Heartwood Counselling & Psychotherapy Reviews 

I couldn't recommend Heartwood highly enough. From the moment I enrolled, I have felt welcomed, supported, and inspired.

One of the biggest strengths of Heartwood is its people. I was fortunate to have Raj as my Level 3 tutor and Trevor for Level 4, and they have both been exceptional. Their knowledge, passion, and ability to create a supportive and engaging learning environment have made my training a real pleasure. Heartwood clearly does an excellent job of recruiting such high-quality tutors.

I also love the course structure. Having classes one weekend a month works perfectly around my full-time job, making it possible to balance work and study. The topics are relevant, the venue is great, and the learning environment is warm and encouraging.

I'd also like to thank the office team, especially Sarah and Cheryl, who have always been so kind, approachable, and helpful whenever I've needed support.

If you're considering training as a counsellor, I wholeheartedly recommend Heartwood. Thank you to everyone involved for creating such a positive learning experience.

I studied with them on level 3 diploma. This course was very time consuming and slow (could have been easily delivered in 30% less time). It was expensive, and in my opinion didn't represent a good value for money. My colleagues and tutor were nice but the delivery wasn't great, so I wouldn't recommend it. Following completion of level 3 I had an interview with them and other colleges for level 4 Diploma, so I could compare. I can honestly say this one scored the lowest. It was dull, negative and off putting. I was asked some weird questions that didn't test any of my knowledge. My experience completely confirms what other colleagues have been saying - overall negative student experience and poor value for money. They have a very high opinion of themself though! There are many better options on the market, so do your research.

I had an amazing experience from start to finish on the level 3 foundation in counselling course with Heartwood!

Our group tutor Catherine is one of the best teachers I have ever had. She was genuinely inspiring, encouraging and warm throughout the course.

This helped to organically create a nurturing atmosphere for all of us to learn and grow in awareness and understanding; holding space for each other as well as developing our core counselling skills.

The course content was a satisfying, interesting and fruitful mix of theory and skills practice, and the way Catherine led and structured our sessions facilitated our learning and self discovery.

The admin support I received from the team at Heartwood, (led by the brilliant centre director Julia) was excellent, and the process of interviewing for the next level was explained (and delivered) with clarity, empathy and consideration.

Heartwood have a caring, congruent, person- centred and professional ethos. This was tangibly felt throughout the journey, and I would highly recommend it as a training centre.

I am so glad I decided to enrol on this life-changing course!!

Thank you Catherine, Julia and the whole Heartwood team. ♥️

I studied level 3 and level 4 with Heartwood in London. I had great tutors in both levels. I highly recommend it.

This review concerns the communication / experience l had with the Heartwood (HW) Counselling Centre Director(CD) and the Operation Director(OD) in regard to a refund request: the whole experience was very negative.

I have made it clear to HW that my request for a refund is primarily about: I was unfairly removed from class for a whole month, due to my misbehaviour reports against my tutor and harassment from another student who sent me unsolicited sloppy messages on my private number, even at night. Worse, the tutor showed motherly affection to the abuser. I have proven HW breaking their own policy,they tried to cancel my complaint by using the excuse of my withdrawal, but they stopped once I proved them wrong.
I paid £927.00 for the course at HW like all other students, however, if a tutor refuse to teach a student, she breaks the contract with the paying student. Worse: the abuser was allowed to remain in the class while I was excluded to the disappointment of my colleagues who did not see me in the class, this is "double standard treatment",a form of discrimination, when someone is treated favorably over another.
This I explained and proved to the OD. Witness statements from a former student were emailed to each party regarding the dispute, in addition to the negative comments from my colleagues taken from our WhatsApp group. But the CD and OD ignored this too.
I promptly informed the CD of the tutor unprofessionalism and how it made me feel uncomfortable many times. Sadly the CD was negligent and complacent with the tutor.
I kept sending her emails of complaints but the CD behaved in a controlling manner with me and sent me intimidating emails, these are on record as evidence.

There were months of emails/evidence I provided to HW where I proved them wrong with over 15 reports/evidence.
I emailed the OD with evidence on: July 20, Sept 10,21, Oct 05, Dec 21, 2023 - Jan 14,15, Mar 11, Apr 07, 30, May 14, Jun 22, 2024 and till this Dec, considering I am a foreigner, English is not my first language. Now the OD is acting silent and refuses to take responsibility.
The OD offered me to sign a DISPARAGEMENT AGREEMENT in exchange for refund: which means I cannot leave a negative review, why? I have proven that HW violated their policy, so I am entitled to a refund. ln hindsight this proves them even more wrong bcs they are afraid of me telling the truth with no way to prove me wrong.

I asked to change tutors many times, but instead of supporting me, the CD kicked me out of the sessions. I was unfairly marginalized bcs of my legitimate report. Is this acceptable in 2023/24? And after paying £927.00 for the course?
The injustice, the assignment deadlines, the intimidating emails from the CD for being kicked out of the course caused me depression that forced me to withdraw my complaints. The whole experience was detrimental to my mental health: I had to see a psychiatrist who prescribed me tranquilizers. My mental health was seriously compromised by the abusive tutor and the CD.

Everything written above is proven by evidence and recorded in my email+witness statement from students+recorded communication with the CD and OD/Heartwood. EVERYTHING IS ACCURATE and TRUE.
If the Trustpilot Team has any doubts about this, I am more than happy to provide full evidence to support my review. l am honest. Review left on Google Map too.

NB: A counseling course is meant to be a safe educational environment and as a registered institution with extensive experience,it was shocking to see HW management handling my reports so poorly. l was singled out for making a complaint about harassment from a fellow student and removed from the sessions,which was clearly not fair and denied a refund as well.HW management should have demonstrated the application of the ethical framework which was an important part of the program,but they failed to apply the very principles they profess to teach.You do not expect that from an institution that trains professional counsellors