Counselling Skills L

This course covers the core skills every counsellor needs, starting with listening and bonding, reflection and questioning techniques. You will learn interview techniques, how to help clients change unhelpful beliefs, and how to work toward finding solutions. Suitable for anyone starting out in counselling or wanting to formalise skills they already use informally.

Study counselling skills for professional development. Improve communication skills both personally and professionally. Use counselling skills in areas, such as parenting, teaching, retail work, youth work, management, personnel, training, volunteer work, support work and much more. Learn about counselling theories, counselling techniques, micro skills, active listening, reflection, finding solutions and much more. Study in your own home and at your own pace. WHO IS THIS COURSE SUITABLE FOR? This course is suitable for – Volunteer counsellors Trainee counsellors Police officers Law enforcement Teachers Social workers Parents Foster carers Carers Support workers Welfare workers Counsellors wishing to update their knowledge Retail staff Hairdressers Anyone wishing to start counselling - In fact, anyone who works with people would benefit from using counselling skills. COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT The course is divided into 8 lessons as follows: Lesson 1. Learning Specific Skills What is Counselling? Perceptions of Counselling. Differences between Counsellors, Psychotherapists, Clinical Psychologists and Psychiatrists. Counselling Theories. Empathy. Transference. Directiveness, Non Directiveness. Behavioural Therapies. Systematic Desensitisation. Positive Reinforcement and Extinction. Goals of Psychoanalytical Approach. Defence Mechanisms (Repression, Displacement, Rationalisation, Projection, Reaction Formulation, Intellectualisation, Denial, Sublimation). Use of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy. Psychoanalytic Techniques. Analytic Framework. Free Associations. Interpretation. Dream Analysis. Resistance and Transference. Humanistic Therapy. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Therapies and Counsellors. Case Studies. Methods of Learning. Micro Skills. Triads. Modelling. Online and Telephone Counselling. Telemental Health. Clinical Considerations. Lesson 2. Listening and Bonding Scope of Listening and Bonding. Meeting and Greeting. Creating a Safe Environment. Location. Time and Duration of Sessions. Privacy in Telephone and Online Counselling. Showing Warmth on the Phone. The Contract. Helping the Client Relax. Listening with Intent. Minimal Responses. Non Verbal Behaviour. Use of Voice. Use of Silence. Case Studies. Active Listening. Dealing with Silent Phone Calls. Lesson 3. Reflection Non Directive Counselling. Paraphrasing. Feelings. Reflection of Feeling. Client Responses to Reflection of Feelings. Reflection of Content and Feeling. Case Studies. Lesson 4. Questioning Open and Closed Questions. Other types of Questions (Linear, Information seeking, Strategic, Reflective, Clarification, etc). Questions to Avoid. Goals of Questioning. Identification. Assessment. Intervention. Case Studies. Lesson 5. Interview Techniques Summarising. Application. Confrontation. Reframing. Case Studies. Perspective. Summary. Lesson 6. Changing Beliefs and Normalising Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Changing Self-Destructive Beliefs. Irrational Beliefs. Normalising. Case Studies. Designing a Questionnaire. Lesson 7. Finding Solutions Moving Forward. Choices (Reviewing, Creating, Making choices). Facilitating Actions. Gestalt Awareness Circle. Psychological Blocks. Case Study. Lesson 8. Ending the Counselling Terminating the Session. Closure. Further Meetings. Dependency. Confronting Dependency. Chronic Callers. Terminating Silent Phone Calls. Silent Endings. Case Study. Other Services. COURSE AIMS The ability to explain the processes involved in the training of counsellors in micro skills. Demonstrate the skills involved in commencing the counselling process and evaluation of non-verbal responses and minimal responses. Demonstrate reflection of content, feeling, both content and feeling, and its appropriateness to the counselling process. Develop different questioning techniques and to understand risks involved with some types of questioning. Show how to use various micro-skills including summarising, confrontation, and reframing. To demonstrate self-destructive beliefs and show methods of challenging them, including normalising. Explain how counselling a client can improve their psychological well-being through making choices, overcoming psychological blocks and facilitating actions. Demonstrate effective ways of terminating a counselling session and to explain ways of addressing dependency. WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE Report on an observed counselling session, simulated or real. Identify the learning methods available to the trainee counsellor. Demonstrate difficulties that might arise when first learning and applying micro skills. Identify why trainee counsellors might be unwilling to disclose personal problems during training. Identify risks that can arise for trainee counsellors not willing to disclose personal problems. Discuss different approaches to modelling, as a form of counselling Evaluate verbal and non-verbal communication in an observed interview. Identify the counsellor’s primary role (in a generic sense). Show how to use minimal responses as an important means of listening with intent. Explain the importance of different types of non-verbal response in the counselling procedure. Report on the discussion of a minor problem with an anonymous person which that problem relates to. Identify an example of paraphrasing as a minimal response to reflect feelings. Discuss the use of paraphrasing in counselling. Differentiate catharsis from confused thoughts and feelings. Identify an example of reflecting back both content (thought) and feeling in the same phrase Report on the discussion of a minor problem with an anonymous person which that problem relates to. Identify an example of paraphrasing as a minimal response to reflect feelings. Discuss the use of paraphrasing in counselling. Differentiate catharsis from confused thoughts and feelings. Identify an example of reflecting back both content (thought) and feeling in the same phrase Demonstrate and observe varying responses to a variety of closed questions in a simulated counselling situation. Demonstrate/observe varying responses to a variety of open questions in a simulated counselling situation. Compare your use of open and closed questions in a counselling situation. Identify the main risks involved in asking too many questions Explain the importance of avoiding questions beginning with ‘why’ in counselling. Identify in observed communication (written or oral), the application of different micro-skills which would be useful in counselling. Demonstrate examples of when it would be appropriate for the counsellor to use confrontation List the chief elements of good confrontation. Discuss appropriate use of confrontation, in case studies. Show how reframing can be used to change a client’s perspective on things. Develop a method for identifying the existence of self-destructive beliefs (SDB’s). Identify self-destructive beliefs (SDB’s) amongst individuals within a group. Explain the existence of self destructive beliefs in an individual. List methods that can be used to challenge SDB’s? Explain what is meant by normalising, in a case study. Demonstrate precautions that should be observed when using normalizing. Determine optional responses to different dilemmas. Evaluate optional responses to different dilemmas. Explain how the ‘circle of awareness’ can be applied to assist a client, in a case study. Explain why psychological blockages may arise Demonstrate how a counsellor might help a client to overcome psychological blockages. Describe the steps a counsellor would take a client through to reach a desired goal, in a case study. Identify inter-dependency in observed relationships. Explain why good time management is an important part of the counselling process. Compare terminating a session with terminating the counselling process. Demonstrate dangers posed by client - counsellor inter-dependency Explain how dependency can be addressed and potentially overcome. Explain any negative aspects of dependency in a case study. WHAT DO OUR STUDENTS THINK? "This course has been extremely valuable to me as throughout those 5 months my friends all seemed to go through some crisis or other. I have learned so much that I could put into practice and from the responses I have had, it's been very positive. Tutor feedback was fantastic. All individual answers were given a comment which helped me understand if I missed something." Brenda Harvey, Counselling Skills I course. WHY DO THIS COURSE? Improve your communication and counselling skills with this course. Understand more about counselling skills. Study counselling skills I for professional development. Gain an insight into the use of counselling skills in many situations. WHAT NEXT? You can start our Counselling Skills I course at any time - Register to Study - Go to “It’s Easy to Enrol” box at the top of the page and you can enrol now. or Phone us on (UK) 01384 442752, or (International) +44 (0) 1384 442752, OR Submit you questions to our specialist Psychology And Counselling tutors - they will help you in choosing a course which suits your goals.