Authentic Counselling Training
Certificate in Counselling: Assignments
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document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction
given above. Please feel free to make use of it for solely personal purposes.
However, should you wish to use it for teaching, training, commercial or other
purposes, you are required to ask me first.
Introduction
General
Each with different emphases, the assignments are intended to help you make links between four aspects:
· your personal and professional life-experience, past and present;
· your reflections on your personal development / self-understanding;
· your experience of observed counselling practice;
· your understanding, (both from teaching sessions and from the theoretical literature) of counselling theory, especially person-centred counselling, and personal development.
Each assignment has an intended purpose. Each assignment is structured, with the procedure made explicit. Reading in their entirety details of an assignment before embarking on it will help you to understand what is required. Of the six assignments, three require the submission of a report alone, whilst the other three require the submission of both a report (commentary) and a tape.
Your report should be word processed, spelling-checked, given page numbers, and presented in a single plastic punched pocket. On a separate front page, include your name, the assignment number and title, and the number of words in the main body of your report (do not include in the word count your bibliography or any appendices).
Submit your report, or tape and commentary, to your tutor by the deadline date. An extension beyond the deadline date must be requested in writing stating an anticipated date of submission.
In preparation for each assignment, to help you to understand the process of person-centred counselling, it is important that you read some of the books listed in the Certificate in Counselling book list, particularly those in the core book list, such as Person-Centred Counselling in Action. Whilst this theoretical aspect is not the primary purpose of tape and commentary assignments, you are still required to link the theory to your practice.
In each section of the report, try to illustrate, explain, or challenge your observations and personal experience by making explicit use of theoretical material (ideas) drawn from books (and other sources, such as journals and the world wide web) that you have read in preparation for the assignment, including the use of quotations from those sources. Reference in your text any theoretical material, giving the name of the author, the date of publication, and the page number(s) from which you have drawn the material, e.g. (Rogers, 1951, p.272) and (Mearns & Thorne, 2000, pp.41-2). In a list of references, list each of your theoretical sources (even if this consists of only one book!), giving full bibliographical details.
Tape and Commentary Assignments
Tape selection
Review each of your observed practice sessions to date recorded on video or audio tape. From one observed practice session, select a length of tape that demonstrates your current competence at counselling, and does not demonstrate unethical or unsafe practice. Discussion of what is more and what is less competent will form important parts of your commentary. In choosing between recorded counselling practice sessions, choose one that demonstrates a range of features about which you can comment.
Transcription and Commentary
Transcribe from the tape recording as precisely as possible each of your interventions. Number each of your interventions, but do not number interventions that are solely minimal encouragers (e.g. Yes, No, Right, Okay) Include a printout of this numbered partial transcription as an appendix to your written commentary.
What you write in your commentary (report) should be based around your tape recording, and should be appropriately balanced between examples of greater competence and examples of weaker competence. Use verbatim quotations from the tape recording / transcript. Where you use verbatim quotations drawn from the transcript, the quotations must be included in the main body of the text; writing ‘refer to transcript for quote’ is not acceptable. Reference the quotations in relation to your transcript by giving the intervention number. Your written commentary can also make full use of material from feedback offered by the speaker, observers and/or tutors.
Assignments for Certificate in Counselling: Essay preparation, Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
This
document in all parts is copyright © Peter Hughes from the date of construction
given above. Please feel free to make use of it for solely personal purposes.
However, should you wish to use it for teaching, training, commercial or other
purposes, you are required to ask me first.