At the time of writing ,in September 2013-the Counselling field has never been healthier, Counselling has become more popular and mainstream, and in response to this, more and more, Counselling courses have been introduced to deal with the demand for Counsellors by the general public.

As well as this, various regulating bodies have emerged to accredit these flourishing Courses.

One of the first regulating bodies to emerge in the world of Counselling  was the, then called, British association of Counselling .

It was formed in 1989 and attempted to regulate the newly emerging Counselling courses to some level of competency.Other regulating bodies followed , but the BAC, soon to be re-launched in 1996, as the British association of Counselling and Psychotherapy proved to be the major regulating body in the world of Counselling.

This position remains today and most employers of Counsellors in the United Kingdom look for BAC recognised Counsellors.

This position is being challenged in the market place by new regulating bodies such as ABC, AQA, and the National Association of Counselling.However The BACP has established itself as the forerunner in quality assurance ,and will not give up that place in the Counselling world that easy.

At the Manchester Institute for Psychotherapy we have been running Counselling courses for many years now.

The most important and popular course has been the Counselling Concepts course which is accredited by a AQA , we are thinking about putting a Diploma in Counselling on at the Institute, and if we do Rory Lee Oakes will head that department.

Rory  Lee Oakes has been running many Counselling courses and Training  for many years ,and he runs the successful U TUBE  channel called Counselling Re-sources.Indeed  on the Internet and on UTUBE  we have seen the rise and development of many new counselling courses.

Perhaps one of the biggest developments in recent years in the area of Counselling courses ,and in fact Counselling training, has been the increase in Online Counselling.

Indeed as we come to the year 2013 ,perhaps the biggest evolution is of online counselling courses and training -it is one of the most exciting ventures in this new world.

Bob Cooke 2013