Professional Practice In Counselling

Who should study this course?

Whether you are a counsellor or psychologist working in private practice or for a public health service, this course may be of benefit to you. It can also be useful for other health care workers working in counselling type roles or working with those with mental health problems. 

What you will get from it

Studying this course will enhance your understanding of best care practices for clients and patients. This is achieved in part through developing awareness of your own beliefs, values and any issues you might have which could interfere with the counselling process. It also includes adhering to ethical and moral standards such as continuously striving to improve oneself, and recognising when it is necessary to refer a client on to someone else for their benefit.

What is professional practice?

It is essential that if the counsellor or psychologist is to enable the client to experience growth, they themselves must discard stereotyped roles in order that they can become a real person in a real relationship.

It is the counsellor’s own genuineness, alertness, and ability to make life choices that are the inspiration for clients to make changes to their own lives.

Of course, this does not have to mean that the counsellor is on top of everything at all times in their own life, but rather that they are willing to make changes where necessary. As such, the counsellor is able to convey to the client that taking risks and instigating changes can be worthwhile.

It can be argued that if the counsellor remains hidden behind low-risk behaviour and does not disclose too much about themselves, then the client will exhibit similar behaviour.

Similarly, if the counsellor portrays themselves as an expert who is there to diagnose and offer a cure, then the client is less likely to take an active role in therapy. They may also feel more impotent and helpless and consequently reveal less of themselves and become more defensive.

The psychological health of the counsellor is crucial in determining the success of the counselling relationship. A counsellor owes it to the client not to engage in counselling whilst experiencing problems of their own.

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Understanding Counselling: The client-counsellor relationship; Effective counselling; Counselling the counsellor; Counsellor’s values; Multicultural counselling
2. Ethics & Confidentiality: Needs; A code of ethics; Informed consent; Right to privacy; Legal requirements; Use of psychometric tests; Ethics and multiple relationships; Keeping records.
3. Understanding the Self: Self-awareness; Self-monitoring; Self-concept; Social Perception; Attribution theory; Implicit personality theory; Relationships; Social exchange; Love and intimacy.
4. Personality: What is a healthy personality?; Trait approach; Psychodynamic approach; Humanistic approach; Social learning and cognitive approaches.
5. Emotions & Behaviour: What are emotions?; Emotions and Counselling; Effect on communication, Aspects of emotions, Emotional expression and counselling.
6. Supervision: Why supervision?; Working with others; Quantity and effectiveness of supervision; Personal counselling; Dependency; Types of supervision.
7. Referral Practice: Counselling v mental health issues; Secondary care counsellors; Abnormal psychology; Anxiety; Depression; Schizophrenia; Personality disorders.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

• Discuss some of the main personal qualities that counselling will draw upon and demonstrate an awareness of the types of issues that new counsellors will need to resolve within themselves.
• Raise awareness of: the ethical issues that arise within the profession, legal requirements, informed consent, decision-making and other related topics.
• Gain insight into how the self, and one’s perception of the self influences both the client and the counsellor, and to understand the effect of the self upon relationships both within and outside the counselling process.
• Enhance awareness of what is considered a healthy personality, to consider different types of personality tests, and to become aware of the application of different approaches to personality within the counselling process.
• Explain how emotions arise, what they are, how they influence our bodies, minds and behaviour, and their role in the counselling process.
• Understand the necessity for counsellors to have ongoing supervision throughout their professional career and to be constantly striving to upgrade their skills.
• Delineate circumstances in which it is preferable to refer a client on to another health care professional, and to understand some of the main disorders that they may encounter.

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.