Authentic Counselling Training
Diploma in Counselling
Course Information: September 2005 to July 2007
[Under construction: 21 April 2005 ]
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 first to obtain my permission.
Diploma in Counselling: introduction
The Diploma in Counselling course is intended both for people seeking professional counsellor training, and for people whose existing specialist primary role may involve counselling (e.g. health workers, teachers and social workers, as well as people from outside the health and welfare services). Course participants are recruited from a diverse range of backgrounds. Other than in the most exceptional of circumstances applicants will already have at least 110 hours of counselling training (usually by attending a Certificate in Counselling course).
Each of the two years of this part-time Diploma course involves 170 hours of class contact and 170 hours in reading, writing, reflection and study. In addition, over the duration of the two years, course participants are required to complete a minimum of 125 hours of one-to-one, face-to-face counselling in counselling placement, alongside at least 18 hours of counselling supervision. Teaching methods are various, including short lectures, discussions, seminars, workshops, experiential work, recorded practice, case study seminars and tutorials. The class group (between 12 and 20 course participants) is led by two tutors each of who maintain a presence throughout the course, with input from other members of the tutor team.
The course orientation (practice focus and theoretical emphasis) is person-centred, and based within the approach of Carl Rogers and subsequent person-centred writers (Bozarth, Brodley, Mearns, Merry, Shlien, Thorne, Warner). Course participants will consider in detail the preconditions, the communication skills necessary, and the use of self, for effective relating. The course involves a significant emphasis on personal development. Other counselling approaches will be considered in brief, to offer both perspective and also the opportunity to address the issue of effective integration of counselling approaches.
The course has three strands: theory, practice and personal development / self-understanding.
Diploma in Counselling: tutor team
Diploma in Counselling: counselling practice
The counselling practice strand of the course involves a number of elements:
1. Counselling development exercises, including the exploration through counselling exercises of theoretical material and of person centred competence.
2. Counselling practice sessions, including recorded counselling practice sessions, with peer and/or tutor feedback.
3. Counselling clients in an organisational (e.g. voluntary, charitable, statutory sectors) context. It is a requirement of the course that each participant finds themselves a suitable placement in which to complete a minimum of 125 hours (50 hours in Year 1, and 75 hours in Year 2) of counselling with clients. It is also a requirement that each course participant finds themselves an appropriate counselling supervisor to supervise this practice. Course tutors are unable to take responsibility for a course participant finding an appropriate placement. However, the course team has a developing a list of contacts offering placements, and will offer support to a course participant who is experiencing difficulty finding a placement.
Diploma in Counselling: theory
The theoretical strand of the course draws together a number of aspects:
1. Examining in detail person-centred theory and practice, including the work of the principal exponents: historical and contemporary; development of the core conditions; the structure of psychological development; a stage model of psychological process; the philosophical roots of person-centredness.
2. Overview, including a history, of psychotherapeutic approaches; Freud and reactions to Freud, critiques of therapy and considering what is required to examine a theoretical approach; humanistic approaches, including the range of humanistic approaches, and ethical values of the humanistic approach; other counselling models, such as gestalt, cognitive behavioural, psychodynamic, brief counselling approaches, and the creative use of metaphor, imagery, objects and artwork.
3. Managing the counselling relationship, including management of a counselling session, development of the counselling relationship, stuckness, issues of counselling within organisations, and counselling supervision.
4. Topic-related material, including bereavement, depression, substance abuse, abuse (sexual, physical, emotional and religious), and counselling across cultures.
Diploma
in Counselling: personal development /
self-understanding
The personal development / self-understanding strand of the course involves a number of elements:
1. Personal development in class, specifically in terms of understanding one’s relationship to both self and to others
2. Structured, reflective personal journal
3. Structured, reflective learning record
4. Supervision of counselling work with clients
In keeping with the humanistic philosophy of the course, each participant is seen as a valuable resource, bringing with them unique personal and work experiences that contribute to the shared learning of the group. Within this supportive, challenging and stimulating environment, the three integral strands of the course – knowledge, practice and self-awareness – can develop for each person and for the group as a whole.
Diploma in Counselling: assessment
Each of the three strands of the course is assessed, and a variety of assessment methods are used:
1. Theoretical understanding is assessed through course assignments.
2. Personal development is assessed by means of a personal learning journal and through a course assignment.
3. Counselling practice is assessed by means of recorded and analysed observed practice sessions, and through case study presentations.
Not all assessed work is marked. Tutor feedback regarding all assessed work is developmental.
Diploma in Counselling: course schedule
The two-year Diploma in Counselling course runs
over six terms (roughly following school terms), starting on
Year 2 entry is possible for applicants who have completed at least 280 hours of counselling training.
As well as attending and participating in the course, students are required to spend at least as much time again in study outside class contact time. Students also need to allocate time for their counselling placement, supervision of their counselling placement, and the recording with other course participants of skills practice at times outside class skills practice sessions.
Diploma in Counselling: course fee and other costs
The course fee for the
year 2005-2006 is £1250.00, and for the year 2006-2007 is £1300.
Course participants paying
for themselves are required to pay the course fee in termly
instalments in advance of the start of each term. Any course participant who is
paying the course fee themselves is encouraged to seek out grant funding from
grant making trusts.
Recognising the
professional development offered by the course, some course participants ask
their employer to pay the course fee. An employer can be invoiced directly for
the full course fee which must be received in advance of the start of the
course.
Other financial costs to
consider:
·
text books (can
be bought second-hand, including from e-bay and from Barter Books in Alnwick)
·
membership of
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (discretionary: may be required for
counselling placement)
·
professional
indemnity insurance (discretionary: may be required for counselling placement)
·
fees for
counselling supervision (for counselling placement, but may be supplied by
counselling placement provider without charge)
·
fees for personal
counselling (discretionary: personal counselling is not a course
requirement)
·
travel expenses
·
car parking
charges (Manors car park 17:00-22:00: £1.00 [made up of:
Diploma in Counselling: what to do next
1. To enrol on the course, please complete a Diploma in Counselling application form, and post it to: Peter Hughes, Authentic Counselling Training, Path End House, 15 Meldon Way, High Shincliffe, Durham DH1 2PZ
2. You are then likely to be called for interview.
3. You might like to:
a. give some thought to how you would set about finding a counselling placement.
b. browse your course notes from counselling training course you have previously attended.
Having completed and submitted a Diploma in Counselling application form, you will receive a letter either proposing an interview date or else explaining why you are not being invited for interview. A decision about whether to offer you a place on the course will be made subsequent to the interview.
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 first to obtain my permission.