Course Overview

There is always that special person who people naturally gravitate to for support with their problems. Be it at work around the water cooler or that special kind of teacher who always has a moment to listen.

This course introduces you to the basics of counselling, essential processes and skills in a helping relationship.

In this 6-week micro-credential, you will be introduced to counselling terminology, key concepts and the Relational Skills Model. Gain practical skills needed for effective helping conversations, such as: attending skills, active listening skills, contracting skills, paraphrasing, summarising, identifying and reflecting feelings, asking questions, the skill of challenging, use of immediacy and self-disclosure, empathy, goal-setting and action planning.

Develop your capacity as a reflective practitioner and regularly reviewing your application of the processes and skills.

Time commitment per week

An average of 10 – 13 hours weekly.

Is this course for you?

This course is for you if you want working knowledge and practical counselling skills to enhance your current skillset.

Dates

Class of 2022 October: 10 October – 20 November

Certification

Upon completion, you will receive a digital certificate of competence as evidence of skills and knowledge demonstrated.

This course has been designed and developed by experts in the field of psychology. The Counselling Fundamentals micro-credential is for anyone needing to upskill in this area and offers 60 hours of learning and assessment.

Learners study online with course facilitators and peers, and receive robust academic content while acquiring practical industry-relevant skills.

Stackable Credentials

Stack specified combinations of SACAP Global micro-credentials and they can be recognised as equivalent to a module within our degree programme at SACAP (South Africa).

Counselling Fundamentals can be stacked with Deepening Your Counselling Skills, and recognised as equivalent to a module within the Bachelor of Applied Social Science Degree (Majoring in Psychology and Counselling).

What You’ll Need

• Access to Microsoft Word
• Google Chrome (recommended)
• Stable internet connection

What You’ll Learn

Over the course of six (6) weeks, through videos, readings and discussions, you will explore the following topics:

Week 1: First phase of the Relational Skills Model: Getting to know the person and engage with them.

Week 2: Second phase of the Relational Skills Model: Creating a safe and comfortable environment for the client, as well as assessment and problem-identification.

Week 3: Third phase of the Relational Skills Model: Exploring the presenting issues in more depth.

Week 4: Fourth phase of the Relational Skills Model: Setting goals and evaluating possible strategies.

Week 5: Fifth phase of the Relational Skills Model: Ways to support and encourage the client to implement their goals, maintain change, and develop self-management strategies.

Week 6: Integration of all your observations, journaling and feedback received to date – creating your own development plan.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate self-reflective evaluation of applied skills in setting up a helping relationship, developing a helping relationship, working with a helping relationship, deepening the established helping relationship and maintaining and ending a helping relationship.
• Design a development plan for improving your identified skills.

You will have also created a portfolio of evidence, which you can use to demonstrate your knowledge of understanding of the core principles that inform the way managers function and lead their teams successfully.

The Team

Our short course developers and assessors are expert practitioners. They have been selected for the breadth and depth of experience in their respective disciplines. The team loves sharing their knowledge and online learning expertise to help you get the most out of your learning journey.