Counselling – Inherent Requirements

Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in a demanding role over an extended period of time.

Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in an academic environment and diverse and changing counselling practice environment.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Objective and professional behaviour is essential to safety in the counselling setting.

Adjustments must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in both academic and professional counselling settings.

Exemplars:

• Being receptive and responding appropriately to constructive feedback.
• Coping with own emotions and behaviours and maintaining a professional approach.
• Demonstrate a high level of emotional intelligence and self-awareness.
• Engaging in strategies to promote mental health and self-care as a counselling student.

Effective and efficient verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement in working within Australian contexts.

Student demonstrates:

• The ability to understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately and in a professional and timely manner.
• The ability to provide clear instructions in the context of the situation.
• Timely clear feedback and reporting.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Accurate and effective delivery of verbal instructions is critical to individual safety, support and management.
• Timely, accurate and effective delivery of instructions is critical to individual safety, and accuracy of the given task.

Adjustments for impaired verbal communication must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues to ensure safety and appropriate support.

Exemplars:
Student must:

• Speak confidently to peers and supervisors in academic and professional contexts.
• Listen, understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately, empathically and in a timely manner.
• Demonstrate consistent and appropriate awareness of own verbal communication style and the ability to provide clear instructions, guidelines, feedback and reporting in the context of the situation.

Effective non-verbal communication is an essential requirement to work safely and accurately with others.

Student demonstrates:

• The capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues.
• Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours.
• Sensitivity to individual differences.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic, professional and practice settings.
• Displaying appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic, professional and practice settings.
• Being sensitive to individual differences displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships that are essential for effective professional support.

Adjustments must enable the recognition, initiation of or appropriate response to effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner.

Exemplars:

• Recognise and respond appropriately to non-verbal cues in classroom and assessment situations.
• Recognise and respond appropriately to non-verbal cues in the placement environment.

Effective written communication is an essential requirement to work safely and accurately with others.

Student demonstrates capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Construction of written text-based assessment tasks in English to reflect the required academic standards is necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter and for demonstrating counselling practice standards.
• Accurate written communication, including record keeping, written reports and case notes is vital to provide consistent and accurate assessments and for demonstrating professional standards in the placement context.
• The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective assessment, treatment and professional support in the counselling placement context.

Adjustments must meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and counselling placement  settings.

Exemplars:

• Construct essays, reports and other written work that meet academic and professional standards.
• Paraphrase, summarise and reference in accordance with appropriate academic, professional and/or organisational practice conventions.
• Develop a written framework for counselling practice as an outcome of counselling placement.
• Read and comprehend a range of literature and information in English

Consistent and effective knowledge and cognitive skills must be demonstrated to ensure safety in professional counselling settings

Student demonstrates:

• Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information.
• Ability to process information relevant to practice.
• Ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Safe and effective practice in counselling based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately.

Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded.

Exemplars:

• Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items.
• Appropriately applying knowledge of ethical and professional practice in counselling settings.
• Know and correctly interpret a wide range of theoretical frameworks to safely work in professional counselling settings.
• Information will be obtained, analyzed, integrated, and synthesized from multiple sources efficiently and accurately.

Foundational literacy skills are essential to safely work in counselling settings.

Student demonstrates the ability to:

• Acquire information and to accurately convey messages.
• Comprehend a range of literature and information.
• Construct written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to acquire, read, analyse and comprehend information from multiple sources and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safety in Counselling settings.

Adjustments must ensure that the student demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply and communicate accurate information.

Exemplars:

• Conveying a spoken message accurately and effectively.
• Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic conventions in written assignments.
• Producing accurate, concise and clear documentation.

Counselling practice requires self-awareness and a capacity for reflection and reflexivity in order to consider the effect of one’s own issues, actions, values and behaviours on practice.

Student has the ability to accurately reflect on their own values and life experiences, and how these influence their professional practice

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to appreciate and reflect on the various contexts in which people experience difficulty is a core requirement for appropriate assessment and support.
• Participation in supervision is a key teaching strategy in counselling education and this requires a well-developed understanding of oneself to facilitate ongoing learning.
• 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.

Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner.

Exemplars:

• Identify, critically reflect on relevant contexts which influence how people experience difficulty and, use this reflection to develop integrated responses to academic and placement challenges.
• Demonstrate in assignments and placement the capacity to reflect on your own values and experiences and how these influence your practice.
• Demonstrate an ability to appreciate and respond to complexity in counselling practice.
• Identify when a practice issue is outside your scope of expertise or when one's practice may be negatively affected by personal experience and/or reactions.

Counselling practice requires both physical and mental performance at a consistent and sustained level to meet individual needs over time.

Student demonstrates:

• Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time.
• The ability to perform repetitive activities with a level of concentration that ensures a capacity to focus on the activity until it is completed appropriately.
• The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Sufficient physical and mental endurance is an essential requirement needed to perform multiple tasks within the appropriate setting.

Adjustments must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period.

Exemplars:

• Participating in tutorials, workshops and residentials.
• Provide consistent counselling service in the allocated counselling placements within specified timeframes.