Nationally Recognised Qualification
Are you passionate about supporting individuals and communities to overcome challenges and improve their quality of life? The CHC52025 - Diploma of Community Services equips you with the essential skills to work in a variety of roles across the community services sector, from client support to program coordination and advocacy.
This qualification prepares you for roles where you will assist individuals, families, and communities facing social, emotional, or practical difficulties. You will learn how to assess client needs, provide person-centred support, respond to crisis situations, and work within legal and ethical frameworks.
With a strong focus on practical application, this course includes work placement, allowing you to develop real-world skills in a community services setting.
This comprehensive diploma equips you with the knowledge, practical tools, and counselling skills to support individuals, families, and communities with complex needs. Designed for real-world application, this course prepares you to make a meaningful impact across the community services sector. In this course, you’ll learn to:
Provide person-centred support and case coordination – empowering clients through goal-focused planning and access to essential services
Establish strong, therapeutic client relationships – with foundational counselling units that build communication and trust-building skills
Apply trauma-informed and culturally safe practices – essential for working with diverse individuals in sensitive or high-risk situations
Recognise and respond to co-existing mental health, AOD, and family violence issues – equipping you for frontline work in complex environments
Work legally, ethically, and professionally – ensuring safe, respectful, and compliant service delivery
Lead and support teams through supervision and debriefing – preparing you for leadership responsibilities in a community setting
Reflect on your practice and promote continuous improvement – helping you grow professionally and maintain best practice standards
With over 100 hours of structured work placement, this course not only prepares you for meaningful employment but also lays the foundation for future study in counselling or mental health.
Introducing the Upskilled Health and Community Services Job Portal
Dive into a world of career opportunities in healthcare, community support, and aged care with Upskilled's dedicated platform. Connect directly with leading employers who value your skills and passion for making a difference. Our streamlined platform lets you personalise your job search, explore targeted courses to boost your career readiness, and find flexible employment options that fit your lifestyle. Join the Upskilled Health and Community Services Job Portal today to start shaping a brighter future.
By choosing Upskilled's CHC52025 - Diploma of Community Services, you'll gain access to resources that enhance your online learning experience, making it interactive and engaging:
To satisfy the requirements of this qualification, you'll need to complete the following units of competency.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to work respectfully with people from diverse social and cultural groups and situations, including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. This unit applies to all workers. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice.
The unit describes the skills and knowledge required to identify Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural safety issues in the workplace, model cultural safety in own work practice, and develop strategies to enhance cultural safety. This unit applies to people working in a broad range of roles including those involved in direct client service, program planning, development and evaluation contexts. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to research information about compliance and ethical practice responsibilities, and then develop and monitor policies and procedures to meet those responsibilities. This unit applies to people working in roles with managerial responsibility for legal and ethical compliance in small to medium sized organisations. There may or may not be a team of workers involved.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to assess the diverse and multi-faceted needs of people and determine both internal and external services required to meet those needs.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to evaluate and enhance own practice through a process of reflection and ongoing professional development. This unit applies to workers in all industry sectors who take pro-active responsibility for their own professional development. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to engage consumers, analyse service needs of particular groups and develop programs and services to meet those needs. This unit applies to workers coordinating or managing teams and operations in varied service delivery contexts.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to recognise situations where people may be in imminent crisis, and then to work collaboratively to minimise any safety concerns and make plans to access required support services. This unit applies to any community services worker involved in crisis intervention. Management of the crisis may involve face-to-face, telephone or remote contact with persons involved. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to promote trauma informed care, and to develop strategies to address people’s specific trauma needs. Trauma informed care involves providing services that are informed by the knowledge and understanding of the impact of trauma, in particular interpersonal violence and varying service practice to reduce the likelihood of re-traumatisation. This unit applies to work with people with mental illness in a range of community services work contexts.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to assess capacity to support people with co-existing mental health and alcohol and other drugs issues and to work collaboratively to provide support and facilitate links to other services. This unit applies to work with people with co-existing mental health and alcohol and other drugs (AOD) assessments in a range of community services work contexts.
