Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

At least two CN units.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Explain how Christian values of compassion, forgiveness and hospitality can inform counselling across difference

• Articulate approaches to supporting clients with neuro-diverse and sexually diverse experiences

• Compare own culture and assumptions about problems, change and healing with the culture and worldviews of others

• Articulate principles of culturally aware counselling practice

Unit Description

Counselling Across Culture and Difference focuses on the challenges inherent in working - as all counsellors inevitably must - with people different from them in any number of ways. The unit explores principles of culturally competent practice and supports students to become aware, first, of their own cultural assumptions, frames and biases - not only those of their ethnic or social culture but also of their communal, familial and personal cultures as well. Students will explore matters related to colonialism, race and gender as well as special considerations in counselling with Indigenous individuals or communities. The unit also covers “neurodiversity” and sexual diversity in counselling and how to support a strong therapeutic relationship in spite of differences in thinking or perceiving. Each topic is addressed in light of the Christian mandate to “love the stranger” and the potential implications of this for practice across difference.

Topics

1. Principles of Culturally Competent Practice
2. Knowing One’s Own Culture and Values
3. Colonialism and Issues of Race in Counselling
4. Listening to Strangers - Muted Group Theory and Christian Ethics
5. The Culture of Gender - Working Across Gender
6. Cultural Understandings of Mental Health and Psychotherapy
7. Drawing on Local Knowledge and Healing Practices
8. Counselling in Indigenous Communities - Special Considerations
9. Understanding Neurodiversity
10. ADHD
11. The Autism Spectrum
12. Sexual and Gender Diversity in Counselling

Assessment and Indicative Load

Assessment types include Creative Piece, Interview, Attendance, Creative Presentation, and Book Review. Indicative study load is 150 hours.

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Unit offerings

Face to face: (Demand based)

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.