Counselling Communication (5258.10)

Please note these are the 2026 details for this unit
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Counselling Communication
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods On-campus
 UC College, Bruce, ACT
Bruce, Canberra
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.125 3 Faculty Of Health
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Discipline Of Counselling Level 1 - Undergraduate Introductory Unit 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)
The aim of this unit is to introduce students to theoretical and practical elements of the counselling relationship. Students will learn a model of interpersonal communication and a set of practical skills that are foundational in sound counselling practice and in working with clients in human service delivery. Skills learnt are also important in a range of professional settings.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to demonstrate:
1. An understanding of the theoretical and practical elements of the counselling relationship;
2. The ability to develop and maintain an appropriate counselling relationship;
3. The ability to use and combine individual skills to explore clients key concerns; and
4. Self-awareness and ethical sensitivity in facilitating counselling relationships and the application of counselling skills.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict
1. UC graduates are professional - display initiative and drive, and use their organisation skills to plan and manage their workload
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - understand issues in their profession from the perspective of other cultures
2. UC graduates are global citizens - communicate effectively in diverse cultural and social settings
2. UC graduates are global citizens - make creative use of technology in their learning and professional lives
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - evaluate and adopt new technology


Corequisites

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.
Availability for enrolment in 2026 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
2025 UC College, Bruce, ACT Semester 1 03 February 2025 On-campus Miss Rebecca Mete
2025 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 03 February 2025 On-campus Other Sel Cooper
2026 UC College, Bruce, ACT Semester 1 16 February 2026 On-campus Miss Rebecca Mete
2026 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 16 February 2026 On-campus Other Sel Cooper
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:

Geldard, D., Geldard, K., Yin Foo, R. (2021). Basic personal counselling: A training manual for counsellors (9th ed.). Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

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 spelled ‘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

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

Resubmissions are not available for this unit.

Please note that GenAI is not authorised to be used for assessment preparation for this unit.
 
GenAI may be used for assessment preparation by students at UC when:
  • authorised by the unit convener (or HDR supervisor) as part of a specified assessment task
  • used in the way allowed in the assessment instructions and unit outline
  • appropriately referenced, meaning that students must acknowledge the use of GenAI in their assessments in the same way that they must acknowledge all source material.
Any other use of GenAI to complete an assessment is a breach of academic integrity and could constitute academic misconduct. Unauthorised use of GenAI in assessment work is contract cheating, as defined in University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. It's also possible for unauthorised or inappropriate use of AI in student assessments to present as plagiarism, reproduction of another's work, collusion, dishonesty in connection with an assessment, or non-compliance with assessment-related instructions – all of which are academic integrity breaches.

Special assessment requirements

It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the correct 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 5% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day until the assignment is made accessible. 

 

 

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.

Learner engagement

In order to get the most out of your studies, it is strongly recommended that you plan your time commitments, actively engage in class discussions and work with your peers as part of your study. The amount of time you will need to spend on study in this unit will depend on a number of factors including your prior knowledge, learning skill level and learning style. Nevertheless, in planning your time commitments you should note that for a 3-credit point unit the total notional workload over the semester or term is assumed to be 150 hours.

Participation requirements

This is a skills based unit. It is intended that learning in this unit will be interactive and practical. It is presumed therefore that students have made adequate arrangements for            attending all teaching-learning sessions. In particular, attendance at the tutorial and workshop is essential in this unit as students will not be able to attain and demonstrate in their assessments, the learning outcomes, unless they attend and fully participate.

Absence from more than two tutorial and workshops will seriously jeopardise student's ability to achieve and demonstrate the set learning outcomes. Students are also required to inform their lecturer/tutors of their absence if unavoidable and to seek consultation.

Important: Attendance at the tutorial and workshop is essential in this course. Students will not be able to attain and demonstrate the required learning outcomes in their assessments unless they attend and fully participate in the tutorials. Experience from past years indicates that students who do not attend tutorials have a real risk of failing the unit.

Student participation in all aspects of this unit is vital to this unit as is professionalism, maturity in the workplace and respect for colleagues/peers.

Required IT skills

You must be able to word process assignments so that they are well presented, search the library data bases for relevant journal articles and access the UCLearn site for this unit. It is the individual student's responsibility to access appropriate help from the university IT services or the library if they do not have adequate skills. Students will need to familiarise and have access to video viewing software that is compatible and accessible for video-recorded assignment requirements and uploading to UCLearn.

Work placement, internships or practicums

None

Additional information

If there is any doubt with regard to the requirements of a particular assignment or assessment, the onus for clarifying the issue rests with the student who should contact the unit convener or tutor. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they are correctly enrolled in the unit and tutorial and that the tutor and Student administration are provided with their correct contacts details.

Next step

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