ADVANCED CERTIFICATE IN NUTRITIONAL COUNSELLING VRE104

For people who wish to advance or change their career into counselling with a focus on nutrition, or

For anyone already working in the health industry who wish to enhance their knowledge!

For Example:

• Working in a health food shop
• Life coaches, fitness instructors
• Health industry support staff
• Businessmen and staff involved with food production, processing or marketing
• Complimentary health practitioners seeking to broaden their knowledge of nutrition

Recent research in nutrition and health services indicates there is an increasing need for counsellors to have specialist knowledge in the area of nutrition, weight loss and children's nutrition whilst still maintaining professional counselling skills and practice.

Enrol in this course if you are genuinely seeking to develop counselling skills, understand counselling techniques and work with people who are focussed on improving their health through nutrition.

Health promotion in education is also another huge development area and requires people who know the facts about nutrition and also understand the importance of counselling...

COURSE STRUCTURE

This course is made up of 9 modules: 6 compulsory and 3 electives which you can choose to ensure the course is tailored to your needs or choice! (click on each module below for more details)

6 Compulsory Modules include:

1. Human Nutrition I

The nine lessons are as follows:

1. Introduction to Nutrition
2. The Digestive System
3. Absorption & Enzymes
4. Energy Value and Foods
5. Carbohydrates and Fats
6. Proteins
7. Vitamins and Minerals
8. Water
9. Nutrient Disorders

2. Human Nutrition II

There are eight lessons is as outlined below:‑

1. Cooking And Its Affect On Nutrition
2. Food Processing And Its Affect On Nutrition
3. Recommended Daily Intake Of Nutrients
4. Vitamins
5. Minerals
6. Planning A Balanced Diet
7. Assessing Nutritional Status And Needs
8. Timing Of Meals, And Needs For Special Groups

3. Human Nutrition III

This course is divided into eight lessons as follows:.

1. Problems With Eating
2. Dental Problems
3. Fibre and Bowel Diseases
4. Different Ways of Eating
5. Food Toxicity A
6. Food Toxicity B
7. Detoxification/Body Cleansing
8. Consulting/Giving Advice

4. Introduction to Psychology

There are seven lessons in this course, as follows:

1. The nature and scope of Psychology
2. Neurological basis of behaviour
3. Environmental effects on behaviour
4. Consciousness and perception
5. Personality
6. Psychological development
   
7. Needs, Drives and Motivation

5. Counselling Techniques

The course is divided into eight lessons as follows:

1. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy l: Freud (& Erikson); Jung
2. Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy ll: Adler
3. Humanistic/Existential Approaches I: Gestalt Therapy; Fritz Perls
4. Humanistic/Existential Approaches II: Person-Centred Counselling; Carl Rogers
5. Rational Behavioural Therapy: Albert Ellis
6. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Aaron Beck
7. Behavioural Therapy:
8. Solution-Focused Counselling:

6. Counselling Skills I

The course is divided into eight lessons as follows:

1. Learning Specific Skills - Learning methods; the counselling rold
2. Listening and Bonding - Meeting and greeting; helping the client relax; listening with intent
3. Reflection: Paraphrasing - Reflection of feeling; client responses to reflection of feelings; reflection of content and feeling
4. Questioning - Open and closed questions; other types of questions; goals of questioning
5. Interview Techniques - Summarising; confrontation; reframing
6. Changing Beliefs and Normalising - Changing self-destructive beliefs; irrational beliefs; normalising
7. Finding Solutions - Making choices; facilitating actions; gestalt awareness; psychological blocks
8. Ending the Counselling - Terminating the session; closure; further meetings; dependency, confronting dependency.

