COUN305 Pastoral Care in a Residence

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation By distance education.

In this unit students are introduced to the discipline of Pastoral Care from a sociological perspective within a Christian tradition and in the residential education setting. Students are able to investigate practical aspects of pastoral care for the adolescent and young adult residents, including the complexities of their sexuality, relationships, feelings of self-worth and spiritual inquiry. Students are led to understand pastoral care as a growth and healing process within the individual and community of the residential institution. Students also become aware of the referral processes in place and the range of referral agencies which are appropriate.

COUN306/307 Clinical Fieldwork 1 and 2

20 cp
Prerequisites COUN211, COUN213, COUN214, COUN215; 160 accumulated credit points in the degree including all units in the counselling major
Teaching Organisation This course uses an experiential approach to the teaching/learning process.

These practical fieldwork placements consist of at least 400 hours duration and will be completed in two different settings each of 200 hrs duration. Students will pursue placements in the human service sector or in an organisation such as a community agency, government counselling or welfare centre, child or youth service, neighbourhood centre, community corrections, hospice or hospital pastoral care setting. They will gain experience working with individuals and groups. This unit uses an experiential learning process that is based on the student placement and group participation with peers and supervisors. Weekly debriefing and case supervision provide the opportunity for students to learn from their practical encounters, critical incidents, dilemmas, tensions, questions and insights.

COUN601 Advanced Counselling Techniques

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures and workshops.

This unit aims to introduce students to advanced techniques of counselling. Historical theories of counselling and psychotherapy, including the first, second and third forces are considered. Each of the major schools of psychotherapy is discussed. A particular emphasis is placed on the counselling techniques associated with each school and their application to counselling. Cross–cultural issues in counselling are examined as well as the relationship between religion and mental health. While maintaining a practical and applied focus, consideration is also given to the ethical, legal, and clinical issues involved in specific contexts such as those involving depression and suicide, prosecution and prison, and family crises and violence.

COUN603 Group Leadership Practicum

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours contact time per week. The first part of the session is devoted to lectures and student presentations and latter part may be devoted to experiential group activities

This unit introduces the theoretical and practical aspects of group communication, development, training, and counselling. Emphasis is placed on developing effective group communication and counselling skills. Students will develop an ability to evaluate behaviours, which contribute to effective group work, including: attending behaviours, counselling skills, training techniques, facilitative interventions. The class will focus on the range of issues that arise within group processes. It is intended that students who study this course will become familiar with the theories and techniques used by helping professionals using group work.

COUN608 Social Work Managing Change

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops, workbooks, e-mail and teleconferencing.

Social work is concerned with change in social interaction and social relationships. Social relationships are diverse in both nature and structure. This unit considers the multi–dimensional concept of ‘social relationship’ and the change process. The unit will consider ‘change’ in interpersonal, group, organisational and institutional contexts and the role of social work and the social worker in this process. Issues of control and responsibility in the change process will be considered.

COUN615 Leadership and Communication

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent. A range of teaching/learning strategies will be utilised consistent with the unit objectives.

In the complexity of society today's leaders are called upon to exercise a high level of interpersonal skills. Leadership involves helping people to grow towards their personal goals and enabling them to strengthen their capacities for coping with life. Communication skills and counselling skills are essential for this task. This unit presents an integrated approach to general communication and counselling skills, theory, and practice.

COUN616 Relationship and Family Counselling

10 cp
Prerequisites COUN621 Foundations of Counselling or equivalent experience
Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, workshops, practicals and seminars.

Building on skills and theory developed in previous studies, this unit aims to inform students about current theory and practice in the area of relationship counselling and family therapy. It recognises the place of marriage as a social institution and its importance to family, aims to review a range of contemporary issues relevant to marriage and relationships, and to provide training in particular interventions. It will cover such issues as theoretical models of committed relationships, complexities of family cultural differences and the management of those differences, the fit between contemporary world factors and couples’ defences, marriage breakdown mediation and conflict resolution, improving communications in marriage, relationship enhancement, and development of proactive interventions to support marriage.

