About the Faculty

      ... of Counselling

Introduction to the Field of Counselling

Counselling, treatment of individuals with emotional problems, behavioral problems, or mental illness primarily through verbal communication. In most types of counselling, a person discusses his or her problems one-on-one with a therapist. The therapist tries to understand the person’s problems and to help the individual change distressing thoughts, feelings, or behaviours.

People often seek counselling when they have tried other approaches to solving a personal problem. For example, people who are depressed, anxious, or have drug or alcohol problems may find that talking to friends or family members is not enough to resolve their problems. Sometimes people may want to talk to a therapist about problems they would feel uncomfortable discussing with friends or family, such as being sexually abused as a child. Finding a therapist to talk to who is knowledgeable about emotional problems, has patients’ best interests at heart, and is relatively objective can be extremely helpful.

Counselling differs in two ways from the informal help or advice that one person may give another. First, counselling is conducted by a trained, certified, or licensed counsellor. In addition, treatment methods in counselling are guided by well-developed theories about the sources of personal problems.

At one time the term psychotherapy referred to a form of psychiatric treatment used with severely disturbed individuals, whereas counseling referred to the treatment of people with milder psychological problems or to advice given on vocational and educational matters. Today the distinction between psychotherapy and counseling is quite blurred, and many mental health professionals use the terms interchangeably. Psychotherapists and counselors often treat the same kinds of problems and use the same set of techniques.

Working in the Field

The degree offers students the opportunity of pursuing careers in a wide range of areas dealing with areas such as:

depression seasonal affective disorder anxiety anger panic attacks grief inferior feelings sexual abuse suicidal thoughts fear stress teen anti-social behavior adolescent lying

family problems loss shyness co-dependency self-control divorce separation loneliness faith conflicts self-esteem ADD / ADHD childhood depression conduct management

Types of Employers

An employer is a person or institution that hires employees or workers and may include everything from individuals hiring a single person to governments and businesses which hire many thousands of employees. In most western societies governments are the largest single employers, but most of the work force is employed in small and medium businesses in the private sector. The following types of employers are relevant to Counselling majors:

AIDS-related community services Alcoholism counselor Social worker and HIV Counselor Chemical dependency specialist Supervisor for the Dept. of Employment Rehabilitation Programs

Teen Mothers Programs domestic-violence agency Community and family dev. Vocational counseling Elderly services Battered women's shelters

The Faculty

The Faculty of Counselling presents specialized programmes and courses in its particular field. The Faculty is renowned for its quality tuition and students can expect to receive professional guidance by highly qualified professors and tutors, supported by excellent learning support material throughout your period of study. The programmes and courses presented are described below.

Career-Oriented Degrees

Our undergraduate degree, with its three programmes (Cert., Dip. and Bachelor) presenting more than 7 counselling courses are designed to educate you for a career in Counselling. The B.Couns degrees will provide an excellent background in a wide field of Counselling career opportunities.

Bachelor of Counselling

The B.Couns degree is suitable not only for students who wish to acquire a broad-based training for a career in the Counselling sector, but also for graduates who wish to complement their degrees with a more humanity-oriented qualification. The degree offers students the opportunity of pursuing careers in a wide range of areas.

Undergraduates with a degree in counselling or psychology find work as or more readily than degree holders in other disciplines in the sciences and social sciences, and they are more likely than other social science degree holders to find employment that is related to their undergraduate major.

Jobs in non-profit, educational and government institutions are more likely to utilize skills developed as an undergraduate major in counselling or psychology, although other areas of employment may also offer opportunities to "put the degree to work".

Individuals obtaining a degree in counselling or psychology are quite employable and are qualified to hold positions that demand many different sorts of skills and responsibilities. This doesn't mean that being a counselling or psychology major will necessarily be the best preparation for any sort of career in which you might be interested. But it is plain that this major enables many people to find useful work, which often involves skills and knowledge acquired during your major studies.

Learning Programmes

The Faculty presents the following six learning programmes:

• Certificate in Counselling (Cert Couns)
• Diploma in Counselling (Dip Couns)
• Bachelor of Counselling (B.Couns)
• Bachelor of Counselling (Honours) (B.Couns (Hons))
• Master of Counselling (M.Couns)
• Doctor of Counselling (D.Couns)

Compulsory Courses

Our 11 prescribed courses presented for the above programmes are:

• Study Skills
• Introduction to Counselling
• Interpersonal Communication
• Counselling Techniques
• Marriage & Family Counselling
• School Counselling
• Group Counselling
• Pastoral Care
• Substance Abuse Counselling
• Ethics in Counselling
• Counselling Treatment DSM-IV-TR

Five courses from other faculties are recommended to be selected during the first three programmes:

• Psychology of Life
• Social Psychology
• Basics of Health
• Introduction to Sociology
• Abnormal Psychology

Choice of Courses

On the third and fourth year (B.Couns and B.Couns Hons) levels, students have a choice from 4 additional courses in order to complete the required number of credits for that particular level. Courses may also be chosen from other faculties. Students may choose from the following courses:

• Multi Cultural Counselling
• Only one of the following three courses is a possible choice:
• Career Development Basics
• Career Development Counselling
• Career Guidance & Counselling

Programme Syllabi

For details on the courses presented in our learning programmes, please refer to the programme syllabi.

Further Readings

You can read more on the following related subjects:

• Faculty creed
• Counselling programmes
• Programme summaries
• The tuition model
• The course professor
• The academic tutor

The sitemap and the index place these and other valuable information at your fingertips

Postgraduate Study

The Faculty offers more than undergraduate study. Once you have obtained a degree in our Faculty, you may register for an honours degree or a postgraduate diploma. After passing your honours degree, you may register for a Master's degree for which you have to submit a dissertation. On completion of the Master's degree, a Doctor's degree represents the highest step on your academic ladder (also called academic path).

The academic ladder is schematically presented as follows:

See Counselling Course Fees

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