Looking for the best counselling courses you can take online to start a counselling practice or to upgrade your skills as a practising counsellor? I have researched for you.
One of the frustrations I faced after graduating from the University as a counsellor was that I didn’t find any online course to increase my knowledge and skills. But you don’t have to bother.
In this article, I have listed the 7 best online counselling courses that you can take from Nigeria. I chose these courses considering these five factors:
- How in-depth the course covers the topic
- How economical the price is
- Whether or not certificates are issued after completion
- Reputation of the organisation offering the course
- How much risk is involved in taking the course
Best Online Counselling Courses For Nigerians
1. Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced)
This is my first and best recommendation if you are seeking an online counselling course in Nigeria. With the Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced), you’ll acquire the effective communication skills counsellors need, the right perspectives, and how to make transformational improvements to people’s beliefs, behaviours, attitudes, careers, and daily interactions.
The beauty of this course is that it is a beginner’s guide. So if getting counselling skills is something you just want to try out for the first time, you should forget about the others for now and pick this one.
If you are like me who studied Guidance and Counselling in university but knows you don’t have the skills yet, this course provides practical and engaging psychology-based counselling techniques that can serve as the foundation for a meaningful career in counselling.
You will learn how to apply counselling techniques in a range of circumstances, including relationships, life transitions, stressful situations, and self-regulation.
It contains over 43 hours of formal instruction. The Counselling Skills Certificate Course (Beginner to Advanced) is provided by The Academy of Modern Applied Psychology and they offer certification after completion. There’s also no risk because they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you feel you don’t like the course. It costs ₦19,900
2. Solution Based Counselling Practitioner Cert (ACCREDITED)
I am including this course next for a reason. One popular concept I heard all through University was that as counsellors we are not to give clients solutions to their problems — we are only to guide them. But guide them to what?
The Solution-Based Counselling Practitioner Cert Course addresses that issue. Here you are not just learning counselling skills, you are learning problem-solving— how to take clients from where they are to get a desired solution.
The thing I’ve noticed from practice is that some clients just want solutions not explanations and guidance.
The course is offered by The Priority Academy Ltd. It contains 106 lectures, about 11 hours in total. It is highly engaging and practical, you also get a Solution Counselling Practitioner workbook and all the lectures are also available in audio format for easy listening and remembrance after completion.
It is not as wide in coverage or lengthy as the Counselling Skills Certificate Course, but it is intensive and brutal with the fact that it focuses more on solutions. It costs ₦24,900 and there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
3. Specialized Certificate Course in Psychological Counseling
This is another great choice for beginners. The Specialized Certificate Course in Psychological Counseling covers everything about counselling you can think of: definitions, effective communication, personal ethics, intervention etc. It then takes time to visit each branch of counselling one after the other.
It covers children and adolescent counselling, career, substance abuse, family counselling, counselling the aged, group counselling and so on. It kind of gives you everything you will get if you study guidance and counselling at a university.
The course is provided by iSapientific Studio, it contains 87 lectures totalling over 13 hours. You will get a certificate of completion. The Specialized Certificate Course in Psychological Counseling costs ₦16,500 with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
4. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Practitioner Course
This is another course from The Academy of Modern Applied Psychology (the guys are great!). The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Practitioner Course offers a thorough learning experience based on popular cognitive psychology.
CBT is one of the most widely used counselling theories because it can be used in providing solutions to a very wide range of problems (depression, loneliness, low self-esteem, addiction, etc).
After this course, you will probably start using psychological terms when talking with your friends (lol). But for real, the course will soak you into what is happening in people’s brains and causing their behaviours.
You will receive a thorough grasp of how the mind works as well as the ability to improve your (and clients’) self-awareness, inner resilience, and mental well-being.
The major concepts of cognitive psychology are covered in the CBT Practitioner Course, including perception, mind management, decision-making, stress reduction, confidence, motivation, and life transitions.
It contains 129 lectures, over 32 hours in total and you will get a certificate after completion. It costs ₦19,900 with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like it.
5. Existential Therapy, Psychotherapy & Counselling
We are beginning to get into the more advanced counselling courses. Existential Therapy, Psychotherapy & Counselling is focused on giving you the skills to handle clients who are questioning their existence and want to find meaning in their lives.
If you do not have any background in counselling you might find it a little more challenging.
Every lecture comes with a workbook. This course requires that you use an ‘active learning’ approach and that you accept responsibility for getting the most out of it (like an existentialist. lol).
This course is not for you if you want to passively absorb knowledge like you would when listening to an audiobook. If you do not print the workbook/worksheets, it will be a barrier to learning.
I like the fact that towards the end there were special sections focusing on Schizophrenia, Anxiety Disorders, Substance Abuse and Depression. It also shows you how you can combine CBT with Existentialism.
You will get a certificate after completion. It contains 21 lectures, totaling 14 hours. It costs ₦14,900 with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
6. Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology (DiMAP.)
This is a complete four-year psychology course captured in one bundle! Seriously. The Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology course opens up a wide range of difficult-to-understand concepts and illustrates how they have shaped our understanding of the human mind through the use of powerful principles from many of the major thinkers and theories, as well as easy-to-understand explanations.
The course includes coverage of all fields of psychology, including cognitive, humanistic, social, and behavioural psychology, which makes it perfect for anybody interested in psychology in general.
Many “psychologists” are familiar with basic psychology (pure research); yet, psychology does not become relevant until the knowledge is turned into something practical and applied. This is what you will get from the Diploma in Modern Applied Psychology course.
It cost ₦24,900 with a 30-day money-back guarantee. You will also get a certificate. The course is provided by The Academy of Modern Applied Psychology, containing 182 lectures totalling about 52 hours.
7. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner Certificate
The study of NLP, or neuro-linguistic programming, focuses on how we communicate with ourselves on the inside, which influences how we connect with others on the outside.
It focuses on the conscious and unconscious brain processes that influence how we understand our daily lives, careers, and romantic relationships.
As a counsellor with NLP training, you will learn to observe how people behave, think, and feel, as well as how they achieve results. You should choose the NLP Practitioner Certificate if you want to make a good social effect rather than spend years studying traditional psychology.
You will study a variety of life concepts that you may use to boost productivity, improve relationships, and build deep self-awareness in your daily life and that of clients. It contains 166 lectures totalling about 44 hours.
You will also get a certificate of completion. It costs ₦19,900 with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
8. Depression Counselling Diploma: Advanced Level – ACCREDITED
Bonus: I chose to add this one because depression is a major menace in our world today (even in Nigeria). Once you begin to tell people you are a counsellor or therapist, they expect you to know about depression. So taking a course specifically on depression is something I recommend.
This course, Depression Counselling Diploma: Advanced Level, gives a well-researched, science-backed exploration of depression — what causes it, the different types, the symptoms, the solutions and so on.
It doesn’t focus on counselling skills rather it explores just depression. Once you get the knowledge, you then apply the counselling skills you have gotten from other courses to help clients.
It contains 52 lectures totalling over 4 hours. Because depression is a hot topic, it is quite more expensive than the rest at ₦29,900. But there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee too and a certificate of competition.
Conclusion
These are the 7 best counselling courses you can take online as a Nigerian both as someone with no background in counselling and someone seeking to improve their skills. If you want to learn how to make money as a counsellor, read this article next: