Inherent requirements for Psychotherapy and Counselling

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Compliance with the codes, guidelines and policies facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they engage. This supports the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of all.

Exemplars:

» Complying with conduct required to maintain professional registration as a Counsellor
» Understanding and practising appropriate professional boundaries including confidentiality and duty of care in work with clients on placement

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in diverse and changing environments. Students will be exposed to situations which are challenging and unpredictable, and will be required to have the behavioural stability to manage these objectively and professionally

Exemplars:

» Being receptive and responding appropriately to constructive feedback
» Managing own emotional state in order to be able to develop and maintain an appropriate relationship with a diverse range of clients, professional colleagues and supervisors, academic staff and peers.

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Knowledge, understanding and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements are necessary pre-requisites to placements in order to reduce the risk of harm to self and others
» Compliance with these regulations and the law ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice

Exemplars:

» Complying with legal requirements regarding all aspects of practice
» Complying with professional peer regulation

Student demonstrates:
» Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural differences
» The ability to listen, understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately, empathically and in a timely manner
» Consistent and appropriate awareness of own verbal communication style
» The ability to provide clear instructions and guidelines in the context of the situation
» Timely clear feedback and reporting

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Communicating in a way that displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships
» Speed and accuracy of communication may be critical for individual safety or therapeutic intervention
» Accurate and effective delivery of verbal instructions is critical to individual safety, support and management

Exemplars:

» Participating in tutorial and clinical discussions
» Engaging in verbal reflection with peers, tutors and clients.

Justification of inherent requirement:

» The ability to understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic and professional relationships
» Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic and professional relationships
» Being sensitive to individual and/or cultural differences displays respect and empathy to others , and develops trusting relationships
» The ability to understand non-verbal cues is essential for safe and effective observation of clients' symptoms and reactions as part of their assessment and treatment.

Exemplars:

» Recognising and responding to non-verbal cues indicating a change in the emotional state of a client during placements
» Recognising and responding to non-verbal cues in classroom situations

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Construction of written text based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards are necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice
» Accurate written communication for a range of purposes and audiences is vital to provide consistent and safe client care

Exemplars:

» Constructing an essay to required academic standards including appropriate referencing of sources
» Preparing clinical reports which are appropriate to the purpose and audience, and completed in a timely manner

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Safe and effective counselling practice is based on identifying and accurately extracting plus understanding information from a range of sources and applying this appropriately.

Exemplars:

» Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in placement settings
» Ability to conduct individual and group sessions for clients based on relevant treatment plans

Justification of inherent requirement:

» The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment and delivery of counselling practice
» The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective delivery of counselling practice

Exemplars:

» Conveying a spoken message accurately and effectively during placements
» Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic conventions
» Producing accurate, concise and clear documentation while on placement which meets legal and professional requirements

Student demonstrates:
» The ability to establish and maintain rapport with clients, academic staff, supervisors and peers
» The ability to engage in effective and empathic counselling and group work
» The ability to engage and relate appropriately in individual and group clinical supervision and experiential learning groups

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Highly developed relational skills are a cornerstone of effective therapeutic relationships that permit effective engagement, assessment, intervention and closure
» Highly developed relational skills are necessary to engage effectively in individual and group supervision of client work and experiential training activities that support the establishment and maintenance of an effective and appropriate therapeutic relationship with clients

Exemplars:

» Building rapport with a client in order to engage them in effective counselling while on placement
» Effectively using relational and interpersonal skills to manage the therapeutic relationship with clients
» Relating effectively, openly and sensitively to academic staff, supervisors and peers

Student demonstrates:
» The ability to accurately reflect on their counselling performance
» The ability to accept feedback on their counselling practice and respond constructively

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Participation in supervision is a key teaching strategy in counselling training which requires well developed understanding of oneself in order to appropriately engage in this activity
» Working with clients while on placement and understanding and responding to them requires well developed understanding of oneself and the ability to effectively manage one's reactions to situations that may arise

Exemplars:

» Identifying when a clinical issue is outside one's scope or expertise, or when one's practice may be negatively affected by a counsellor's personal experience and/or reactions.
» Identifying how one's own relational style and behaviour may impede or enhance work with particular clients on placement
» Identifying and bringing difficult areas of one's clinical practice to supervision in order to reflexively improve therapeutic work with clients on placement
» The constructive use of one's own responses within the interpersonal counselling and supervisory relationships

Justification of inherent requirement:

» Sufficient physical and mental endurance is an essential requirement needed to perform multiple tasks in an assigned period to provide safe and effective support

Exemplars:

» Participating in tutorials and lectures
» Providing consistent placement practice over a negotiated time frame