Effective counselling skills for speech and language therapists
Time: 09:30 - 17:00
Location: Online
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Center for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
The course is based on Carl Rogers' person centered approach to counselling and will help you to develop your counselling skills for use within the speech and language therapy context.
This is a live online course. You will need:
- Internet connection. The classes work best with Chrome.
- A computer with microphone and camera is best (e.g. a PC/laptop/iMac/MacBook), or a tablet/iPad/smart phone/iPhone if you don't have a computer.
- Earphones/headphones/speakers.
We will contact you with joining instructions before your course starts.
What will we cover?
The following topics will be covered:
- Boundaries
- Hearing the story
- Ways of responding including paraphrasing, reflecting and questioning
- Loss
- Practice counselling skills session
- Developing the therapeutic relationship
- Active listening
- Empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence
- Challenge and support
- Self care
- Self-awareness
- Immediacy
- Relevance of counselling skills for different client groups
- Endings.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
1. distinguish counselling skills from counselling
2. identify the core conditions
3. demonstrate unconditional positive regard, congruence and empathy
4. use paraphrasing, reflecting and questioning effectively.
5. practise a range of counselling skills and be more confident about using these within your work.
6. explain why self-awareness is important for therapists and how self-awareness can be developed
7. identify the stages of grief and bereavement and relate these to your client group.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
To access the course you will need to have an adequate level of English to:
- Express your opinions and feelings
- Follow discussions and make relevant contributions
- Make use of handouts with some assistance if necessary
Before joining the class you will need to speak to one of the Speech Therapy team.
It is most suitable for therapists who have done little or no previous counselling training.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
There will be a large experiential component to the course as well as some theoretical input and practical sessions.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
There are no additional costs although you might choose to purchase books from the suggested reading list.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
You may choose to go on to do further counselling training either at the City Lit or elsewhere.
Anita McKiernan, BSc, MSc, Dip Coaching, Dip Counselling Skills, MRCSLT, HCPC registered. Anita is a highly specialist Speech and Language Therapist and joined CityLit as a part-time tutor in 2019. Her wider work includes children, young people & adults with Selective Mutism, Stammering and Voice Disorders. She spent several years working in the NHS in clinical & management roles. Anita is also a Visiting Lecturer & Clinical Tutor at City, University of London. She is the Chair of the National Clinical Excellence Network in Selective Mutism and is an adviser for the Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists. She is also a member of the National and Regional Clinical Excellence Networks in Fluency. Anita has completed further qualifications in areas of Coaching & Counselling and uses a range of psychological approaches in her work. As a lover of the Arts and trained improviser, Anita reslishes the creative process of working with others. She draws on various art forms as appropriate, including art-making, music, movement, improvisation and poetry. She has written songs & melodies for therapeutic use and writes poetry when the impulse strikes!.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
