PUB HLTH 3012 - Counselling Skills in Practice

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2022

This course introduces students to the fundamental elements of counselling. Drawing upon theoretical concepts introduced in the 2nd year elective course PUB HLTH 2009 Introduction to Counselling Theory and Practice, students will explore the application of basic theoretical perspectives and models in contemporary core counselling practice. Through the practice and observation of counselling skills students will be given maximum opportunity to acquire and develop counselling responses in a structured and supportive environment. Students will develop a range of discrete skills including: attending, observing, listening, responding accurately and empathically to others, and identifying inappropriate and unhelpful responses. In tandem with skills-based learning, students will engage in personal reflection of key attributes and values necessary for counselling practice, and related personal strengths and areas for growth.

Open All

Course Details

Course Code	PUB HLTH 3012
Course	Counselling Skills in Practice
Coordinating Unit	Public Health
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Prerequisites	PUB HLTH 2009
Assessment	Tutorial participation, essay, skills application, reflection, and evaluation

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Mrs Rebecca Wood

Course Coordinators: Ann Ibrahim and Matt Doherty
School of Public Health
Phone: 08 8313 4999 or 08 8313 4340
Email: ann.ibrahim@adelaide.edu.au or matthew.doherty@adelaide.edu.au

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Full information is located in MyUni.

Course Learning Outcomes

1.	Demonstrate an understanding of core counselling skills and concepts consistent with a Person-Centred approach
2.	Competently use the skills of attending, observing, listening, and responding appropriately during a counsellor-client consultation
3.	Critically reflect upon personal values and counsellor attributes
4.	Dscriminate and rate the different levels of effective and ineffective responses accurately, and discern unhelpful or inappropriate counselling behaviours
5.	Manage a genuine client issue and provide a series of effective responses (in accordance with the criteria to be detailed in class)
6.	Demonstrate the ability to critique and evaluate one’s own counselling responses and set goals for improvement.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.	1 - 6
Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.	1 - 6
Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.	1-6
Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.	2, 5, 6
Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.	1 - 6
Attribute 6: Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency Graduates have an understanding of, and respect for, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander values, culture and knowledge.	1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Attribute 7: Digital capabilities Graduates are well prepared for living, learning and working in a digital society.	3, 4, 6
Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.	1 - 6

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Ivey, A.E., Ivey, M.B., & Zalaquett, C.P. (2018). Intentional interviewing and counseling: Facilitating client development in a multicultural society (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Recommended Resources

Egan, G. (2013). The skilled helper. (10th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.

Feltham, C., & Dryden, W. (2006) Brief counselling: A Practical guide for beginning practitioners. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.

Geldard, D., Geldard, K., & Yin Foo, R. (2017). Basic personal counselling: A training manual for counsellors. (8th ed.), South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia.

Selected online resources, including journal articles and reading lists will be disseminated via MyUni. Students may also be listed as a cohort within the Whole of Counselling Program MyUni site (PUB HLTH 003) which provides resources targeting and designed for academic writing in a counselling context.

Online Learning

MyUni is used for announcements, discussion board, recordings of seminar/workshops and practicals, external web-links, readings, details of assignments, as well as online quizzes and essay submission.

Material will be sequentially released in line with the teaching and learning activities in each week.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The aim of this course is to enable students to develop an understanding of the core counselling process, and to acquire the fundamental counselling skills that are essential for any counselling or psychotherapy practice. In addition, students will be encouraged to reflect on their own personal values and attributes that might enhance or hinder the counselling process.

During lectures, didactic material and experiential learning are integrated to introduce theoretical and practical concepts and illustrate their use. Tutorials will provide an interactive environment to encourage student engagement as they apply these concepts and clarify understanding. Each essay provides an opportunity for further exploration of key concepts, for wider reading and synthesis of concepts.
Students will be encouraged to see tutorial sessions as an ‘experimental laboratory’ where they can try out new behaviours, be relieved of the ‘pressure to be perfect’, be supported by staff and peers, and offer support to fellow students in learning. In the tutorial sessions, students are asked to work in practice groups to apply the materials covered in lectures.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Structured Learning
Seminars: 12 x 1 hour sessions
Tutorials: 12 x 2 hour sessions

Assessment Tasks (Expected hours)
Class Participation: 10 hours
Written Assignment: 20 hours
Skills Application & Evaluation: 45 hours
Skills Checklist: 5 hours

Non Contact Study
Weekly Reading/Other study: 12 hours
Tutorial Presentation: 24 hours

Learning Activities Summary

Tutorial activities
There are two kinds of possible tutorial activities in this course. These are: counselling interviews with three other students, where within each triad, each member takes on a specific role (for detail see below); and, pencil and paper activities usually conducted in small groups.

Counselling interviews
The skills students will be taught will be practised in the sequence outlined in the counselling process: attending, observing, listening, and responding. Students will undertake three different roles as they learn these skills. These are the roles of ‘student-counsellor’, ‘student-client’, and ‘observer’, detailed information will be provided to students at the commencement of the course.

Specific Course Requirements

N/A

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Assessment Task	Assessment Type (Formative and/or Summative)	Percentage of total assessment weighting for grading purposes *(Summative Tasks must add up to 100%)*	Hurdle Requirement	Learning Outcomes being assessed / achieved
Tutorial Participation	Summative	10%	No	1 - 6
Written Assignment	Summative	30%	No	1 - 4
Skills Checklist	Formative	0%	No	1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Skills Application, Reflection, and Evaluation	Summative	60%	No	1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Assessment Related Requirements

The 12 tutorials within this course are the primary practical learning forum, providing opportunity for students to demonstrate familiarity with and competence in the introduced counselling skills. Student learning relies on the skills they and others bring to the class as demonstrated through triadic work, and is presented sequentially, with skills in tutorials building upon those in previous tutorials.

Participation during tutorials is assessed through successful completion of skills-based tasks scheduled weekly, at 10% of total marks. Note: the skills assessment checklist will occur during one tutorial, so this will not be included in the participation assessments; one further session will also not be included as contributing to participation assessment (students will be advised which session this is).

Assessment Detail

Tutorial Participation: Students will attend and engage in tutorial activities, demonstrating respectful engagement and cooperation with their lecturers and fellow students, and completion of practice-based learning tasks; further opportunities to demonstrate participation will be available through contribution to online discussion via the Discussion Board on MyUni.

Written Assignment: During weeks 1 - 4, students will be required to engage with a series of reflective exercises both in and outside of class sessions. Weekly posts on the discussion board will be required, and a final written assignment is to be submitted in week 5.

Skills Checklist: In week 7, working with a pseudo-client (an actor), students will have opportunity to demonstrate their developing competence in counselling practice. Skills will be assessed against a checklist with feedback provided to indicate areas of strength and areas for development. This will enable students to focus on skills required for the final Skills Application Assignment.

Skills Application, Reflection, and Evaluation: A video/digital recording of a counselling session of 25-30 minutes in length is to be completed with a student-client presenting a genuine counselling issue. The session is to demonstrate each of the basic listening skills, the use of the 5-part model and 1 advanced skill (focusing, reflection of meaning, or confrontation). Students are to complete a transcript of the session, reflective critique of their practice, and skills rating evaluation form which are to be submitted with their video recording of the session.

Submission

Assignments will be submitted via MyUni.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator