| Academy of Trauma Therapists

Counselling and Psychology Training 2012

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Introduction to Counselling Skills

These courses are run at different times of the year during the day and in the evening

Daytime classes (Monday to Thursday 10.00am to 4.00pm):

Evening Classes (Wednesdays 6.00pm to 8.30pm):

Students in this program will learn the basic skills required to become effective in helping people with their problems, their relationships and their lives. Through hands-on exercises and role-plays, students will come to understand what is required to become an effective counsellor.

Students will learn to recognise and develop the qualities required of helpers. Students will learn the skills to respond meaningfully, to support people with their problems and to help them develop more effective coping skills. The course highlights the importance of active and reflective listening techniques, as well as self-management for counsellors. The emphasis is on developing practical skills and building your confidence and understanding of the counselling process.

Topics Covered

• Creating a helping environment and developing a collaborative relationship
• Active listening skills
• Attending to non-verbal cues
• Open and closed questions
• Reflective and empathic responses.
• Solution-focused problem solving strategies.
• Counselling demonstration

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Advanced Counselling Skills

These courses are run at different times of the year during the day and in the evening

Daytime classes (Monday to Thursday 10.00am to 4.00pm):

Evening Classes (Wednesdays 6.00pm to 8.30pm):

Students in this unit will learn to apply the core skills learnt in the introductory course to particular problems and issues. Throughout the program, students will be challenged to reflect on the way their own experiences impact on the counselling process and learn to recognise and manage their own stress. Students will learn more advanced skills in maintaining the counselling relationship and managing any difficulties that may arise.

In this course participants will learn how to assess clients at risk. Students will gain a range of strategies aimed at helping people who are feeling anxious and stressed. They will also learn how to work with clients who have suffered a loss and are trying to cope with their grief.

Topics Covered

• Review of micro skills and counselling techniques
• Working with client resistance
• Interventions for stress and anxiety
• Assessing the client at risk
• Counselling for grief and loss
• Preventing counsellor burnout
• Ethical issues in counselling

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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

These courses are run at different times of the year

 

We hear a great deal about CBT, its widespread application to many problems, and its effectiveness with some major problems.

• What is CBT?
• How does it operate?
• Why is it effective?
• Who can use it?

In this workshop you will learn how CBT helps people think differently, feel differently and behave differently. Participants will hear how it can be used with considerable benefit for anxiety and stress related problems, depression, relationship conflicts. Worksheets and questioning techniques that help clients to identify and improve their unhelpful thinking patterns and explore their maladaptive beliefs will be presented and participants will have an opportunity to practise the method in role plays.

Topics Covered

• Theory of CBT and what it can achieve for clients
• Techniques of self monitoring and self reinforcement
• Strategies for identifying and challenging dysfunctional thinking
• Identifying the origins, triggers and sustainers of unhelpful thought patterns
• The critical components of CBT as a therapeutic intervention for depressed people

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Treating Depression Effectively

These courses are run at different times of the year

Depression represents one of the most common
presenting syndromes in clinical practice. The treatment
methods available include pharmacotherapy and
various forms of psychotherapy. The efficacy of
psychotherapeutic treatments specific to depressive
mood disorder has been shown to be comparable to
that of pharmacologic treatments. A combination of
psychological treatment with anti-depressant medication
has been shown to be the most effective method of
treatment. The importance of interpersonal stressors
and strains contributing to the depressive state and the
importance of the therapeutic relationship in treatment
outcome will be the focus of this one day workshop.

Topics Covered

• The concept of learned helplessness
• The triangle of insight
• The triangle of person
• The interpersonal matrix
• Cyclical maladaptive patterns
• IdCognitive, affective, behavioural techniques

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Bullying at School -
Strategies and Interventions for Teachers

These courses are run at different times of the year

Being bullied and bullying is common in many school
settings. Not only does it diminish children’s
confidence, it lowers their self esteem, leads to poor
academic outcomes and impacts on their health.
Bullying not only occurs in relationships with others,
it occurs on the internet, through texting and by the
use of mobile phone conversations. Bullying happens
to students of all ages, differing racial and ethnic
groups and children from diverse socio-economic
backgrounds.

Participants in this workshop will learn about the
psychology of bullying and of the bully themselves.
They will learn what motivates them, the symbolism
of their behaviour, the attention they are seeking
and other common contributing factors. Particular
attention will be paid to the techniques and
interventions teachers might adopt to intervene,
counsel and support younger children and
adolescents alike. Emphasis will also be placed
on ways to question, confront and break negative
patterns of interaction.

Topics Covered

• Personality factors
• Underlying factors
• The dynamics of the experience
• Coping techniques
• Counselling interventions
• Debriefing staff, parents and others

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Brief Treatment for Problem Gambling

These courses are run at different times of the year

Gambling is a source of personal excitement and
social pleasure for many people. For others, problem
gambling leaves a trail of personal destructiveness
and social cost. While it is recognised that problem
gamblers and their social context need help, there
is a continuing search to identify the most effective
method of treatment. Several approaches have
emphasised cognitive behaviour therapy, behaviour
therapy, addiction control and others have followed
doing “what seems best” in a given situation.

 

Topics Covered:

• The psychology of addiction
• Personality characteristics
• Developmental factors
• Focussed resources and techniques
• A stage related approach
• Conceptualisation and the therapeutic process

 

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Solution Focused Therapy

These courses are run at different times of the year

Solution Focused therapy is a form of brief or time
limited therapy that focuses on what the person wants
to achieve as a result of counselling. Unlike many
other forms of brief therapy it has as it is concern the
present rather than a focus on the past or what the
person is looking for in the future. To achieve this
objective a number of skills, interventions and
techniques are used. These include a focus on the
narrative the person uses to describe their situation
or problem, their personal resources and strengths
and also their expectations about themselves and
others.

Topics Covered:

• Motivational interviewing
• The miracle question
• Problem free talk
• Scaling questions
• Exception seeking questions
• Coping questions