Level 3 Diploma in Child and Adolescent Counselling

Course Synopsis
This Quality Assured Level 3 Diploma course is designed to follow on from, and compliment the basic or introductory counselling course. Reappraisal of basic counselling skills and core knowledge will be covered, together with a detailed examination of the five approaches or theories counselling.

Specific attention will be given to psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and person-centred approaches, which will give students a fuller working knowledge and understanding of advanced counselling skills. In specialist counselling fields, these advanced skills are necessary in order to be able to recognise and deal with the complex range of client needs, together with being able to understand the origins of these particular emotions and possible physiological factors.

This course focuses on the integrated method of child counselling with significant reference to using narrative and imagery techniques. For adolescents who are struggling with the transition to adulthood, special counselling skills and approaches are required, together with proactive and creative strategies. In addition to the counselling approaches, various working models and theories specific to this field will be explored as well as behavioural, psychosocial strategies and reflective practice.

The course consists of ten modules, a thesis and an online examination.

Module 1: Introduction, discussion and reappraisal of counselling skills
This module looks at how we define children and adolescents in the modern society. It also looks in detail at the five theories which have been adopted as approaches in counselling. In this module the work of Freud, Rogers, Skinner, Ellis, Jung and Eagan will be looked at in brief, and the corresponding counselling approaches examined.

Module 2: The psychodynamic approach relevant to child and adolescent counselling
This module will look at how they work and are applied to the counselling situation. Specific examples and activities will give the student indications as to which particular set of client circumstances benefits most from this approach.

Module 3: The cognitive behavioural approach relevant to child and adolescent counselling
This module will look at how they work and are applied to the counselling situation. Specific examples and activities will give the student indications as to which particular set of client circumstances benefits most from this approach.

Module 4: The person-centred approach relevant to child and adolescent counselling
This module will look at how they work and are applied to the counselling situation. Specific examples and activities will give the student indications as to which particular set of client circumstances benefits most from this approach.

Module 5: Ethics, issues of consent, and the child/adolescent - counsellor relationship
This module will discuss boundaries or limitations and will look at how to recognise and deal with these. It will also look at what types of consent and responsibilities the counsellor has to seek when working with children. It also looks at how the counsellor builds up a trusting and communicative relationship with children and adolescents.

Module 6: Main concepts and counselling skills of child counselling
This module looks at how the process of child counselling works and how the counsellor applies the working models and techniques to facilitate change.

Module7: The role of play and specific activities in child counselling
This module looks at how the use of story telling, games and play using various toys and creative mediums can enhance exploration and facilitation in child counselling.

Module 8: Using worksheets for goal setting, exploration and expression in child counselling
This module examines the use of worksheets and gives some examples of how they might be used effectively in different situations.

Module 9: Adolescent counselling: understanding
This module looks at how the counsellor builds the relationship through understanding the adolescent's environmental influences, stresses and attachments.

Module 10: Adolescent counselling: proactive practice and specific strategies
This module explores how the counsellor implements a proactive approach, effectively communicates and facilitates behaviour changes in the adolescent. It also discusses some creative and psychosocial strategies which are specific to this field of counselling.