Heartwood Counselling and Psychotherapy Ltd is pleased to share the findings of the External Examiner’s (EE) Annual Report, which highlights the achievements of Heartwood Counselling and Psychotherapy Ltd for the academic year of 2024-2025 and recognises the high academic and professional standards of our training programmes. 

External Examiner’s Overview 

The External Examiner commended Heartwood for its strong organisational foundations, noting: 

“Heartwood has a strong leadership and development team, and this is combined with high quality trainers to teach, guide and mentor the trainees throughout their training.” 

The report confirms that Heartwood has achieved NCPS accreditation for the Level 4 (equivalent) Advanced Diploma in Counselling, recognising: 

“The design and delivery of a highquality academic training programme which meets national training guidelines.” 

Commitment to Academic Standards and Sector Developments 

The External Examiner acknowledged the evolving challenges faced by training providers, both internally and externally. In particular, the report highlighted Heartwood’s proactive response to sectorwide developments, including the ongoing implementation of the SCoPEd framework. 

“Heartwood has been following the process of mapping the courses to the framework within the course(s) development… ensuring that all courses will meet the required training standards.” 

This reflective and rigorous process was recognised as supporting the continued integrity and relevance of Heartwood’s training provision. 

Learner Experience and Continuous Improvement 

A key indicator of Heartwood’s success was identified as learner retention and engagement: 

“A measure of Heartwood’s success, particularly taking into consideration the large number of registrations, has been the successful retention of learners, students and trainees.” 

The External Examiner also recognised Heartwood’s commitment to listening to trainee feedback and using it constructively: 

“Heartwood recognises that there can be a variety of feedback received from the training programmes… Heartwood then adjusts where appropriate.” 

Overall Rating 

The report concluded with strong commendation for the quality and consistency of Heartwood’s provision: 

“Heartwood Counselling and Psychotherapy Ltd is commended for its consolidation of exceptionally high standards and quality in the delivery of its vocationally related qualifications… It is again rated and worthy of its status as ‘Outstanding’.” 

Read the Full Report 

The full External Examiner’s report (with confidential information removed) is available to view here.