There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Understanding Counselling: The client-counsellor relationship; Effective counselling; Counselling the counsellor; Counsellor's values; Multicultural counselling
2. Ethics & Confidentiality: Needs; A code of ethics; Informed consent; Right to privacy; Legal requirements; Use of psychometric tests; Ethics and multiple relationships; Keeping records.
3. Understanding the Self: Self-awareness; Self-monitoring; Self-concept; Social Perception; Attribution theory; Implicit personality theory; Relationships; Social exchange; Love and intimacy.
4. Personality: What is a healthy personality?; Trait approach; Psychodynamic approach; Humanistic approach; Social learning and cognitive approaches.
5. Emotions & Behaviour: What are emotions?; Emotions and Counselling; Effect on communication, Aspects of emotions, Emotional expression and counselling.
6. Supervision: Why supervision?; Working with others; Quantity and effectiveness of supervision; Personal counselling; Dependency; Types of supervision.
7. Referral Practice: Counselling v mental health issues; Secondary care counsellors; Abnormal psychology; Anxiety; Depression; Schizophrenia; Personality disorders.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

• Discuss some of the main personal qualities that counselling will draw upon and demonstrate an awareness of the types of issues that new counsellors will need to resolve within themselves.
• Raise awareness of: the ethical issues that arise within the profession, legal requirements, informed consent, decision-making and other related topics.
• Gain insight into how the self, and one's perception of the self influences both the client and the counsellor, and to understand the effect of the self upon relationships both within and outside the counselling process.
• Enhance awareness of what is considered a healthy personality, to consider different types of personality tests, and to become aware of the application of different approaches to personality within the counselling process.
• Explain how emotions arise, what they are, how they influence our bodies, minds and behaviour, and their role in the counselling process.
• Understand the necessity for counsellors to have ongoing supervision throughout their professional career and to be constantly striving to upgrade their skills.
• Delineate circumstances in which it is preferable to refer a client on to another health care professional, and to understand some of the main disorders that they may encounter.

• Explain why a counsellor needs to be open to personal growth.
• Discuss personal qualities that are beneficial to a counsellor.
• Discuss how the counselling of a counsellor can be of benefit to their personal effectiveness'
• Describe how a counsellor's own values can impose on the counselling process'
• Outline the importance of an ongoing education and an awareness of other cultures.
• Demonstrate an awareness of other useful counselling qualities through role play.
• Discuss the importance of having a 'code of ethics' in counselling.
• Describe what is meant by 'informed consent'.
• Discuss the extent to which the client has a 'right to privacy'.
• Understand when and how psychometric tests may be used.
• Describe how to keep client records.
• Discuss how the counsellor's own sense of self-awareness can affect the counselling process.
• Describe how self-perception can influence identity, roles and self-actualisation.
• Define schemas, scripts, and attributions and their influence on social-perception.
• Discuss the effect of attractiveness, closeness and similarity on relationships.
• Discuss the effect of different levels of self-disclosure on the counselling relationship.
• Describe symptoms of relationship breakdown.
• Define a 'healthy personality'.
• Discuss the effect of nature and nurture on personality.
• Describe the use of different personality tests.
• Compare and contrast different approaches to personality and their application to the counselling process.
• Discuss what is meant by emotions with other people.
• Describe the effect of emotions on communications.
• Define different aspects of emotions including: physiology, cognition and behaviour.
• Demonstrate ways in which emotional expression can affect the counselling process.
• Discuss different methods of supervision of counsellors.
• Describe how dependency can evolve in the counselling process.
• Discuss the importance of upgrading skills and ongoing supervision.
• Outline methods of observation used in supervision.
• Discuss the counsellor's responsibility to the client.
• Explain what might be considered as abnormal.
• Define symptoms of commonly encountered disorders.