Students

PSYP8901 – Counselling and Professional Practice

2022 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-intensive, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Julie Boulis
julie.boulis@mq.edu.au
Joanne Earl
joanne.earl@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MProfPsych
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit provides training in key counselling techniques such as reflective listening and empathic responding. Teaching is conducted in an experiential fashion to foster skill development and student counselling skills are assessed directly. Students are trained to intervene in complex situations such as those involving the abuse or neglect of children, and/or substance abuse. Issues in career counselling and counselling with youth are also considered. Students are exposed to relevant codes of ethics and professional practice as well as legal issues related to mandatory reporting. Students are taught about clinical issues which require medical intervention and the need for liaison with general practitioners and psychiatrists in addressing mental health problems more generally. An introduction to DSM and Psychopharmacology is also provided.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

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

  • ULO1: Critique theoretical constructs, models and evidence based counselling practice to improve effectiveness as a psychologist.
  • ULO2: Apply decision-making strategies to resolve ethical questions to problems using the APS Code of Ethics, Guidelines and Mandatory reporting legislation, across a variety of contexts.
  • ULO3: Recognise historical approaches to the conceptualisation of diagnosis, case formulation, psychopathology and DSM.
  • ULO4: Develop and implement professional interviewing and counselling skills with a variety of clients and presenting issues.

General Assessment Information

Please see iLearn for detailed descriptions of assessment requirements and the rubrics used to provide feedback. 

All assessments for this unit are compulsory in order to be eligible to pass the unit. Any student who does not attempt an assessment in this unit will be granted a Fail Absent grade.

All extensions need to be formally requested via ask.mq.edu.au in line with the special consideration policy.

Late submissions, without an approved extension, will receive a 5% per day penalty including weekends and public holidays. No late submissions will be accepted more than 5 days after the submission deadline, unless special consideration has been granted.

In line with policy for the majority of units in the MPP program, letter grades, not numeric marks, will be released for assessment tasks in this unit. 

Any requests for remark need to follow the Psychology process and must be applied within 2 weeks of the assessment task being returned.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Live Counselling Skill demonstration – 2 hours per student 60% Yes Sunday 27th March 2022 by 23:00
Ethics report on a case study – 2000 words 40% No Sunday 20th March 2022 by 23:00

Live Counselling Skill demonstration – 2 hours per student

Assessment Type 1: Clinical performance evaluation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 50 hours
Due: Sunday 27th March 2022 by 23:00
Weighting: 60%
This is a hurdle assessment task (see assessment policy for more information on hurdle assessment tasks)

This assessment enables students to demonstrate minimum competency in psychology skills integral to working with clients during an initial interview and throughout therapy.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Critique theoretical constructs, models and evidence based counselling practice to improve effectiveness as a psychologist.
  • Develop and implement professional interviewing and counselling skills with a variety of clients and presenting issues.

Ethics report on a case study – 2000 words

Assessment Type 1: Case study/analysis
Indicative Time on Task 2: 46 hours
Due: Sunday 20th March 2022 by 23:00
Weighting: 40%

Review a case, identify legal and ethical issues, who needs to receive communication and about what.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Apply decision-making strategies to resolve ethical questions to problems using the APS Code of Ethics, Guidelines and Mandatory reporting legislation, across a variety of contexts.
  • Recognise historical approaches to the conceptualisation of diagnosis, case formulation, psychopathology and DSM.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

This course consists of five workshops from 9am to 4pm. Each workshop will have a lecture component and hands-on skills practice component. Please see iLearn for instructions, slides, additional resources and reading materials relevant for each workshop. These can be found in the allocated section on iLearn for each individual workshop.

Unit Schedule

• Workshop 1 (Wednesday 23rd February 2022) Counselling Skills 1

• Workshop 2 (Saturday 26th February 2022) Career Counselling, Clinical Syndromes/Pharmacology and DSM diagnosis

• Workshop 3 (Wednesday 09th March 2022) Ethics/Mandatory reporting

• Workshop 4 (Saturday 19th March 2022) Counselling Skills 2

• Workshop 5 (Wednesday 23rd March 2022) Counselling Skills Assessment preparation

 

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes since First Published

Date Description
03/02/2022 Workshop correction

Unit information based on version 2022.02 of the Handbook