Find Out How to Develop Core Counselling Skills
Many people have some natural counselling skills. Not many people are trained in the subtleties of counselling. Counselling is not about advising people what to do but it involves helping them to help themselves. To do this, you need to be able to use microskills effectively whilst building rapport and a trusting relationship with your clients.
In this course you'll learn how to develop and use core counselling skills to optimise your client's wellbeing. You'll begin to recognise cues from body language and speech, understand the importance of active listening, and know when to use specific microskills and when to avoid others. You'll also learn the dangers of overuse of particular skills and how different types of problems may require a different approach.
Develop an understanding of counselling from the initial interview through to the closure of counselling.
What this Course Covers
There are eight lessons in this module as follows:
- Learning Specific Skills
- Listening & Bonding
- Reflection
- Questioning
- Interview Techniques
- Changing Beliefs and Normalising
- Finding Solutions
- Ending the Counselling
Workload
Study when, where and however much you want. For most students, the course can be completed with a total of around 100 hours of study; and a commitment close to that may be needed to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Extra Reading
The following books, available through this web site are relevant supplementary reading for this course
- Counselling Handbook
- Family and Relationships Counselling
- Helping People Cope with Grief or Crisis
- Coping Better with Negative Emotions
Assessment
Self Assessment Tests are presented throughout the course. These are essentially an automated quiz. When you undertake a "SAT" or "Self Assessment Test", you will be able to see what you got correct, and what was incorrect; and in that way, you can identify your weaknesses.
Assignments are given at the end of each lesson. You should complete this assignment, paying careful attention to follow what is asked of you. It can be just as important to learn to work to specification, as it is to learn about the topic you are studying. Graduates who develop a habit of working to specification in the field of counselling, will impress employers, and will be more efficient when self employed.
A Final Exam is offered upon satisfactory completion of all assignments. This is optional. If you choose to apply for and do this exam, you will have the possibility of obtaining a "formal credit" or "Pass Certification" for this course. A fee applies. The exam may be sat under prearranged conditions anywhere in the world. This college will award you a formal transcript, upon successful completion of the exam, as proof of your results.
Recognition and Ethics
This college is a member of the ACS Affiliates Network; a group of colleges from several countries, affiliated with each other through ACS Distance Education.. Courses are developed with input from all of these colleges, aspiring to reflect internationally accepted standards and needs.
A strict "No Plagiarism" and "No fraud" policy exists. Assignments are checked for plagiarism, and assignments will not be deemed to have been completed, if work is not your own original creation, and is found to have been copied from elsewhere. If the person doing the course is discovered to be different to the name enrolled, the enrolment and any results will be recorded as invalid and any fees paid will be forfeited.
Refund Policy
A full refund less expenses (up to 15% of fees applied) is provided to anyone wishing to withdraw from a course, within 2 weeks of enrolment. This does not apply after the first assignment has been submitted and marked; or after the two weeks has expired.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS INSTITUTION?
We believe that we have an ethical responsibility to make good use of the fees you pay and the time you invest into an education through our college. To this end, our first priority is always your learning. This comes before issues such as formal accreditations, speculative marketing and bureaucratic processes which all too often add considerable costs to the running of colleges, and take resources away from the provision of more valuable services to the student.
This college focuses on facilitating your learning and support to optimise that learning. We recognise that learning is all about improving knowledge and skills in your long term memory. While some colleges may focus on getting you to pass exams, by committing knowledge to short term memory; we understand that such an approach is not true education, and does little to improve your long term career or business prospects.
How This Course Could Help You
Counselling is an important skill whether or not you practice as a counsellor fulltime. Many people in a variety of roles are called upon to counsel others and often it is something which evolves over time either because the person becomes recognised as the 'go-to' person when others need help, or because it becomes apparent that someone is needed within an organisation to offer counselling services. If you're one of those people then you've found the right course.
For those who wish to become counsellors in private practice or within organisations counselling skills is a foundation module of study. Take this course along with Counselling Skills II to gain a complete understanding of a counsellors full range of applied skills.