Chrysalis Courses Reviews 

Suzanne has been a fantastic tutor and it made the learning experience so enjoyable even during the timea when we had so much to hand in. Thank you Suzanne for a good 1st year.

Empowering, educational, inspiring and a solid quality of education provided. The educators have been dynamic,refreshing,open-minded, adaptable, and approachable with deep subject mastery. Which has facilitated learning, growth, and skill development.

The organisation and general quality of the content on moodle, the slides provided to tutors, and the assessment criteria are poorly-organised, poorly-edited (spelling/grammar mistakes), not very accessible (slides in particular) and inconsistent/contradictory. This is very frustrating given this is not an inexpensive course, and the requirements for students are enforced, but Chrysalis itself does not always adhere to these.

Whilst I have learnt a great deal during my first year, I have found the resources from chrysalis to be of poor quality.
The online sessions and seminar slides were repetitive.
Some of the instructions for assessments were unclear.
Student support were kind but often did not know of issues that had been raised with tutors.
I think it would be useful for previous students to be able to sell books to current students.
I wish I had been informed of year 2 study dates in a timely manner as this was very late in the year.
The face to face days felt rushed at times.
The tutor was helpful and supportive.
I feel the time in year one was highly concentrated on hypnotherapy rather than an introduction to counselling.
I hope year 2 and 3 to be more organised.

Great experience and lovely people who have made others fulfill their ideals through concerted and sustained coordination of training in their chosen profession.

I’m writing this review with a heavy heart, as this has been a really difficult experience to process.



When I applied to Chrysalis, I was open from the outset during my initial interview about my career plans, including my intention to apply for the Doctorate in Educational Psychology. One of the reasons I chose the course was because I understood that each year would lead to a standalone qualification, which gave me a sense of flexibility if my circumstances changed.



I have since been fortunate enough to secure a place on a full-time Doctorate programme starting in September. This is something I have worked incredibly hard for and should feel like a really positive step forward. However, it also means I have to leave my job and move into full-time study without a stable income, and it is not possible for me to continue with the Chrysalis course.



I want to be clear that I did not want to withdraw. My preferred option was to defer, as I had every intention of returning and completing the course. However, I was advised that deferrals are not permitted beyond one year, which does not align with the length of Doctoral training. This meant I was left with no realistic alternative but to withdraw.



I also want to emphasise that I am not seeking to avoid reasonable costs. I fully accept responsibility for the current year of study and am prepared to pay the full fees for this year, as I understand a new learner would not be able to join part-way through. My concern relates specifically to being held liable for future years that I will not be able to access or complete.



Despite explaining all of this, and despite withdrawing before enrolling onto the next year of study, I have been informed that I am still required to pay the full fees for the remaining two years. While I understand this may be stated within the terms and conditions, the reality and scale of this financial commitment were never clearly or meaningfully explained at the point of enrolment. Had they been, I would have made very different decisions.



The impact of this has been significant. What should feel like a proud and hopeful time has instead been overshadowed by stress and worry about how I am going to manage financially. I have found myself feeling anxious and overwhelmed by the prospect of carrying such a substantial financial burden at a point where I will have no formal income. It feels incredibly difficult to make sense of, particularly as I am no longer able to access or complete the course, and my place could reasonably be offered to another student.



I followed the formal appeals process, setting out my circumstances in full, including the impact on my wellbeing and financial security, but my appeal was not upheld. What I have found most difficult is the lack of flexibility or understanding shown throughout this process. For an organisation that trains people in counselling, where empathy, compassion, and understanding really matter, this hasn’t felt reflected in how my situation has been handled.



Having since read other reviews, I can see that this is not an isolated experience, which is concerning.



I would strongly encourage anyone considering Chrysalis to take the time to fully understand, in writing, the financial implications of withdrawing, even where circumstances change beyond your control, before committing.



For me, this has been a deeply upsetting and stressful experience, and one I wouldn’t want others to go through. I would strongly encourage others to think very carefully before choosing this provider, or to consider alternative options to avoid the risk of experiencing something similar stay far far away from Chrysalis.

