Student Placements
Continue your journey with us
The call for Student Placements is here!
Are you training to become a counsellor or psychotherapist and looking for a meaningful, supportive placement where you can make a real difference to children and families? Cambridge Acorn Project is now welcoming applications for trainee placements for the upcoming cycle.
Cambridge Acorn Project (CAP) is well respected local charity based in Cambridgeshire. We provide holistic and trauma‑informed support to children and families who have experienced trauma and abuse and who are facing financial hardship. Our work is grounded in social justice, relational practice and a commitment to ensuring that children and young people can access support quickly, safely and without unnecessary barriers.
Each year, we offer a small number of placements to trainee counsellors and therapists who want to develop their practice in a child‑centred and trauma‑informed environment.
What the Placement Offers
A placement with CAP provides:
Specialist experience in trauma‑informed therapeutic work with children and young people.
Long‑term therapeutic relationships, allowing you to develop depth, consistency and confidence in your practice.
Monthly line management and casework supervision (non‑clinical), delivered by qualified and experienced therapeutic practitioners*.
A supportive, reflective team culture, with opportunities to learn from colleagues and engage in reflective discussions.
Experience within a social‑justice‑driven charity, where accessibility, ethics and relational practice are central.
Opportunities to contribute to wider therapeutic or creative projects, depending on service needs.
Transport expenses for visiting clients during your placement.
*Please note: Trainees must arrange and fund their own clinical supervision in line with their training provider’s requirements.
What the Role Involves
As a trainee counsellor/therapist with CAP, you will:
Provide trauma‑informed therapeutic support to children and young people.
Build safe, consistent therapeutic relationships over the long term.
Work within CAP’s safeguarding, ethical and risk frameworks.
Maintain accurate, timely case notes and records.
Attend monthly line management and casework supervision.
Participate in reflective practice and team learning.
Work collaboratively with CAP staff, schools and families where appropriate.
Occasional opportunities may arise to work with parents/carers, depending on service need. We are not able to offer placements that involve working exclusively with adults.
Who We’re Looking For
We welcome applications from trainees who are:
Currently enrolled on a Level 4 or above counselling or psychotherapy training programme.
Training that leads to student membership of a PSA‑accredited professional body (HCPC, BACP, NCPS, UKCP, BPC, ACC, HGI).
Training that includes assessed counselling skills, safeguarding and ethical components, and a supervised placement requirement.
studying relevant subjects or modules such as child development, attachment theory, , developmental psychology, use of play‑based approaches, or other CYP‑focused training in line with the BACP CYP competence framework.
You will also need:
Enhanced DBS and ID checks (arranged and funded by CAP).
Ability to meet the minimum placement hours required by your training provider.
Commitment to the full duration of the placement (min. 10 – 12 months, one academic year).
A warm, relational approach and a commitment to trauma‑informed, anti‑oppressive practice.
How to Apply
To apply for this placement, please read the trainee counsellor role pack in full and complete the application form.
Please email your completed application form to Adriana Burciaga Gonzalez capadmin@cambridgeacornproject.org.uk by the deadline. Please note that we follow a safe recruitment process and therefore we cannot accept CVs.
If you require the job pack and/or application in an alternative format, please contact us on the email above.
Deadline to submit you application: 21st July 2026
We are committed to safe and inclusive recruitment
Safeguarding and safer recruitment process
Safeguarding is at the heart of Cambridge Acorn Project including our safe recruitment processes. We undertake safe recruitment checks on anyone who wants to work with us as we work with children and adults at risk. This means that all our roles which have contact with services users or access to sensitive information, including this position, require an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check as well as two references.
This post involves working directly with children and/or vulnerable adults (as well as the processing of sensitive information connected to this under the Data Protection Act 1998). If you are disqualified from working with children or vulnerable adults, we are unable to offer you any posts that involve working with these groups. Across the UK, it is an offence for an individual who has been barred to apply for a regulated position.
Self-disclosure
If you are shortlisted, we will ask you to complete a self-disclosure form. This will be reviewed before your interview.
The self-disclosure form will ask for any criminal convictions, regulatory body sanctions or disqualifications from working with children or vulnerable adults, as well as any police or social services enquiries undertaken following allegations made against you. We may ask about this during the interview.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
Cambridge Acorn Project believes in a world that is equitable, safe, and free from abuse and coercion and we apply these principles to every part of our organisation fostering equality and inclusion in everything we do. We promote a culture of respect and a sense of belonging for all staff, volunteers, and service users where everyone is free to be themselves. We value lived experience, and we welcome applications from people with marginalised identities or experiences. Cambridge Acorn Project is a warm, flexible, and supportive organisation, and we want to work within a diverse collegiate team where everyone’s opinion and experience matters, and everyone has a voice.
Data protection
Cambridge Acorn Project processes data in line with The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR. For more information, please see our terms of service.