What is the Institute of Pastoral Counselling & Supervision

Our Story

The Institute of Pastoral Counselling was launched in 2001 to provide high quality professional counselling training, which took seriously Christian theology and spirituality. Initially we started with seminars for counsellors exploring the interface between their professional practice and their faith, followed by an Advanced Diploma and University validated Diploma in Pastoral Counselling.

Dr. Ruth Layzell, Prof. Alistair Ross, Rev. Philip Allin and Rosemary Langford-Bellaby founded the Institute. Margaret (Mogs) Bazely joined the team in 2005 when Rosemary left to give more time to her other commitments.

Ruth and Mogs became the Co-Directors of IPC, with Anissa Chung and Chrissie Hosking becoming Partners in 2016. In 2019, with increasing workload, Rev. Nick Swanson came to our aid as a skills tutor initially and has later taken up the role of course tutor in 2020. Dr Deanne Gardner joined as skills tutor in 2020 and as a full tutor in 2021, and Helen Walley joined as skills and marking tutor in 2021, enriching our team still further.

The Certificate in Reflective Practice and Pastoral Supervision ran successfully for seven years; firstly in partnership with Southwell Diocese and later in association with the Sherwood Psychotherapy Training Institute, where Ruth Layzell was a Director. In the light of its recent focus on pastoral supervision, IPC has now become IPCS, the Institute of Pastoral Counselling & Supervision, which delivers a supervision course the Professional Certificate in Pastoral Supervision.

In 2018 we began our first partnership with Spurgeon’s College in London, who continue to run the course annually. We currently also run short and longer Continuing Professional Development courses for counsellors, clergy and lay people involved in pastoral ministry and can often tailor a course to local needs.

The Team

The Current Tutor team at IPCS comprises Margaret (Mogs) Bazely, Anissa Chung, Dr Deanne Gardner, Chrissie Hosking, Dr. Ruth Layzell, Rev. Nick Swanson and Helen Walley. Visit the Who’s Who page for more information.

What is Pastoral Supervision?

 Differences between coaching, mentoring and pastoral supervision.