Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

Learning Outcomes

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

Unit Description

In this unit learners develop their practice of seeking an understanding of wellness in an applied context in which they play a healing or helping role with another person or group. The general focus is to explore the question of what wellbeing looks like for different academic communities, each with its own body of knowledge and theory and how this shapes the practice of seeking to understand persons in context. Key to the practice is the ability to draw from a body of theory and apply it to a particular case, or to “diagnose”, or to understand this person in his or her context, or alternatively, this group of people in their particular environment. Initially this understanding is developed from a Christian historical and theological perspective in the context of the broad Christian community and theological traditions. Attention is given to the learner’s theological reflection on the human condition and the influences on practice of Christian worldview considerations of human nature and problems.

This theological understanding is also expanded to an investigation of healing and wellbeing from different philosophical and cultural perspectives and in particular different frameworks and communities of practitioners. Particular attention is paid to the nature, history and significance of wellbeing and obstacles to wellbeing including consideration of a post-modern critique. Different ways of conceptualizing the wellness-illness duality are explored and a number of concepts are addressed, including physical illness, mental illness, clinical psychopathology, the nature of the unconscious, existential approaches to alienation, developmental delay, the concept of personality disorder, thought disorders, emotional “breakdown,” relationship breakdown, family dysfunction, sin, disobedience, and so on. All of these constructions are located in discourses that contain assumptions about what wellbeing is and what hindrances to wellbeing are. Students will draw on these concepts for their own practice as they reflect more deeply on the nature and meaning of wellness for different persons and communities and how wellness is restored.

The principle of diagnosis is therefore considered in a broad sense from medical, psychological, therapeutic, social and spiritual points of view. The nature and purpose of diagnosis is studied in the context of wellness and un-wellness including from the perspective of its historical roots. Learners study some of the significant language used to classify and diagnose un-wellness, including conditions of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, psychosis and personality disorder.

Students study the various healing traditions for understanding the causes of un-wellness requiring the practice of diagnosis in different professional contexts. Students also engage with the concept of diagnosis critically, especially with regard to post-structuralist positions which focus on strengths, story, the externalization of problems, unique outcomes, solutions and goal setting.

Teaching Strategies

The learning process consists of three phases: Reading, Residential, and Research. Each phase has a blend of individual and group learning, and subsequent phases build upon the learning of those that come before.

The first phase is a Reading phase, and lasts for 12 weeks. The learner, as part of a small cohort study group (3 to 5 members), is guided through a reading program to explore the current scholarship on the understanding of personal wellbeing.

Reading assignments are compiled with the help of the librarian, the educational technologist, and administrative support staff. Required weekly readings are posted to the unit website once a week for downloading, utilising Tabor Victoria’s Moodle platform.

Students are also required to read the prescribed textbooks in this phase.

During this first phase learners in cohort groups embark on a guided social inquiry, resulting in a research project . Hands-on research conducted in context by each participant allows him/her to gain an understanding of specific, emerging ministry concerns/questions encountered by counselling and health promotion agencies.

Second phase is a residential phase: Equipped with the reading and research, learners then undertake a Residential phase of 40 hours’ worth (one week, full-time) of residential study. During the residency, all cohort groups gather in a counselling or health promotion agency chosen because of a leader who is

known as a thoughtful practitioner, and because the agency has a proven track record in “Understanding Personal Wellbeing”.

In the third Phase students complete a personal theology in which issues related to “Personal Wellbeing” are explored. Cohorts also plan and implement an intervention at a local counselling or health promotion agency. The intervention is a professional presentation that summarises findings and proposes a number of ways the agency might go about addressing the emerging questions. The intervention invites thoughtful practitioners into theological reflection and constructive thinking about the concern and what might be done to begin addressing it. Following the intervention, the small cohort study group reflects upon and assesses their collaborative work.

Unit offerings

Please note

The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.

This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.