As a competent and experienced counsellor or psychotherapist you will constantly reflect upon your thoughts, feelings and responses. For Criterion 7 we want you to tell us about an experience or activity that has increased your self-awareness and how you have used that in your work with clients.

There needs to be a traceable link between:

  1. the chosen experience or activity
  2. the reasons for choosing it
  3. how you made use of the related self-awareness in your practice

The criterion is divided into three sub-criteria with a total word limit of 900 words. It's up to you how you use this between the sub-criteria.

7.1 Describe an experience or activity which has contributed to your own self-awareness

Tell us about just one experience or activity that has increased your self-awareness.

It doesn't matter when this took place and it could be any kind of experience - from your own therapy to life or life changing events, personal development activities or post qualifying training.

You can use supervision training as long you clearly focus on the self-awareness you found within it that you've taken into your work as a therapist.

7.2 Provide the reason or reasons for choosing the experience or activity

Tell us why you've chosen this experience or activity in terms of developing your own self-awareness.

It could be you decided to go for personal therapy or attend a personal development group. Or you may have decided to describe a personal life event because it has been significant for your practice.

Applicants sometimes describe their training in mindfulness, for example, and how personally rewarding they found it. This works for criterion 7.2. However, they then describe how they taught mindfulness techniques to their clients. This does not work for criterion 7.3, because it is a technique or intervention, not the use of your enhanced self-awareness.

7.3 Show how you use the self-awareness in your practice

Describe how you use your greater awareness of self in your work with your clients.

You need to tell us about the enhanced thoughts, feelings and responses derived from your experience or activity, and how these inform the quality of your presence with your client.

For example, you may describe a life event such as loss, how from that you became aware of feeling helpless and lost, and how you've reflected on it. Then describe how you now use the awareness that you've gained about yourself in your work with your clients.