I have enjoyed my first year at Chrysalis, my tutor Mark has been attentive and helpful, nothings felt like too much, our group is big and credit to Mark for managing classes making sure everyone feels supported. Can’t wait for year 2!

Tutors are competent, professional, passionate, engaged and down to earth. Most resources are well researched, interesting and competently written. I enjoy learning to be an integrative counsellor, I wouldn't want to be a "purist" focussing on one single modality. Course days are interesting and there is a good amount of practice. Student Support and Placement Support have been really helpful and prompt in answering my queries - be it to help with technical issues or to advise on placements. There have been tiny glitches like delayed marking or a change in course date but I don't want to take off a star for that as we're all human and things happen in everyone's life. There is a lot of work and independent reading to be done on the course, which is to be expected - you get out what you put in. All in all, Chrysalis is a solid option for pursuing a counselling qualification in my area. Doing placements interviews and practical tests, I felt I could hold my ground and a couple of providers have remarked on the quality of Chrysalis students. I'm glad I chose the option for my counselling qualification.

Not recommended, terrible service. This should be banned!

Our tutor, Martin Handy, has been excellent, prepared for each module, sending pre course day emails to ensure we all had a good understanding of the material due to be covered, ensuring deadlines were known and giving thorough and insightful feedback at every opportunity. A font of experience, theory and practical application of methods and modalities. Could not have wished for better support.

South Student Support Team have been wonderful.

I was diagnosed with cancer in 2023 and had to pause my placement and then request extensions.

All the staff I have corresponded with (most recently Lily) have been incredibly helpful and very reassuring.

Thank you to Lily and other colleagues at South Office. You have not only been very helpful and supportive, but also very reassuring, flexible and deeply sensitive to the difficult health journey I have been on over the last few years. It is very much appreciated.

Chrysalis’ are well structured with material relevant to practice. I’ve just completed the level 3 Counselling skills with Hypnotherapy the course was validated by the national hypnotherapy society, I’ve learned so much about this modality and learned the skills and confidence to offer this intervention.

Kaye has been my tutor for the past 2 years and throughout that time I have grown as a person and a therapist. I had to work on my own issues and I did, and Kaye has been a fabulous tutor, it has been a pleasure learning through her and I am glad I stayed on. Thanks Kaye.

I have just completed a three year Professional Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling Course in Manchester and have learnt so much. My tutor Kaye Barney was amazing. Kaye was encouraging, supportive and all the class felt very blessed being taught by her. She was so knowledgeable and caring and that translated into her teaching. Kaye also made our last taught class a very special and memorable one. All the class were so happy to finish, however sad too as we will all miss her. If you are lucky enough to be taught by Kaye you will definitely have such an enjoyable learning experience!

Without Karl I don’t know if I would’ve had the courage to continue my studies. He’s been my motivation throughout and the perfect balance of brutal honesty and dad jokes, he’s been a massive comfort throughout (despite his military demeanour). Everyone needs a tutor like Karl.S

Karl set my class up perfectly to hit the ground running into our journey.

Karl was my tutor and he was the best thing since sliced bread. A great tutor. Great knowledge, very experienced, his teaching style suited me well. This year, my money was well spent. I’ve learnt loads. Unfortunately next year I have a different tutor. So I will be updating it again, if she’s not up to his standards or beyond. Moodle was easy enough to use. I’ve not had any problems. I have nothing to complain about.

Very interesting course

Good course content, tutors are good

Really recommend Chrysalis as a training platform to learn therapy,
Studying hypnotherapy and psychotherapy in year one, almost completed my first year - learning with a Cohort of amazing people who are becoming strong friends,

The learning is interactive and inclusive and our year one lecturer Fernanda Prado has inspired excitement in my new career but also her infectious enthusiasm, excellent attitude to teaching and second-to-none ability to inspire, coach mentor and teach is truly astounding,

I’ve been almost 20 years out of formal education and this experience has been easy, flexible and exciting and Fernanda has got me excited to uoskill and better develop myself in the process.

Thanks to on all involved with developing this training and especially Fernanda who has lit a spark I didn’t know needing igniting!