While the Life and Art team takes a break for Christmas, we’re sharing an episode of Working It, the FT’s workplace podcast hosted by Isabel Berwick. 

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of people in the UK have retrained as psychotherapists or counsellors. What is it about the field that has attracted so many, and what does this phenomenon tell us about work? Host Isabel Berwick speaks to the FT’s Bethan Staton, who wrote a brilliant piece on this topic, to find out more. Later, she speaks to Michael Skapinker, who worked as an FT reporter, senior editor and award-winning columnist before training as a counsellor. Michael tells us what his new line of work has taught him and why he wishes he’d thought about it sooner.

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We love hearing from you! Write us. You can email us at lifeandart@ft.com or message Lilah on Instagram @lilahrap. 

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): 

– ‘Profession of the century’: why so many people are retraining as therapists

– Letter: Therapy is no cure for a society in crisis External Link

– Therapy at work: banks and law firms among those offering counselling as staff perk

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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart

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Presented by Isabel Berwick, produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval, mixed by Simon Panayi. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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