This unit describes the knowledge and skills required to identify and respond to the needs of clients who may be experiencing domestic and family violence, including responding to immediate intervention and support needs. This unit applies to health and community service workers providing services according to established organisation procedures. These workers may not be specialised family violence workers. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand Standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to identify children and young people who are at risk and report in line with legislative requirements. This work occurs within legislative and policy frameworks and carries a duty of care responsibility. This unit applies to workers in a range of job roles providing services to children and young people including in community services and health contexts. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice. No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to work collaboratively with people to plan and make informed decisions for the provision of services and resources aimed at maximising and enhancing their independence and quality of life. Workers at this level will demonstrate autonomy, well-developed judgement, adaptability, and responsibility and are typically already experienced in working intensively with people with complex and diverse needs. This unit applies to work in a broad range of contexts where a high level of collaborative planning skills and knowledge is required to develop a plan based on needs that have been pre-determined in an assessment process. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice. No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to maintain health and wellbeing by preventing and managing personal stress. This unit applies to work in a range of health and community services settings, in particular work roles that operate in high stress situations and circumstances.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to monitor and support workers. This includes implementing support processes to manage stress and emotional wellbeing of self or colleagues working in varied health and community service contexts. It also involves facilitating structured debriefing sessions to colleagues following incidents with the potential to impact on health and wellbeing. This unit applies to leadership or management roles where the individual provides peer to peer support to colleagues and refers to specialised support services in line with organisation guidelines as required.
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge to take a leadership role in the delivery of quality case management. This includes disseminating information and providing advice on practice issues relating to case management within the organisation. Workers at this level provide supervision to others according to organisational policies and procedures. This unit applies to work in a range of health and community services contexts. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice. No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to use a structured approach to counselling to determine, establish and confirm the nature of the counsellor client relationship according to the agency’s counselling model. This unit applies to individuals whose job role involves working with clients on personal and psychological issues within established policies, procedures and guidelines. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand Standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to use advanced and specialised communication skills in the client-counsellor relationship. This unit applies to individuals whose job role involves working with clients on personal and psychological issues within established policies, procedures and guidelines. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State/Territory legislation, Australian/New Zealand Standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to plan, monitor and review case management. Workers at this level work within organisational policies and procedures and may work autonomously or in consultation with supervisor or team leader. This unit applies to work in a range of health and community services contexts. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice.
This unit of competency describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to analyse impacts of sociological factors when undertaking community work and associated services. The unit describes the application of knowledge of the broad social and cultural context in which work is planned and implemented in the community services industry. The skills in this unit must be applied in accordance with Commonwealth and State or Territory legislation, Australian standards and industry codes of practice. No occupational licensing, certification or specific legislative requirements apply to this unit at the time of publication.
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to implement and monitor work health and safety (WHS) policies, procedures and work practices as part of a small work team. This unit applies to workers who have a key role in maintaining WHS in an organisation, including duty of care for other workers.
Students who successfully complete this qualification may be able to pursue the following career outcomes.
Discover why Community Services is a vital and rewarding field, making a meaningful difference in people's lives.
Upskilled Community Service trainers are industry professionals with extensive experience and expertise, dedicated to providing practical, hands-on learning. They are committed to helping students develop the skills to succeed in the impactful and evolving community services industry.
Recently started the Diploma of Counselling. Can't thank Upskilled and all staff enough. I was hesitant.at first but it was always something i have wanted to do. Have been involved in education and it has been a part of the job but have always wanted to do it as a profession. The education staff have been so supportive and instructional creating a great learning and interactive environment. Looking forward to studying more and making mistakes as thats how I learn and progress.
Special thank you to Jo one of the Education Consultants. He was informative. friendly, knowledgeable about the course and study. Didn't feel pressured just helped me navigate options and left it up to me to decide. So glad he rang after I expressed interest in commencing studies again after a long time.
My Experience with upskilled's coordinator Mr Ronnie, is absolutely amazing, his such a great teacher and his explanation in regarding the course are very clear and very helpful. Since I started he was always there when needed help with the course. Mr Ronnie makes you understand how to reach your goal of understanding of each session and the progress is very successful. Keep up with the good work Ronnie, and i recommend Upskilled's and Ronnie to every student and do not hesitate to contact all staff there as there a very grateful and will attend helping you straight away. One more think, I wouldn't be able to do this with out you (Ronnie) helping and supporting me, overall his fantastic. I look forward to the next meeting.
I really enjoyed studying the Diploma in Counselling this was such a great course. I loved the interaction with people and learning new aspects of counselling. I have learnt so much that going onto the next faze of my studying will help me tremendously after doing this course.
My trainer Ronnie was very supportive and helpful and was always available when needed, he offered great feedback and encouraged role playing as much as possible.
There are no formal entry requirements for this course. To make sure you get the most out of training with us, the following enrolment process applies:
Recommended Skills and Resources:
- Have the ability to read and write in English and display numeracy skills up to a minimum level of Year 10.