COUN617 Trauma Counselling and Therapy

10 cp
Prerequisites COUN621 Foundations of Counselling or equivalent experience
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, workshops, practicals and seminars.

This unit brings a strong focus on the theory and practice of trauma therapy. It is designed to provide an introduction to the management of trauma reactions, the wider aftermath reaction, and how to diffuse their distress. Students will be involved in a study of contemporary psychoanalytic theory, existential psychotherapy, and cognitive therapies as applied to people who have been through a distressing experience. A method of focussed, brief counselling will be taught that identifies the core trauma in a person’s multiple distress and draws relevant resources together to help the individual cope with the realities of their life situation.

COUN619 Counselling Special Study

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of seminars and skills-based workshops. Additional weekly reading will be required.

This unit provides an opportunity for students to explore a particular area of counselling corresponding to the aims of the course, yet falling outside the specific prescriptions of any of the other units. The occasion for offering this unit may be the availability of visiting academics and/or specialist facilities. The unit may also be used in the case of students wishing to complete an independent study to deepen their understanding of a topic that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue.

COUN620 Grief and Loss: Issues and Approaches

10 cp
Prerequisites COUN621 Foundations of Counselling or equivalent experience
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of seminars and skills-based workshops. Additional weekly reading will be required.

This unit aims to enhance students’ skills and knowledge of grief and loss, bereavement theory and related counselling interventions. It will engender appreciation of the unique experience and expression of grief and mourning with regard to the personal, family, social and cultural contexts. A range of historical and current perspectives in the literature specific to grief and loss theory will be considered and their implications for practice. The needs of individuals at different stages of the lifespan, as well as special groups eg minorities and Indigenous people, and the context of their specific bereavement experiences will be examined. The unit will also address the importance of self-awareness and ethical practice in relation to the counselling process.

COUN621 Foundations of Counselling

10 cp
Prerequisites Nil
Teaching Organisation 2 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures and workshops.

This unit aims to explore the psychological foundations of counselling including attending and influencing skills. It considers the nature of what constitutes therapeutic change from within the discourse of psychology. It then proceeds to examine the relationship between religion, counselling, and psychotherapy. Models of personality theory are discussed and their implications for understanding interpersonal behaviour. Major mental disorders are considered along with the ethical and legal issues involved in counselling and making referrals. Finally, the unit examines the ways in which counsellors can work within multidisciplinary teams.

COUN622 Mediation and Conflict Resolution

10 cp
Prerequisites COUN621 Foundations of Counselling or equivalent experience
Teaching Organisation 2 contact hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshops.

This unit is designed to challenge students to consider respectful and ethical means of resolving conflict, mediating and negotiating. The content deals with the identification, remediation and resolution of conflict. The learning approach is applied, experiential and theoretically informed. The content will allow students to integrate elements of others units. There are three areas of conflict and its resolution on which the unit will focus. The first area is the identification of conflict, discontent, ambivalence or a flaw in the communicated self, as a partner, and to improve or resolve the conflict. This is important because as people attempting to resolve conflicts in others first need to understand some of their own conflicts and their management. The second area is associated with conflict resolution in small groups (families and workplaces). The final area will focus on national and international conflict and will prompt consideration of appropriate levels of engagement and resolution of conflict.

COUN623 Practicum

10 cp
Prerequisites COUN601 Advanced Counselling Techniques and COUN621 Foundations of Counselling or equivalent experience
Teaching Organisation Students will spend 200 hours in a placement with an approved Field Supervisor. Once a fortnight students will meet in a group for two hours with the lecturer (University Supervisor). Groups will provide a reference point and be a source of professional and personal learning. Supervision will total 50 hours and include supervision by the Field Supervisor and the University Supervisor via group and individual.

This unit requires students to synthesise their learning within a focus on reflective practice while undertaking a supervised practicum placement. Personal as well as professional learning will be integrated through group discussion and individual case presentations at seminars.