Gateway Workshops

Gateway Workshops is a London-based training school that sells distance learning diplomas and certificates in wellness, holistic and complementary therapies, women's health, spiritual practice and education. It is a course catalog for learners, mostly people who want to practice professionally with clients and charge for it, alongside people taking a course for their own wellbeing. The company says it has been established since 1998, has over 25 years' experience and has trained more than 250,000 students, and that its courses are trusted by therapists, professionals, NHS staff and major brands. Besides the online catalog it runs massage and beauty courses at venues across the UK and Ireland.

The catalog

The online courses fall into five groups on the site. Education and business training includes the Award in Education and Training (AET) Level 3, labeled Ofqual Regulated, an Education & Training (CET) Level 4, Internal Quality Assurance at Level 4, Effective Team Leadership and Social Media Marketing for Business Growth. Health, wellness and lifestyle is the largest group, with diplomas in nutrition, gut health, naturopathy, hypnotherapy, NLP, CBT coaching, life coaching, sleep consulting, anxiety and stress management, ADHD awareness, sound therapy, aromatherapy for beginners, Ayurveda, face yoga and the vagus nerve, a Mental Health Level 3 that is also labeled Ofqual Regulated, and anatomy and physiology courses including an ITEC Level 3 diploma. Women's health covers menopause, menstrual wellness, endometriosis and healthy eating practitioner courses. The spiritual group holds crystal therapy, mindfulness, tarot, energy healing and past life regression diplomas. Short CPD diplomas cover topics such as counseling skills, pain management and dog behavior training. A separate shelf sells manuals and guides, and a mindfulness eBook is offered as a free PDF.

How a course works, using the Wellbeing and Resilience Practitioner course

The site's detail page for the Wellbeing and Resilience Practitioner Online Course shows the format. It has 14 modules and 8 videos, starting with a welcome from the course tutor, Beth Cook, and moving through mental health and risk factors, stress and distress behaviors, supporting children and young people, practical ways to build resilience and creating a wellness plan with a client. Two modules cover the business side: setting up a practice (a place to work, equipment, a business plan, tax, insurance and record keeping) and marketing it to different client groups. The course ends with a multiple-choice test.

Students get a personal area on the learning platform holding the lessons, the videos, a supplementary reading list and a messaging area. Content is read on the platform, and a hard copy of the manual can be requested from the tutor at a small cost. After payment, the student is enrolled and receives a welcome email from the course tutor, which the FAQ says may take 24 hours. The FAQ puts the total qualification time at around 80 hours and says a student with the time to dedicate can finish within 4 weeks, or take as long as they need. Access is for life, and the platform is open 24 hours a day.

Tutors and support

Every course comes with a personal tutor. The course page says the tutor is available by email for questions, and the FAQ adds that tutors answer questions by phone or email. According to the site, all Gateway tutors hold a professional teacher training qualification, often the PTLLS Level 3 or 4 or equivalent, and have also worked as therapists for many years. Student reviews on the site name tutors directly; one sound therapy student calls Kate Parish an excellent tutor who was "very prompt with her replies".

Certificates, accreditation and CPD

On completing the assessments, the student is awarded an accredited certificate to download; the course page also describes a diploma certificate, usable professionally or personally. Accreditation varies by course, and the site asks students to check each course page. This course lists IPHM, ThinkTree, the World Metaphysical Association, the Accreditation Council of Holistic Healers (ACHH) and the Federation of Holistic Therapists (FHT). Across the catalog, the FAQ names ITEC, FHT, CTHA, Towergate, ABT and ThinkTree among the bodies and companies that approve and accredit its courses.

The practitioner courses are sold as insurable, which the site presents as the point of the training: a graduate can take out insurance, offer the therapy to clients and charge, working at home, in spas, hotels, salons or as a mobile practitioner. On CPD, the site says points are awarded to all courses, and the FAQ says short CPD courses earn between 5 and 15 points, longer courses with videos and assessments significantly more, and that this course is awarded up to 500 CPD points. It advises students to check with their own professional body, since each awards points differently.

Entry is open to complete beginners. There are no formal prerequisites, though the FAQ advises good written and spoken English, access to a computer, phone and the internet, and a minimum age of 19.

Price and payment

The Wellbeing and Resilience Practitioner course is listed at £110.00, payable as a £55 deposit now with the £55 balance paid to the tutor later. Instalment options are available on the balance. A reviewer notes that the small deposit at booking makes it easier to take advantage of the discounts the school often runs, and two items on the guides shelf carry a 50% OFF label. The footer links to a refund policy.

Track record and reviews

The site calls itself an award-winning school: Number One Training School out of over 80 schools in the Beauty Industry Survey, and voted Best Training School by students in The Awards of Excellence, which it says it has won 5 years in a row. It says it has trained therapists and make-up artists from Gleneagles, Champneys Health Resorts, Bobbi Brown UK & Ireland, The Mandarin Oriental Spa at Knightsbridge, John Lewis Spa and The Sanctuary, and lists the NHS, national pharmacies and rehabilitation centers among its clients. Laura Tatlow, head trainer at Champneys, is quoted as finding her tutor "really informative and knowledgable" and as having "already booked on 3 more!"

The course's own reviews are positive. Ryan Andrews found it "informative and really interesting to read", and Melanie Plummer called it "well structured, easy to follow and very informative", adding that tools are provided for personal use or for work with clients. The FAQ says the course is open to international students and that Gateway has many students from the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada and across Europe.

Who it suits

Gateway suits someone who wants an insurable practitioner qualification in a wellness or holistic subject, studied at home with a named tutor and paid for in two parts. A therapist adding a modality, a coach who wants a structured course on resilience or menopause, and a beginner testing a subject before committing further will all find a course here. People who need a regulated qualification have a smaller set to choose from, the Ofqual Regulated Level 3 awards among them. The format is self-paced reading, video and a multiple-choice test, so anyone who wants live classes or supervised hands-on practice should look at the school's venue courses for massage and beauty instead.