CPCAB Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies

This course is suitable for you if you have already completed a level 2 counselling course, have some counselling experience and want to develop your skills. It won't make you a qualified counsellor but it will familiarise you with the higher-level thinking skills required for more advanced learning or prepare you for employment where counselling skills would be an asset. The course will involve some personal disclosure and personal development activities so it's not suitable for learners who are currently experiencing severe emotional difficulty and/or severe psychological confusion. All potential candidates need to be made aware of the nature of the course, and in particular that the course involves experiential elements that will involve some personal disclosure and associated personal developmental activities. In order to complete this course successfully it is important that you have ability in literacy and IT skills as some work will need to be completed using the internet and emailed to your tutor. You can have access to computers and an email account once enrolled onto your course, however it is essential to have access from home.

You must be 19 years of age to study this programme and you should also have studied an appropriate Level 2 Counselling course or equivalent credit, or have relevant experience and skills. An online Level 2 Counselling course does not give you progression onto this Level 3 course.

You will continue to explore a variety of topics related to helping and the effective use of counselling skills using the CPCAB (Counselling and Psychotherapy Central awarding Body) Model. This includes a continuation of self-discovery as well as the more practical aspects of this type of listening. The seven units covered in the model are: > Prepare to work within an ethical framework for counselling > Understand the counselling relationship > Understand difference and diversity issues to develop empathic understanding > Work within a user-centred approach to counselling > Use counselling theory to develop self-awareness in counselling practice > Understand theories of counselling and mental health > Use feedback, reflection and supervision to support counselling studies

You will learn in many different ways including a small research project, group work, self-review, assignment writing, journal keeping, tutorials and also practical sessions putting your listening skills into action. There will be other pieces of work to produce throughout the course and you will be given support and guidance to complete them. Homework will be 3 hours (approx.) per week to complete a journal and assignments.

You'll need to purchase recommended text books.

You'll be assessed continually throughout the course in the form of self, peer and tutor feedback. You'll be required to build a portfolio of evidence. Once the portfolio is completed and submitted, it will be assessed by the tutor. For the external assessment, you will watch a short DVD of counselling a client and then complete a written candidate feedback paper. In total taking approximately 2 hours, which includes reading time, watching the DVD twice and time to answer the questions.

You could move on to to a professional counselling qualification such as Level 4 qualifications in Counselling, a Counselling Diploma or Foundation Degree. or similar qualifications at level 3 such as: Level 3 Certificates in Workplace Mentoring, Level 3 and 4 NVQs in Advice and Guidance. You could go into employment in a role in which counselling skills are used.