Courses

This course will examine the theoretical, epistemological, conceptual, and empirical foundations that inform the practice of selected newer approaches to counselling and psychotherapy that have emerged since the 1990s. Though differing in their theory and practice, these newer approaches share several common factors, i.e., present-focused, focused on alternative outcomes, collaborative, and a tendency to be briefer than many traditional methodologies.  Focused and short-term therapies in clinical practice will include Brief Solution-Focused Therapy, Competency-based Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and selected third-wave cognitive and behavioural methodologies. Each theory presented within this course will be reviewed and evaluated noting their influence, strength, and effectiveness.

Knowing

• To recognize and describe the specific skills used in at least two different forms of focused or short-term counselling.
• To learn a basic framework for short-term structured counselling.

Being

• To recognize personal bias with respect to the use of focused and short-term counselling methodologies.
• To recognize personal and professional limits, including when to make referrals and consultations.

Doing

• To demonstrate an ability to work within a counselling framework that is based upon an established theory of short-term counselling.–
• To encounter the counsellee’s/client’s life narrative through dialogue, observation and emotional understanding.
• To engage the counsellee’s/client’s experience.
• To establish and maintain the core conditions for therapy.
• To facilitate exploration of a counsellee’s/client’s sense of purpose and meaning in life.
• To focus on the counsellee’s/client’s perspective.
• To hear the themes and concerns in the counsellee’s/client’s life by means of listening to their story.
• To integrate knowledge of psychotherapy into one’s counselling practice.
• To structure and facilitate the therapeutic process.