Certificate of Trauma Counselling

Unit 1 – Facilitate the counselling relationship and process

• Following the client’s story
• Encouraging client to tell their story
• Closed questions
• Legal and ethical considerations
• Equal opportunity
• Anti-discrimination legislation
• Mandatory reporting legislation
• Duty of care
• Client presenting and underlying issues
• Engaging with clients
• Situations requiring immediate action
• Suicide threats
• Conflicting interests
• Identify and prioritise concerns
• Reframing technique
• Recognising issues needing a referral
• Referral eligibility
• Referral types and processes
• Confidentiality and privacy
• Client ambivalence
• Strategies for overcoming uncertainty
• Code of ethical conduct
• Supporting clients to experience and process difficulties
• The stages of recovery
• Implementing interventions
• Supporting clients to identify and use strengths
• Active listening
• Exploring clients feelings (reflecting, clarifying and reviewing)
• Dealing with underlying issues
• Monitor the counselling process
• Disruptions to the counselling process
• Planning for change
• Action phase
• Addressing dilemmas
• Enabling clients to identify when counselling is ending
• Emotionally dependant clients
• Personal boundaries
• Professional boundaries
• Developing client plans
• Autonomy and compliance
• Unresolved issues
• Documenting and reporting
• Records management

Unit 2 – Work effectively in trauma informed care

• Trauma informed care perspective
• Key principles and practices
• Safe environments and relationships
• Preventing traumatisation
• Physical and sexual abuse
• Psychological and emotional abuse
• Verbal abuse
• Stalking
• Domestic violence
• Making trauma individuals feel safe
• Negligence
• Past and current trauma or abuse
• Mandatory reporting’s
• Confidentiality
• Symptoms of trauma
• Coping strategies
• Strengths-based approach
• Self-care strategies
• Managing re-traumatisation
• Breathing control exercises
• Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)
• Trauma checklist
• Self-reflection and evaluation
• Policy development
• Conducting interviews
• Active observation
• Focus groups

Unit 3 – Establish and confirm the counselling relationship

• Structured counselling approach
• Analyse existing client information
• Legal and ethical considerations
• Transparent management of personal information
• Health and safety legislation
• Initial counselling session
• Engaging with clients
• Building rapport
• Active listening
• Effective questioning
• Communication techniques
• Paralanguage
• A structured approach to counselling
• A person-centred approach
• Establishing the helping relationship
• Provide information for clients
• Client rights and responsibilities
• The counselling process
• Professional boundaries
• Client expectations
• The Charter of Human Rights
• Clarifying expectations raised in promotional material
• Client anxieties
• Code of ethical conduct
• Client concerns
• Signs of anxiety
• Expectations and commitment
• Client issues
• Escalation
• Referrals to other agencies
• Eligibility criteria
• Example of referral process form
• Collaborative processes and strategies
• Confidentiality and privacy legislation
• Conflicting interests
• Relationship options and approaches with clients
• Counselling priorities and plans
• Counselling contracts
• Informed consent
• Example of a counselling plan
• Records management

Unit 4 – Apply learning theories in counselling

• Research learning theories
• Behaviorism
• Antecedent behaviour consequence (ABC)
• Ignoring the behaviour
• Reinforcement
• Behavioral outcomes
• Modelling influences
• Modelling or behavioral rehearsal
• Role playing
• Primary reinforcement
• Secondary reinforcement
• Environmental differences
• Dysfunctional environments
• Learning environments
• Socioeconomic barriers
• Attention deficit disorder (ADD)
• Formulate a program for change
• Achieving identified outcomes
• Identify practical goals
• Setting SMART goals
• Barriers to achieving outcomes
• Aggressive behaviour
• Recording / reviewing change programs
• Problem solving

Unit 5 – Implement trauma informed care

• Trauma informed care
• Strong safe relationships
• Safe environments
• Listen to the client’s story
• Mandatory notification
• Person’s strengths and resilience
• Culture and language
• Identify impact of trauma
• Mental health issues
• Working with children
• Post-traumatic stress disorders
• Negative responses to triggers
• Specific trauma needs
• Individual support plans
• Change strategies and plans
• Trauma informed supervision
• Crisis management plans
• Emotional pain
• Trust and rapport
• Conflict resolution strategies
• Emergency situations
• Self-care practices

Unit 6 – Apply specialist interpersonal and counselling interview skills

• Counselling interview sequence
• Environmental / personal factors
• Disabilities / impairments
• Client-counsellor relationship
• Counselling skills
• Client-centred interactions
• Establish rapport
• Empathy, honesty and openness
• Conflict resolution
• Learning styles
• Communication styles and skills
• Specialised counselling skills
• Negotiation techniques
• Promoting self-advocacy / self-care
• Coping strategies
• Responding to distress or crisis
• Self-evaluation / self-awareness
• Professional development plan
• Action learning
• Networking / professional memberships

Unit 7 – Recognise and respond to crisis situations

• Crisis situations
• Signs of safety issues
• Signs of abuse
• Suicide risk factors / warning signs
• Risk management
• Safety concerns
• Empathetic listening
• Building relationships
• Crisis situations
• Assessing suicide risk
• Safety and suicide plan
• Emergency help / medical assistance
• Community services
• Psychological assessments
• Self-care strategies
• Non-crisis situations
• Supervision and debriefing
• Counselling qualifications