feat!). He was always attentive to the group’s comments and questions and was genuine in his response, earning people’s admiration and affection. The course covered a lot of ground and provided essential skills-practice, which many of the group valued not only as listeners but also as speakers.

Mindspace might consider varying the format of the sessions a little – there was a slight over-reliance on ‘chalk and talk’ followed by breakout groups. The activities which deviated from this were well-received but relatively few. This may be something they will consider when reviewing the year.

The course has been a really positive experience. I have learned much, met lovely people and found the support to take the next step towards becoming a counsellor.

Vin P.

I attended a Counselling training course over seven months from January 2022 at Mindspace Foundation (please be aware this organisation is not affiliated with the other Mindspace counselling in Basingstoke that started a year before this one).
I came to learn that our tutor had only completed their beginner course in counselling, Level 3, but not completed their Level 4, which is the minimum required in order to teach students, according to the counselling frameworks, BACP and NCS, as well as a teaching qualification, which was also missing. I asked the Managing Director to show the Tutor's certificate multiple times and this request was ignored.

We were assigned two class tutors, but we only had one, for all 16 people. This meant that during our skills training, most of it was unsupervised. The tutor would read off a powerpoint presentation each week, followed by working in small groups. For up to 30 minutes in the session (during 'check in' and 'check out'), everyone sat in a circle, potentially in silence, with many people frustrated with the course delivery. As emotional feelings are brought up in the course, it is necessary to email the Course Tutor from time to time. This could take several weeks to get a response. When I raised this with the Managing Director, they responded that they felt it was satisfactory. Unfortunately many classmates failed their weekly homework tasks from the presentations provided and needed to re-submit over and over again. I believe this was due to the poor quality of teaching.

I am concerned the agency does not follow the guidelines set out by the NCS or BACP for staffing standards, and indeed the Services Director (our course tutor) is 21 years old, looking after services for clients with limited experience of counselling (while in training). It concerns me that other frameworks, such as safeguarding or coercive practices could be potentially overlooked by this agency too.

I further brought concerns of horrendous racist statements made during class and these were overlooked by the Course Tutor, and ignored in my complaint to the Managing Director.

When I brought a number of points to the Managing Director to comment on I was given a generic response that their own internal investigation (into themselves) had yielded no question into how well the course had been run and that effectively my concerns, based out of NCS and BACP guidelines, were being overlooked.