Unit Outline

On successfully completing this subject, you will be able to use practical skills for more effective interpersonal communication, as well as basic counselling skills. This unit examines styles of counselling with integration of theories of counselling with its practice. The unit teaches both basic skills in counselling and more advanced skills necessary in more complex counselling situations. Multicultural counselling will be addressed.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	Identify basic counselling skills.
2	Apply different models of counselling to match client presentations.
3	Establish and maintain a collaborative counselling relationship with clients
4	Apply basic counselling micro-skills.
5	Use self-reflective practice to critique your own counselling performance.

Alterations as a result of student feedback

Minor alterations have been made to this unit, including revision of assessment rubric criteria and intended learning outcomes to increase clarity and scheduling of assessment task due dates to allow for additional time between submissions.

As always, the teaching team will greatly appreciate your feedback both informally during the delivery of the unit in 2025, and formally through the University of Tasmania’s Unit Survey following your completion of the unit.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Written Assignment	Week 5	35 %	LO1, LO2, LO4, LO5
Assessment Task 2:	Skills Demonstration	Week 11	40 %	LO1, LO3, LO4
Assessment Task 3:	Self-Evaluation	Week 13	25 %	LO1, LO4, LO5
Assessment Task 4:	Practice Skills Log Sheet	Week 14	0 %	LO2, LO4, LO5

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Written Assignment

Task Description:

Write an essay which outlines and justifies key counselling skills which facilitate the counselling process. Reflect on your own personal strengths and weaknesses and how to address these in the context of the counselling process.

Task Length:

1400 words (max)

Due Date:

Week 5

Weight:

35 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Identify counselling skills which facilitate the counselling process.	LO1, LO4
2	Justify how the counselling skills identified facilitate the counselling process.	LO1, LO2, LO4
3	Reflect on personal strengths and weaknesses in the context of the counselling process.	LO5
4	Identify strategies to address your professional weaknesses in the context of the counselling process.	LO5

Assessment Task 2: Skills Demonstration

Task Description:

This task involves demonstrating counselling skills learned in this unit in a video recorded 20-minute role-play. The focus of the role-play is the use of basic micro skills to respond to the client presentation.

Task Length:

20 minutes

Due Date:

Week 11

Weight:

40 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Develop rapport with the client.	LO1, LO3, LO4
2	Use primary and advanced level empathy when interacting with the client.	LO1, LO3
3	Adopt verbal and non-verbal communication skills which align with and adapt to the client presentation.	LO1, LO4
4	Use counselling micro skills (e.g. active listening, minimal encouragers, questions/prompts, summarising, reflection of feelings) when interacting with the client.	LO4

Assessment Task 3: Self-Evaluation

Task Description:

Write a self-evaluation of one skills demonstration (role-play) completed as part of this unit. In this evaluation:
- Describe your personal strengths and weaknesses and how these relate to the broader counselling process.
- Describe strategies you will use to facilitate improvement in your counselling skills to maximise client outcomes

Task Length:

1000 words

Due Date:

Week 13

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Identify personal strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the broader counselling process.	LO5
2	Identify counselling skills demonstrated in the role-play and explain where these were used effectively.	LO1, LO4, LO5
3	Justify areas for improvement in the role-play and provide strategies to directly facilitate improvement and maximise client outcomes.	LO1, LO5

Assessment Task 4: Practice Skills Log Sheet

Task Description:

During semester you are required to participate in practical skills workshops and other interactive tasks. You are required to keep a log sheet of your active skills hours for each unit. Participation in active skills hours is an important part of the requirements for an accredited counselling course.
Further information regarding how to log your active hours and what task you may include in your log sheet will be provided via MyLO at the beginning of semester.
Completed log sheets will be submitted at the end of semester for each unit you complete.

This task is a HURDLE task which you must pass in order to pass the unit.

Task Length:

Approximately 10 hours of practice logged with a minimum 250-word reflection per activity entry

Due Date:

Week 14

Weight:

0 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Apply different models of counselling to match client presentations.	LO2
2	Apply basic counselling micro-skills.	LO4
3	Use self-reflective practice to critique your own counselling performance.	LO5

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Academic progress review

The results for this unit may be included in a review of your academic progress. For information about progress reviews and what they mean for all students, see Academic Progress Review in the Student Portal.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

It is important that you have ongoing access to this textbook, so a copy will be available for a limited loan period from the University of Tasmania Library collection.
You are, however, strongly encouraged to purchase this text as it will be a useful resource throughout your study.

Egan, G. (2014). The skilled helper: a problem-management and opportunity development approach to helping. Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, c2014. (or other edition published within the past 8 years).