DSRS4108 Applied Counselling & Rehabilitation

This topic builds on basic counselling skills and theory, with a focus on applying new knowledge and additional skills to particular issues within community based settings. Students will have opportunities through supervised practice to develop more advanced counselling skills and apply them in relation to issues such as: Adjustment and adaptation to disability, grief and loss, pain management, substance abuse, and the impact of injury and disability on social and occupational roles. Active student participation in peer review and feedback is a requirement and forms an integral part of these sessions. Students are encouraged to draw on work and practicum experiences gained up to this point in their program of study and to apply new knowledge and skills to current work and practicum settings.

This topic focuses on the theory and practice of more advanced counselling skills that are applicable within a range of rehabilitation, disability and other human service settings, with an emphasis on:

• Understanding counselling and adjustment to disability theories and their links to ethical and professional practice in a range of human service roles and settings
• Further opportunities for purposeful practice of more advanced counselling micro-skills, including completion of an extended, structured counselling interview
• Applying in-depth personal reflection and peer feedback to development of skills

1. Explain the impact of disability and related issues, including Indigenous and multicultural perspectives on the lives of clients and significant others
2. Discuss more complex counselling theories and micro-skills, and evaluate their applicability to a range of disability and related issues in rehabilitation and other human service settings
3. Identify and discuss management of ethical and professional issues associated with the counselling process, highlighted through reflection on and application to own prior and current practical experience
4. Develop a consistent commitment to facilitating own and peers learning through mutual feedback which articulates an increased understanding of the ongoing impact of personal values, cultural perspectives, attitudes and experiences on effective counselling skills
5. Apply more advanced counselling micro-skills in an extended structured interview format