Counselling Skills I
Certificate COS108
Health, Science & Wellbeing
Learning Method: Correspondence with online support or eLearning with online support

This course has been developed for people who want to develop their knowledge of the basic skills used in counselling and how these skills are applied to the counselling process. It is packed with practical psychology activities and you will have an academic textbook to guide you in your studies. In addition, you can access the online supplements and activities in the eLearning Centre to further practise and test your knowledge and skills. And you can talk with other students from all over the country in the Student Forum.

Materials: Your course includes College folder and student case, unless you are undertaking your course online, all modules (tutorials and assignment projects), textbooks, learning tools, tutor feedback and marking, College support, progressive Transcripts of Study, Graduate Awards and final Academic Transcripts, access to the eCampus, eNews, Student ID Pass, and access to educational discounts.

Learn about yourself and develop the capacity to help others ...

Many people go through times when they find their lives overwhelming or distressing. This may be due to bereavement, illness, family crisis, relationship breakdown and so on. They may find it hard to cope or not have the resources to deal with the problem. Counselling can help them to retain their self-sufficiency, build better relationships and help them to make and act on their choices. Before moving on to specific skills, it is important to just repeat what counselling is.

Counselling is about asking the person to engage in a process and an exploration about their life and their choices—it is certainly not a quick fix option. There are many definitions of counselling. A simple version is that counselling is a working relationship where the client is helped to manage what is happening in their life and to explore their life. It is a form of psychological or talking therapy that offers people the ability to change how they live and feel. The aim of counselling is to provide the client with a more satisfying experience of life. Everyone has different needs, so counselling can be concerned with many different aspects of a person's life.

This fabulous eight part course plus textbook has been developed by a professional counsellor to provide a solid foundation in psychology and psychological development.

The Counselling Skills I Course will guide you step-by-step through the scaffolding topics of counselling. Along with your progressive tutor support, the interactive, practical lessons will help you to learn about your own life and help others to manage and explore theirs.

You will learn about listening, bonding, reflection and questioning, and how to provide a supportive environment to help the client relax.Through your course you will explore different questioning techniques, how to change self-destructive beliefs and normalising. As you progress through the tutorials you will learn about making choices and the Gestalt Awareness Circle, and how psychological blocks inhibit a client's well being. And there are a lot of practical aspects to cover including how to open and close the counselling session, confronting dependency and facilitating actions. This is such a wonderful first course we know you will want to continue on with Counselling Skills II.