- Have access to a modern computer with high-speed internet.
- Have access to a device with audio/video recording and playback capabilities.
- Have basic computing skills, including the ability to make and upload short videos.
Upskilled’s self-paced learning model allows you to fit your studies around your personal and work commitments. With a structured training plan to guide your progress, most students complete the course within 24 months, though those who study consistently may finish sooner. If you have specific study and completion goals, speak with an Education Consultant to explore your options.
Throughout the course, you will complete a mix of formative and summative assessments to demonstrate your understanding. Assessments may include:
These assessments are designed to ensure you develop the practical and analytical skills needed for a career in community services.
To successfully complete the Diploma of Community Services (CHC52025), you are required to undertake a work placement in a community services setting to gain real-world experience.
If you are currently employed in the community services industry, you are required to complete 100 hours of work placement.
If you are not currently working in the industry, you are required to complete up to 20 additional hours, in addition to the 100 hours, to practise the necessary skills.
If you need more information about work placement requirements, contact us, and an Education Consultant will guide you through the details. You can also check out our Industry Partners for assistance in sourcing a host organisation for placement.
You may be eligible for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) or Credit Transfer (CT) with supporting evidence of prior education or work experience. This can reduce your study load or course duration. Speak with your Education Consultant before enrolment for details, or download the application from MyUpskilled after enrolment. A trainer will assess your eligibility.
This course includes Interactive Learning Activities to support your studies with practical engagement. Upskilled’s specialist trainers may run optional sessions where you can:
While not mandatory, these activities can enhance your learning experience. Role-playing exercises are also included in some units and assessments, including those completed during your work placement. These help you apply your knowledge in real-world scenarios.
Upskilled’s community services trainers bring industry experience and a supportive approach to help you build job-ready skills.
You’ll have access to:
This ensures you gain the skills and confidence needed for a successful career in community services.
To complete this qualification, you must undertake work placement at an approved host organisation. This provides hands-on experience, helping you develop practical skills and industry knowledge.
To meet the requirements for the CHC52025 Diploma of Community Services, you are required to complete:
100 hours of work placement in a community services setting.
If you are not currently working in the community services industry, you are required to complete up to 20 additional hours, in addition to the 100 hours, to practise the necessary skills.
Once you have secured a placement, you will need to:
You can commence your work placement once you have met the following requirements:
If you are already employed in a relevant role, you may complete your placement at your current workplace. You will need to:
Clearance requirements vary by state. Before starting your placement, you must complete the necessary checks and submit your approved documents via MyUpskilled within the first two months of your course start date.
Note: Some clearance checks may have associated fees. It is your responsibility to ensure all necessary documents are obtained and submitted on time.
If you need assistance from Upskilled’s Work Placement Officer, you will also need to provide your cover letter and CV.
Important: Failure to obtain and submit the required checks may result in transfer to another course that does not require work placement, or cancellation of your enrolment.
Your practical skills will be assessed by an Upskilled Assessor in collaboration with your Workplace Supervisor at your host organisation.
Assessment methods may include:
Physical Fitness: You will need to be reasonably fit to perform tasks that may involve manual handling, kneeling, and other physical activities.
Studying the CHC52025 - Diploma of Community Services provides you with the essential skills and knowledge to make a meaningful impact in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. This qualification is ideal if you’re looking to build a rewarding career in the community services sector, where you can support people facing social, emotional, or practical challenges.
Graduates can pursue roles such as Community Services Worker, Case Manager, Program Coordinator, Support Worker, Youth Worker, and Social Services Officer across various sectors, including aged care, disability, mental health, and housing support.
Yes, students must complete a mandatory work placement with an approved community services organisation to gain hands-on experience and apply their learning in real-world settings.
Students will gain skills in client assessment, case management, crisis intervention, advocacy, counselling techniques, and program development, all while learning to navigate legal and ethical frameworks in community services.
Yes, the coursework is delivered online, providing flexible learning options. However, students must complete in-person work placement to meet the practical requirements of the qualification.
No, there are no formal prerequisites for this course, making it suitable for those new to the industry or looking to upskill in their current role.
The duration varies depending on study mode and individual progress, but typically, students complete the diploma within 12-24 months.
There are no strict entry requirements, but students must have access to a computer and internet, be prepared for work placement, and may need to complete background checks (e.g., Working with Children Check, National Police Check).
Students have access to trainers, student support services, and a work placement officer to assist with their learning journey, assessments, and securing a host organisation for placement.
Various payment options are available, including upfront payment, instalment plans, and government funding (eligibility criteria apply).
