Course Title: Facilitate the counselling relationship

Part A: Course Overview

Program: C5334 Diploma of Community Services (Financial counselling)

Course Title: Facilitate the counselling relationship

Portfolio: DSC Portfolio Office

Nominal Hours: 120

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

HWSS6027C

City Campus

TAFE

365T Global, Urban and Social Studies

Face-to-Face

 Term1 2016

Course Contact: Jo Wallwork

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 3983

Course Contact Email: mary-josephine.wallwork@rmit.edu.au



Course Description

 

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to develop a structured approach to counselling using advanced and specialised communication skills.  The counselling skills developed within this cluster will be considered in a financial counselling context.

This course addresses four (4) units of competency:

  • Work within a structured counselling framework CHCCSL501A
  • Apply specialist interpersonal and counselling interview skills CHCCSL502A
  • Facilitate the counselling relationship  CHCCSL503B
  • Support counselling clients in decision-making processes CHCCSL507B

These four units are delivered and assessed together.

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None.



National Competency Codes and Titles

National Element Code & Title:

CHCCSL503B Facilitate the counselling relationship

Elements:

E1. Enable clients to identify concerns

1.1 Enable clients to express their concerns freely
1.2 Explore presenting issues of clients in order to establish their nature and depth, and give attention to the possibility of underlying issues
1.3 Identify situations requiring immediate action and deal with promptly
1.4 Enable clients to identify their primary concerns in relation to the presenting issues
1.5 Enable clients to prioritise concerns to work on
1.6 Assist clients to become aware of underlying issues where appropriate
1.7 Identify and respond appropriately to strong emotional reactions
1.8 Identify indicators of client issues requiring referral and report or refer appropriately, in line with organisation requirements
 

E2. Enable clients to work through concerns

2.1 Identify and work with uncertainty and ambivalence of clients
2.2 Support clients to experience and process difficulties
2.3 Draw attention to and discuss parallels and links in clients' experience as appropriate
2.4 Ensure that interventions have meaning for the immediate situation of the client
2.5 Reflect on and consider interventions that are most likely to facilitate client understanding and actions
2.6 Enable clients to identify and use known and previously unknown strengths
2.7 Explore perceptions of clients' feelings by reflecting back, clarification and review with clients
2.8 Assist clients to become aware of underlying issues where appropriate and begin to identify ways of dealing with them
2.9 Acknowledge and work with changes in client's life as appropriate
 

E3. Monitor the counselling process

3.1 Monitor and review the counselling process with clients to ensure it remains of value
3.2 Work on threats and disruptions to the counselling process with clients
3.3 Review and compare individual perceptions and client's perceptions of the process
3.4 Work on any tension between clients' hopes and expectations and the reality of resource limitations
3.5 Facilitate change at a pace the client can tolerate and assimilate
3.6 Assess the appropriateness of ending the current counselling
3.7 Acknowledge, value and work with individual uncertainty in the counselling relationship
3.8 Apply ethical codes of conduct as required in addressing counselling dilemmas

 

E4. Bring the counselling process to an end

4.1 Enable clients to identify when the process is approaching its conclusion
4.2 Enable clients to identify, acknowledge and evaluate what is and is not changing, both in the counselling process and in their situation and understanding
4.3 Utilise the ending process to enable clients to understand the nature and impact of earlier issues
4.4 Utilise boundaries of the counselling relationship to assist the ending process
4.5 Plan, structure and contract endings appropriately with clients
4.6 Support clients' sense of autonomy during the ending process
4.7 Inform clients about any opportunities for further support
4.8 Identify unresolved issues and discuss further work if appropriate
4.9 Complete appropriate documentation in line with organisation requirements
 

Learning Outcomes

 

On successful completion of this course you will have developed and applied the skills and knowledge required to demonstrate competency in the above elements. By applying these skills and this knowledge, you will be able to use specialised communication skills within a counselling process.  You will be able to use a structured approach to establish the counselling process; work with clients to clarify goals, options, and courses of action; and manage the counselling process to its conclusion.


Overview of Assessment

 

Your knowledge and understanding of course content is assessed through:

  • Practical demonstration of skills
  • Case study scenarios
  • Written assignments/questions