Integrative Counselling

Minimum 80%

Counselling Theory and Practice Specialisms - 30 credits

Theory

The concept of Integration; Common factors; Theories about human beings; Personal growth and development; Clarkson's (1990) five relationship model; The working alliance; Goals; The person-to-person relationship and the person centred counsellor (Rogers, 1986); I/thou relationship; The transferential relationship (transference and counter-transference); The emotionally reparative relationship; The transpersonal relationship; Gestalt; Transactional Analysis; Psychosynthesis; Wilber's Integral Model etc; Sacred Space and Presence; Body based therapies e.g. bioenergetics and biodynamic release. Multidimensional Integrative Framework; Self and attachment; CBT; CAT; Erskine's model of 'contact in relationship'; Doors to therapy; Shame; Dreams; Emotional development of the brain; Intersubjectivity; Self-Psychology.

Practice specialisms

Bereavement Issues; Drug and alcohol issues; Sexual abuse and childhood trauma; Mental health Issues; Depression and suicide; Self-harm; Anxiety; Agoraphobia; Panic; PTSD; Dissociative states; Schizophrenia; Personality disorders; Eating issues; Partner violence; Mindfulness and its applications.

Skills: The Counselling Process and Way of Being - 20 credits

Therapeutic competencies

Beginnings, middles and endings; Referrals; Suicidal clients; Working with adolescents and the Children Act, 1989; Differences between counselling children, young people and adults; the CORE system and evaluation; Counselling in a diverse society; Touch in counselling; Short and long term counselling.

Skills work

Revisit certificate level skills (paraphrasing; reflecting; open questions; focussing; summarising; active listening; internal and external frames of reference; minimal encourages; silence); continue with advanced skills: challenge; immediacy; advanced empathy; self-disclosure; patterns and themes; goal setting; scaling questions; goldfish bowl; counselling as sacred space, heart and presence.

Self Awareness and Reflectiveness - 20 credits

Check-in and Group Process to develop self awareness; counselling as a way of being; the process of the approach to counselling; self-behaviour; defaults; the space between; Focussing and Mindfulness training; presence and sacred space.

Professional Development, The Supervisory Process and Placement - 30 credits

Professional Development and the Supervisory Process

The counselling environment; Definitions of counselling; BACP Ethical Framework; Ethical dilemmas; Contracting; Notes and records; Confidentiality; Supervision as process and professional practice; Assessment; Multidisciplinary teams; CPD work; Counselling settings.

Practice Placement

Getting a placement; Insurance and Health and Safety; Working within capability; 150 supervised client hours.

Research Methods and Statistics - 20 credits

Thinking statistically; Research methods; Analysing and reporting qualitative data; Qualitative methods.

Dissertation - 60 credits

A dissertation covering an aspect of research relevant to this degree programme.

It is important that those attending this course not only have the pre-requisite of the Certificate in Counselling or equivalent, but are also prepared to carry out a placement when they will be working with clients. Therefore, individuals on this course will need a high level of critical self-awareness and a willingness to reflect on their own process.

This course consists of six main modules:

• Counselling Theory and Practice
• The Counselling Process: Therapeutic Competencies and Skills Work
• The Development of Self-awareness and Reflective Process: Counselling as a Way of Being
• Professional Development, The Supervisory Process and Placement
• Research Methods 
• Dissertation

   

Masson, J. (1988). Against Therapy: Emotional Tyranny and the Myth of Psychological Healing. New York: Atheneum.

McLeod, J. (2003). An Introduction to Counselling (3rd ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press.

Lectures, workshops, one-to-one, private study, group work, role play.

The career opportunities for counsellors are many. For example, students may wish to work within NHS settings or schools, or further or higher educational counselling settings. Various opportunities are available within organisational settings and police settings, as well as in continuing professional development (CPD) work. The government agenda for Improved Access to Psychological Therapies offers good opportunity for trained counsellors. There are also many other establishments that have some paid positions.