Counselling Skills in Practice PG (11744.1)

Please note these are the 2026 details for this unit
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Counselling Skills in Practice PG
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods Intensive
 UC - Canberra, Online
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Health
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Counselling Post Graduate Level Band 2 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
Band 2 2021 (Prof Pathway Social Work- After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 4 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
This unit provides students with an opportunity to further develop their counselling skills in an interactive and supportive learning environment with feedback from staff and other students. The interrelationships between counselling theories, models and skills are explored. The unit will also focus on effective change processes and strategies for positive outcomes. Experiential exercises and use of video to review practice are integrated within the unit.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate effective and accomplished use of counselling skills for the professional environment; and
2. Reflect on the experience of being in counselling interactions.


Graduate attributes

2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware


Prerequisites

11739 Counselling Theory and Approaches G;
11740 Core Counselling Skills G;
11741 Principles of Ethical Conduct in Counselling G; and
11742 Diversity Inclusion Respect G.

Corequisites

Must be enrolled in SCG401 Graduate Diploma in Counselling OR SCM401 Master of Counselling.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

7748 Counselling Placement and Supervision PG

Assumed knowledge

None.
Availability for enrolment in 2027 is subject to change and may not be confirmed until closer to the teaching start date.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 3 11 May 2026 Intensive Ms Kate Stuart
2026 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 6 26 October 2026 Intensive Ms Sarah Marshall
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 3 10 May 2027 Intensive Ms Kate Stuart
2027 UC - Canberra, Online Study Block 6 25 October 2027 Intensive Ms Sarah Marshall
The information provided should be used as a guide only. Timetables may not be finalised until week 2 of the teaching period and are subject to change. Search for the unit timetable.

Required texts

Prescribed text:  

McLeod J, (2025). An Introduction to Counselling and Psychotherapy - Theory, Research, Practice and Social Purpose. 7th Ed.Maindenhead: Open University Press/McGraw Hill 

Please note that if you search on the library catalogue or databases for counselling references and articles, that there are two spellings to counselling. In Australia and in the UK, it is spelled as ‘counselling" with two ‘l's, whereas in the US it is spelt ‘counseling'. Take this into account in your literature searches.  

Some of the counselling journals sources available on the library database are: 

Psychotherapy in Australia  

Counseling Today 

Counseling and Values 

Counselling and Psychotherapy Journal 

European Journal of psychotherapy, counselling and health  

Australian Journal of guidance and counselling 

Counselling and Psychotherapy Research 

Counseling and Human Development 

Counseling Psychologist 

International Journal for the advancement of Counselling 

Journal of Mental Health Counselling 

In Session: Psychotherapy in Practice 

Psychotherapy 

Psychotherapy Networker 

Journal of multicultural counseling and development 

Journal of Professional Counselling, practice, theory and research  

Journal of Family Studies  

Australian Social Work 

Australian Psychologist

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Submission of assessment items 

 

It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the right submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant canvas site. If the unit convener and/or tutor are unable to access a submission, a standard late penalty of 10% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day until the assignment is made accessible. 

 

Should the unit convenor approve an extension request, it is highly unorthodox that extensions will be granted for more than 5 days (RAPs included). It is important to realise that if an extension is approved and the assessment is submitted late, this will delay the marking process. This can result in an inability to commence following units and hinder your progress through your course.

Please note a blanket extension request for all assessment in this unit is not acceptable. Extension requests must be submitted using the "Assessment extension application form"  located under the Assignments tab in UCLearn. 

Assignments are graded. In order to pass this unit, all assignments must be submitted and an overall mark of 50% must be reached.

Resubmissions are not avaiable in this unit

When you have allocated to a tutorial, this tutor is your contact person for feedback on assessments, however they may not mark all of your assessments as marking is completed by UC Counselling academics and is allocated to them depending on workloads.  

Artificial intelligence

Students are not permitted to use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in assessments for this unit, except for Studiosity Writing Feedback Plus.

GenAI may only be used in authorised ways when completing assessments at UC. This means that GenAI can only be used for an assessment when:

  1. the Unit Convener has authorised GenAI use for that assessment
  2. the student uses GenAI in the way that the assessment instructions allow
  3. the student fully acknowledges their use of GenAI, with proper citations, references and a GenAI Acknowledgement Statement in line with the assessment instructions.

Where the assessment instructions do not specifically state that GenAI may be used and how, then its use is not permitted for that assessment. Students must still provide the required GenAI Acknowledgement Statement to indicate whether GenAI has or has not been used in the preparation of the assessment. If unsure, students should seek advice from the Unit Convener.

The GenAI for Students Library Guide provides further information, including how to reference GenAI Links to an external site..

Special assessment requirements

Assignments are graded. In order to pass this unit, all assignments must be submitted and a mark of 50% or more must be reached.  

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

Participation Requirements:

 Accreditation of this course by the Australian Counselling Association requires that students maintain an 80% attendance rate of at tutorials.

Recordings of tutorials will be made available for those who are unable to attend, however, sections may be removed from the recording if sensitive information has been disclosed. Experience from past years indicates that students who do not participate in tutorials have a risk of failing the unit. Note that watching a recording does not count as attending a tutorial for accreditation purposes.

Intensive Week Participation:

Attendance at all tutorials during the intesive week is mandatory. You cannot pass this unit if you have not attended the entirety of the intensive week.

Required IT skills

In order to engage in this unit, you are expected to have a reliable computer with the latest operating system. You will also need reliable internet connections and the latest version of Google Chrome (preferred browser) to access UCLearn. You are expected to have access to Microsoft Office applications: including Word, Excel and PowerPoint equivalent. In some units, you will be required to download specific software applications to complete the unit content and assessment successfully. 

In order to complete research, you will need to be able to search the library data bases for relevant journal articles. It is the individual student's responsibility to access appropriate help from the University IT services or the library if he or she does not have adequate skills. 

In-unit costs

For more information regarding fees, please speak to your Student Advisor. 

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

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