Counsellors typically work with a variety of clients, even if they specialise in a particular mental health problem. Therefore we have to know how to tailor our interventions accordingly. One important factor to consider when engaging a client is their age for there are particular ways of working with children, adolescents, and older adults. While CO2001Z Human Development, Personality, And Identity gave you a strong theoretical basis for working with clients across the lifespan this unit will give you the necessary counselling tools.
Unit code: CO2002Z
Unit status: Approved (Minor revision)
Points: 18.0
Unit level: Undergraduate Level 2
Unit discipline: Counselling
Delivery Mode: Blended
Proposing College: School of Professional Practice - Counselling
Show when this unit is running| 1. | Name stage-specific mental health and wellbeing challenges across the lifespan. |
| 2. | Demonstrate effective counselling strategies for children. |
| 3. | Demonstrate effective counselling strategies for adolescents. |
| 4. | Demonstrate effective counselling strategies for older adults. |
| 5. | |
| 6. |
Offering: This unit is to be taught in year 2, semester 1 (term 1).
Prerequisites: CO1005Z Introduction To Counselling; CO1007Z Introduction to Psychology
Scaffolded learning In practice: This is a collaborative way of learning that takes note of the learner’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). By repeatedly extending the learner’s ZPD they develop a comprehensive and integrated system of knowledge/skills. Scaffolded learning is achieved through the provision of online modules which clearly guide a student’s learning; through activities of increased complexity during intensives; by face-to-face seminars which are tailored to induce academic/professional growth in an ordered and coherent way; and by assessments which not only seek to identify that key knowledge/skills have been learnt, but that the student is developing an integrated understanding of counselling.
Textbook is: Juntunen, C., & Atkinson, D. (Eds.; 2015). Counseling across the lifespan: Prevention and treatment (2nd edition). SAGE Publications, Inc.
| Type | Description | Word count | Weight (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton Argument | For 5 different module “Activities” across the unit provide either: (1) a response of approx. 100 words to the question posed; or (2) a response of approx. 100 words to another student’s post. Each response will be marked as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. |
500 | 5.0 |
| Personal Reflection | For 5 different module “Reflection questions” across the unit provide either: (1) a response of approx. 100 words to the question posed; or (2) a response of approx. 100 words to another student’s post. Each response will be marked as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. |
500 | 5.0 |
| Skill Demonstration | Choose a classmate to work with. One of you will be the client and the other the counsellor. You will then swap roles. The client is to be a child client. Having thought of an issue to bring to counselling the client is to act in a manner appropriate to their issue and developmental stage. By contrast, the counsellor is to engage their client using recognisable counselling practices appropriate to children and tailored to the client’s specific circumstances. |
750 | 25.0 |
| Skill Demonstration | Choose a classmate to work with. One of you will be the client and the other the counsellor. You will then swap roles. The client is to be an adolescent client. Having thought of an issue to bring to counselling the client is to act in a manner appropriate to their issue and developmental stage. By contrast, the counsellor is to engage their client using recognisable counselling practices appropriate to adolescents and tailored to the client’s specific circumstances. |
750 | 25.0 |
| Skill Demonstration | Choose a classmate to work with. One of you will be the client and the other the counsellor. You will then swap roles. The client is to be an older adult (e.g., 65+yo). Having thought of an issue to bring to counselling the client is to act in a manner appropriate to their issue and developmental stage. By contrast, the counsellor is to engage their client using recognisable counselling practices appropriate to older adults and tailored to the client’s specific circumstances. |
750 | 25.0 |
| Book Review | Although counsellors are part of the mental health industry we should not forget about wellbeing. In fact, much of counselling is about supporting wellbeing to ward-off mental health issues. Given this, and recognising that we will focus on mental health in 2nd semester (i.e., CO2006Z), choose one wellbeing issue of childhood, adolescence, or of older age. Identify a contemporary text and investigate the issue. In reading the text consider demographics, risk factors, protective factors, what an individual can do to support their own wellbeing, "roadblocks" to maintaining wellbeing, and what counsellors can do to support their client's wellbeing. |
1200 | 15.0 |
Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 4 Nov, 2024
Unit record last updated: 2024-11-04 08:57:26 +1100