Deepening Your Counselling Skills

Course Overview

Do you have basic counselling knowledge and skills? Develop your knowledge and application further with this specialised short course.

The Deepening Your Counselling Skills micro-credential builds on the core conditions of counselling as well as the phases and associated counselling skills of the Relational Skills Model.

In this 8-week course, you will be introduced to Egan’s Skilled Helper Model, which is used as a framework and practical structure to apply and deepen your helping conversations with others.

Gain a deeper understanding of how to work with clients who are resistant, challenging, or diverse, while exploring the ethical considerations and the role of responsibility and accountability in the helping relationship.

Learn how to integrate and apply your current counselling skills with the Skilled Helper Framework.

Note: Given that the purpose of this course is to deepen your understanding and application of basic counselling skills, you will need to possess prior knowledge in this area.

What You’ll Learn

Over the course of eight (8) weeks, through videos, readings and discussions, you will explore the following topics:

Week 1: Skilled Helper Model and its integration with the Relational Skills Model.

Week 2: First stage of the Skilled Helper Model: The Current Picture 

Week 3: Second stage of the Skilled Helper Model: Preferred Picture

Week 4: Third stage of the Skilled Helper Model: The Way Forward

Week 5: Working with diverse clients, testing clients, responsibility and accountability.

Week 6: Ethical decision-making and working ethically and within your skillset.

Week 7: Review and application.

Week 8: Conclusion and summative project.

Course Outcomes

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

• Demonstrate self-reflective evaluation of creating an environment conducive to holding a conversation.
• Applied skills within Stage 1, Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the Skilled Helper Model.
• Identify areas of challenge when working with diverse clients and how to overcome those barriers.
• Incorporate ethical considerations into your helping conversations.
• Apply the Skilled Helper Model and associated stages, tasks and skills.
• Create a development plan for self-improvement in the application of your counselling skills.

Certification

Upon completion, you will receive a digital certificate of competence and badge. Your certificate and badge can be shared on 100+ social media platforms, allowing you to share your achievement with a single click.

Stackable Credentials

Stack specified combinations of micro-credentials and they can be recognised as equivalent to a module within the Bachelor of Applied Social Science Degree at SACAP. Fundamental Counselling Skills can be stacked with Deepening Your Counselling Skills, and if you meet the minimum entrance criteria, you can enrol for the Bachelor of Applied Social Science Degree and apply for module exemption.

Dates

• Class of 2026 May: 18 May – 12 July
• Class of 2026 June: 8 June – 2 August
• Class of 2026 August: 10 August – 4 October
• Class of 2026 September: 7 September – 1 November
• Class of 2026 October: 12 October – 6 December

There are no online classes. Course content is released on a weekly basis. This will allow you to work through the course material at a time that is most convenient for you, while still meeting the weekly targets on time.

FAQs

The Team

The SACAP Global team brings a wealth of knowledge and practical experience across various disciplines. Our expert short course developers and dedicated support team are passionate about sharing their insights to help you get the most out of your online learning journey.