2019 Irish Enterprise Awards

EU BUSINESS NEWS / 2019 Irish Enterprise Awards 35 , "PCI College has 25 years of experience, and as such they are making their training they offer as accessible as possible." PCI College PCI College: Best Mental Health & Wellbeing Education Provider 2019 Feb19079 Contact Details Company: PCI College | Name: Marketing & Admissions Department | Address: PCI College, Corrig House, Old Naas Road, Clondalkin | Email Address: [email protected] Web Address: www.pcicollege.ie PCI College is a leading provider of third-level educational and continuing professional development courses in the fields of Counselling and Psychotherapy, and Personal & Professional Development inmental health and wellbeing. As a college, it is committed to the provision of expert training and education in the field of mental health and wellbeing, in the private education sector, and tailor-made training to specialist groups. In 1991 PCI College’s pioneering co-found- ers Liam McCarthy (RIP) and Josephine Murphy, identifying a real need for the supportive inclusive training, founded the Personal Counselling Institute (now known as PCI College). This was at a time when mental health was not on the political, media or public agenda in Ireland. Liam and Josephine believed passionately in both personal development and high academic standards, both of which they combined with the foundation of the Personal Counselling Institute. The ground-breaking work pioneered by both Liam and Josephine helped begin the process to allow the counselling / psychotherapy profession to be seen on an equal footing along with any other helping profession. As such, PCI College was set up with the intention of providing students with a broad education in counselling and psychotherapy. In 2001 the college became a collaborative partner of Mid- dlesex University, who validate, quality assure and award the college’s BSc (Honours) Coun- selling & Psychotherapy, and all Postgraduate programmes. Today, the college’s programmes are characterised by an integra- tive, person-centred, approach to counselling and psychotherapy training. Now drawing on over 25 years of experience, PCI College continues its Founders’ pioneering work by embracing the continued raising of academic standards in the context of proposed professional regulation, while still making training as accessible as possible; by then continuing to set a high standard of personal development in training; by raising the awareness around the huge range of the issues that people still struggle with in Ireland - depression, anxiety, suicide, addictions, relationship difficulties, etc; and by promoting an integrative approach within its field, and with its fellow professionals. Through their extensive training, students are introduced to all the main theorists, as well as being afforded the opportunity to delve into important topics such as Abnormal Psychology, Loss and Grief, and Substance Addiction, to name but a few. This expansive breadth of training, in conjunction with the provision of high quality, user-friendly teaching, is one of the key factors that each year continues to attract many students to join the growing PCI College family of qualified counsellors and of the psychotherapists. Students can rest assured that they are receiving exceptional quality teaching and qualifications, as the college’s BSc (Hons) in Counselling & Psychotherapy is accredited by the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP). Seeking to enhance its service offering, the college is constantly offering new staff and collabora- tors the chance to provide their input and offer new insights into the teaching of its courses. In recent years, PCI College has had an influx of young workers joining the administration side of the organisation. This has led to fresh and exciting ideas being introduced to the way the college is run on a daily basis. Commu- nication amongst the various departments in PCI College also ensures that a unified experience is delivered to students and prospective applicants. Moving forward, the future will see PCI College introduce a variety of new Postgraduate courses that will continue to enable working professionals to specialise within a more refined area of the Counselling and Psychotherapy field. Furthermore, the college’s Professional Certificate CPD programme will expand, as it introduces more variety for help- ing professionals upskill, allowing it to remain at the forefront of the latest developments within the education sector.