Dear Students,

Welcome back to a new year at Heartwood. We hope your seasonal break was enjoyable and a chance to recharge.

As we embark on 2025, it’s a wonderful time to reflect on the progress we’ve made together and look ahead to the positive opportunities that lie before us.

Reflecting on our Achievements

As we reflect on the past year, we have seen many of you develop in your studies, gaining a deeper understanding of the theories, practices, and skills that will help you as you continue your counselling journey.

We are very proud of all who have helped contribute to us achieving ‘Outstanding’ in our latest External Examiner report, and we celebrate the success of our students and staff.

Many of the comments from the examiner stand as testament to the hard work accomplished over the last year.

“Heartwood has continued to address the challenges and demands of a training provider to retain its reputation and status, in addition to remaining in the vanguard of counselling and psychotherapy training.”

“The challenges to any training provider are both external and internal. Externally, the training provider must maintain academic standards and changes in the training ethos across the training sector – in the past year for Heartwood, this has included the changes introduced and implemented by the SCoPEd framework, which sets out the core training, and competence requirements for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adults.”

“The External Examiner once again commends the Centre for its learning pathway and for its commitment to high standards and quality in the delivery of counselling training programmes, and in its retention of students and trainees.”

“Heartwood remains an exceptional training centre, demonstrating a clear and accurate reflection of the requirements of the national standards for training counsellors and psychotherapists at each level of training, and meets the full range of NCPS quality assurance criteria.”

Looking Ahead to 2025

We are pleased to share with you some updates to existing policies and terms and conditions which supersede any previous versions or handbooks, these updates incorporate the latest guidance and best practice for Heartwood and our students. We have also created some new policies which have been introduced to support your journey with transparency and provide guidance for all. You can view these policies on both the website and within the Heartwood Office.

Moving forward, we are enthusiastic about the many learning experiences that await. We encourage you to take full advantage of all that Heartwood has to offer. The new year presents a chance to set fresh goals, whether it’s widening your skills, expanding your knowledge, or making new connections. Your continued development is our priority, and we’re here to support you every step of the way.

Together, let’s make 2025 a year of learning and achievement. We look forward to continued success this year, and we are delighted to be part of your journey.

Warm regards,

Julia Bowden,

Centre Director