If you're interested in improving your counselling skills, then why not take Counselling Skills II? This course will give you more understanding of the counselling process and the skills an effective counsellor needs to develop. To give you an idea of what the course entails, have a look at the notes below taken from the lesson on telephone counselling -
"Clearly the fundamental difference between telephone counselling and face-to-face counselling is the lack of visual information available to the counsellor. This visual information provides many subtle clues, but most importantly enables the counsellor to send and receive non-verbal messages. Another significant effect of having visual information is that it makes it a lot easier to establish a relationship with the client.
Telephone counselling can be as productive and supportive as face-to-face counselling. The main different being that body language is not a factor when working on the phone. This should not detract from the process can prove supportive, as distractions are kept to a minimum, which can help increase concentration and focus. Therefore, telephone counselling can work faster than traditional therapeutic encounters. Also, working with a telephone counsellor can enable some clients to express themselves more freely, as they have a sense of anonymity.
There are many different telephone counselling services available. For example, The Samaritans, Child Line and so on. Phone lines may specialise in certain problems, such as bereavement, domestic violence, addictions, mental health problems, rape, and victim support. They offer anonymity and can be a good source for information about other services that can help the client. Calls may be one-off or regular sessions. Some people find telephone counselling safer than seeing a counsellor face-to-face.
Online counselling is also becoming more and more available." (taken from our Counselling Skills II course).
If you are not sure if you are ready for Counselling Skills II, you might consider trying Counselling Skills I first. This course looks at different counselling techniques and skills that are important for an effective counsellor.
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/COUNSELLING-SKILLS-l-BPS109-475.aspx
A pre-requisite of the course is that you have studied our Introduction to Psychology course. You can find information on this course at - http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/INTRODUCTION-TO-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS101-359.aspx Or perhaps you'd like a bit more information on Counselling Careers. Then you can visit our Careers website for information on a counselling career at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14
If you're still not sure about taking a course, but would like to look more into counselling or psychology, we have a range of psychology and counselling books in our bookshop. Or if you are keen to start the course and would like more reading material. Please have a look at - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14
Some more information on Counselling Skills II -
Course Duration:
100 hours
Course Structure
The course is divided into eight lessons as follows:
- The Counselling Session:
How Micro-Skills come together
- Focus on the Present:
Present experiences; Feedback; Transference; Projection; Resistance
- Telephone Counselling:
Visual v non-visual contact; Preparation; Initial contact; Use of micro-skills; Overall Process; Debriefing; Types of Problem Callers
- Dealing with Crises:
What is a crisis?; Types of crisis; Dangers of Crises; Counsellor’s Responses and Intervention; Post-Traumatic Stress
- Problem-Solving Techniques I, Aggression;
Assisting the Client to Express Anger; Encouraging Change; Role-Play; Externalising Anger
- Problem-Solving Techniques II, Depression;
Counselling Depression; Blocked Anger; Referral Practice; Chronic Depression; Setting Goals; Promoting Action
- Problem-Solving Techniques III, Grief and Loss;
Loss of Relationships; Assisting the Grieving Client; Stages of Grief
- Problem-Solving Techniques IV, Suicide;
Ethics; Reasons for Suicide; Perceived Risk; Counselling Strategies; Counselling Skills; Alternative Approach
AIMS
Demonstrate the application of micro skills to different stages of the counselling process.
Role-play the dynamics of the counselling process including such phenomenon as present experiences, feedback, transference, counter-transference, projection and resistance.
Demonstrate telephone counselling techniques.
Develop appropriate responses to crises, both emotional and practical.
Show ways of encouraging the client to deal with aggression.
Demonstrate different ways of encouraging the client to cope with depression.
Discuss strategies for dealing with grief.
Develop different strategies of helping suicidal clients.
WHAT YOU WILL DO IN THIS COURSE
• Identify clearly the stages in the counselling process
• Explain how a counsellor might encourage the client to relax in the first session
• Demonstrate at what stage the counsellor should bring in micro-skills other than those of minimal responses and reflection of content and feeling
• Demonstrate at what stage the counsellor should focus attention on the client’s thoughts and why
• Demonstrate control techniques in conversation, in a role play
• Correlate certain types of non-visual cues with feelings in a case study
• Show how a counsellor could assist a client to consider the present and how this could facilitate the counselling process
• Demonstrate appropriate use of feedback in the counselling situation
• Demonstrate inappropriate use of feedback in the counselling situation
• Distinguish between transference and counter-transference
• Demonstrate telephone counselling techniques in a role play.
• Describe how to deal with a distressed client (male/female) through telephone counselling
• Show how to terminate a telephone counselling session
• Explain the main advantages of telephone counselling.
• Describe techniques to effectively deal with nuisance callers in telephone counselling
• Evaluate how a crisis was managed by a person, in a case study
• Outline the main crisis categories
• Demonstrate different practical responses that might be applied to a crisis
• Show when it is appropriate for a counsellor to conclude crisis counselling
• Analyse an aggressive/violent outburst (physical/mental) by an individual; in a case study
• Explain an aggressive/violent outburst (physical/mental) by an individual; in a case study
• Demonstrate how a counsellor might encourage a client to appropriately express their anger
• Explain why it is important that clients become aware of the physiological effects of anger
• Identify the origin of depression in a case study• Explain the origin of depression in a case study
• Explain the relationship between depression and blocked anger
• Demonstrate how a counsellor could encourage a client to explore their anger
• Identify risks involved in dealing with someone with chronic depression.
• Explain the benefits of goal-setting to the counselling process.
• Identify when depressed clients should be referred on to other professionals
• Evaluate the grieving process in a case study
• Compare the grieving process in a case study, with the 7 classic stages of grieving
• Determine which stage of grieving was most difficult in a case study
• Explain the significance of denial in the grieving process
• Demonstrate how a counsellor could combat feelings of denial in grieving.
• Explain why it is important for both the client and the counsellor to understand the grieving process.
• Research into suicide, to determine attitudes, information and support services available in the student’s country
• Discuss a variety of different people’s views on suicide
• Describe high risk factors to be looked for when assessing the likelihood of a person committing suicide
• Demonstrate alternative strategies that a counsellor might use to become more aware of a depressed client’s risk of suicide
• Explain how a counsellor might learn to challenge their own irrational beliefs in order to help a suicidal client
• Compare working with and working in opposition to a client.