ELECTIVE MOSULES (3 required)

Choose 3 Modules from the following electives:

Children's Nutrition

There are 10 lessons in this module as follows:

1. Introduction to Child Nutrition
2. Nutrition for Pre-Pregnancy
3. Nutrition in Pregnancy
4. Nutrition in Infants
5. Nutrition in Childhood
6. Nutritional Concerns
7. Healthy Eating Behaviours
8. Issues in Child Nutrition
9. Childhood Obesity
10. Diet Plans

Sports Nutrition

There are 9 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction to Human and Sports Nutrition
2. Energy
3. Energy in the Athlete’s Body
4. The Training Diet
5. The Competition Diet
6. Fluids
7. The Athlete’s Body Composition
8. Weight Management
9. Training for Size and the Use of Sports Supplements

Nutrition for Weight Loss

There are nine lessons in this course as follows:

1. Understanding Obesity -Causes, genetics, lifestyle, exercise, eating habits, affect of pregnancy, medical conditions, diseases, water, changes at different stages of life (adolescence, menopause, etc). Evaluation of Weight status & Body Composition
2. Nutrition Basics ….revision of the basics, discussion of food sources, organic/inorganic; not just what you eat but how & when you eat…. Healthy digestion,,,,
3. Diets -Fads, Fiction and Fact…. A review of a range of popular approaches to Weight Control – Starvation, Ketogenic Diets, Dieting. Crash diets, supplements, cleansing/elimination diets, Low carb diets, sweeteners, fat substitutes; Dangers
4. Preventing Obesity
5. Treating Obesity
6. Modifying Eating Behaviour
7. Restricting Calorie Intake
8. Medical Conditions: Hormones, Drugs, Eating Disorders
9. Planning a Diet

Theraputic Nutrition

 .....(a great new course still under development!)

Professional Practice in Counselling

The course is divided into seven lessons as follows:

1. Understanding Counselling: The client-counsellor relationship; Effective counselling; Counselling the counsellor; Counsellor’s values; Multicultural counselling

2. Ethics & Confidentiality: Needs; A code of ethics; Informed consent; Right to privacy; Legal requirements; Use of psychometric tests; Ethics and multiple relationships; Keeping records.

3. Understanding the Self: Self-awareness; Self-monitoring; Self-concept; Social Perception; Attribution theory; Implicit personality theory; Relationships; Social exchange; Love and intimacy.

4. Personality: What is a healthy personality?; Trait approach; Psychodynamic approach; Humanistic approach; Social learning and cognitive approaches.

5. Emotions & Behaviour: What are emotions?; Emotions and Counselling; Effect on communication, Aspects of emotions, Emotional expression and counselling.

6. Supervision: Why supervision?; Working with others; Quantity and effectiveness of supervision; Personal counselling; Dependency; Types of supervision.

7. Referral Practice: Counselling v mental health issues; Secondary care counsellors; Abnormal psychology; Anxiety; Depression; Schizophrenia; Personality disorders.

Counselling Skills II

The course is divided into eight lessons as follows:

1. The Counselling Session - how micro-skills come together

2. Focus on the Present - present experiences; feedback; transference; projection; resistance

3. Telephone Counselling - non-visual contact; preparation; initial contact; use of micro-skills; overall process; debriefing; types of problem callers

4. Dealing with Crises - defining crisis; types of crisis; dangers of crisis; counsellor’s responses and intervention; post-traumatic stress

5. Problem-Solving Techniques I: Aggression - expressing anger; encouraging change; role-play; externalising anger

6. Problem-Solving Techniques II: Depression - blocked anger; referral practice; chronic depression; setting goals; promoting action

7. Problem-Solving Techniques III: Grief and Loss - loss of relationships; children and grief; stages of grief

8. Problem-Solving Techniques IV: Suicide - ethics; reasons for suicide; perceived risk; counselling strategies; alternative approach.

This is an excellent course to enrol in if you are interested in working with people in a counselling capacity where you need knowledge of general human nutrition, children's nutrition (including expectant mothers and infants), theraputic nutrition, nutrition for weight loss and weight maintenance or even sports nutrition.

Counsellors provide guidance for clients and a support system, rather than working with the deeper levels of the psyche. Many people need guidance on nutrition for example during pregnancy or support during a weight loss program. Others may like to find out about how to support people throughout a disease when nutritional knowledge and emotional support go hand in hand. Coeliac Disease is an example of a medical condition related to diet and nutrition which if not treated can result in patients who have a high probability of being diagnosed with infertility, autism, depression and migraine headaches where counselling would be beneficial to support people and help them cope with any such diagnosis.