The Short Course in Counselling is ideal for those wanting to understand the process and the skills needed to support clients and work through their mental health issues. This will provide you with the training needed to acquire basic counselling skills and be comfortable in building rapport with clients, as well as further developing your interpersonal skills.
This course is also ideal if you have a profession outside of counselling that requires you to manage difficult situations with people from time to time. You could be working as a HR professional managing conflict between colleagues or an experienced teacher working with young people in managing their mental health issues.
Upskilled will provide you with ongoing support throughout your studies and you'll be working closely with highly experienced trainers. If you successfully complete this short course, you may also have the opportunity to pursue further studies and be on the pathway of becoming a counsellor.
Course structure
This course comprises three units that will provide you with the training needed to gain skills in basic counselling. By the end of your studies, you'll receive a Statement of Attainment in CHC51015 - Diploma of Counselling, which will provide you with recognised skills as part of your professional development.
The duration for this course can take up to 4 months, depending on your skills, experience and expertise.
In this course, you'll learn to:
- Establish and confirm the counselling relationship
- Facilitate the counselling relationship and process
- Apply specialist interpersonal and counselling interview skills
Other personal skills you may learn along the way include:
- Communication
- Interpersonal skills
- Open minded-ness
Inclusions
By choosing Upskilled, you'll gain access to supplementary resources that can help with your studies. These inclusions aim to enhance your online learning experience, making it interactive and engaging. These include:
- Access to Upskilled's customised learning platform, MyUpskilled
- Student Support Team
- Specialist trainers
- Online tutorials
Video content access to:
- LinkedIn Learning
- ClickView
Recognition of Prior Learning / Credit Transfer
You may be eligible for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) or Credit Transfer (CT) provided that you have supporting evidence of any prior education and work experience. This can either reduce your study load or shorten the duration of your course. Prior to enrolment, please speak with your Education Consultant for further details.
Following enrolment, you can request further information from Student Support. A trainer will then be assigned to assess your eligibility for RPL and/or CT.
Looking to upskill even further?
Did you know that if you complete the Short Course in Couselling, you'll have done units that are recognised in the full qualification CHC51015 - Diploma of Counselling. This course is a great step up if you want to receive a nationally-recognised qualification, and be on the pathway in becoming a professional counsellor.
Practical Assessment
Upskilled provides a very practical approach to this short course. As part of your assessment, you will be a counsellor within a simulated workplace. You will be required to complete a minimum of 3 counselling sessions with at least 3 different clients with varying issues (9 role plays in total).
This approach will provide much-needed hands-on practice in counselling clients and will allow you to apply learning and counselling theories in practice.
Assessment
This course will have you undertake summative and formative assessments, write reports and/or create a portfolio. You'll also be working on a variety of projects that require your own research as well as answering various written/oral questions that apply the theory you learn into practice.
Role-Playing and Interactive Learning Activities
This course comes with Interactive Learning Activities. Upskilled understands the importance of practical experience, so to complement the theory components of your course, our specialist trainers may run ad-hoc Interactive Learning Activities.
You'll have the opportunity to collaborate with other students - sharing questions, thoughts and ideas, as well as participating together in interactive learning activities.
While the Interactive Learning Activities are not mandatory, your participation is encouraged. You can receive some additional benefits and support, which may include:
- Having a study buddy where you can bounce off ideas and help each other with assessments.
- Online Classrooms where our specialist trainers can go over learning content that's part of your course.
- Activities that relate to your assessments, which can help boost your knowledge and skills.
Additionally, role-playing is included in some of the learning areas of this course. It will also make up some of the practical elements of your assessments, including the assessments in your supervised counselling sessions.
The benefits of role-playing
Upskilled believes that you can benefit from undertaking role-playing activities throughout your studies. Not only are they fun and interactive, it gives you the opportunity to collaborate with other participants such as other students, your family, friends and or colleagues.
Below are some benefits you can experience when role-playing:
- Improved decision-making and communication skills: Working in health and community services may involve you working in a variety of work settings. Professionals in this field are expected to make decisions and communicate effectively with clients, colleagues and stakeholders. Our role-playing assessments can help further improve your decision-making and communication skills in a community service workplace.
- Preparation for supervised counselling sessions: Role-playing is effective in helping you prepare for your supervised counselling sessions. The skills and knowledge developed from your role-playing assessments are based on scenarios you may face when working in the community services industry.
- Develop knowledge and skills to be "work-ready": Due to the interactive nature of role-playing, it can be an opportunity to practice community service industry roles with volunteers and other students in order to enhance your knowledge and skills. Job roles within this field are "hands-on", so role-playing can prepare you for the physical nature of the work - particularly in the disability and aged care sectors.