Graduate Certificate in Counselling
The Graduate Certificate in Counselling is designed for those who hold an undergraduate qualification in any field, who wish to pursue a graduate qualification in counselling to enhance their professional work. Graduates will be equipped with advanced theoretical knowledge and practice-based counselling skills.
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Course Information
Course: Graduate Certificate in Counselling (GradCertCouns)
Accrediting Body: Sydney College of Divinity
Australian Quality Framework Level: AQF 8
School: Stirling School of Community Care
Number of Units: 4 units/ 36 credit points (CP)
Study Mode: Online (with facilitated learning opportunities)
Course Duration: 6 months full-time or up to 2 years part-time
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Course Plan
Units:
/ C8141C Fundamentals of Counselling Practicum
/ C8104C Fundamentals of Counselling Theories and Practice
/ C8106C Fundamentals of Psychology
/ One elective from the sub-discipline of Counselling or Pastoral Theology
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Course Details
Entry Requirements:
A three-year AQF 7 award or equivalent in any discipline, OR
qualify for professional entry on the basis of their work, life and ministry experience, and
Successful completion of an interview with a designated coursework coordinator.
English Proficiency:
Applicants whose entry qualifications were obtained in an institution where English is not the language of instruction normally require a minimum IELTS (or equivalent) score of 7.0 in all bands of the test.
Graduates will have added particular transferable knowledge and skills in counselling to enhance their work in Christian ministry and mission:
Knowledge
Graduates will possess:
- specialised theoretical and technical knowledge related to the practice of counselling which are transferable to a variety of complex client contexts;
- an understanding of the principles of inquiry and methods applicable to counselling theory and their application to real-world counselling practice.
Skills
Graduates will demonstrate specialised cognitive and technical skills in counselling, so that they are able independently to:
- review and synthesize counselling information and identify and reflect on complex client contexts;
- think critically and evaluate complex ideas related to the care of clients;
- demonstrate an understanding of theoretical concepts in the Pastoral Counselling sub-discipline;
- transmit counselling knowledge, skills and ideas to a variety of audiences.
Applications of Knowledge and Skills
Graduates will possess the ability to:
- make high level, independent judgments related to a range of issues pertaining to counselling theory and practice.
Find expanded acacemic outcomes and regulations in the SCD Handbook.
Credit will be granted for units that are from an equivalent award or institution and have outcomes, content, demand hours, and assessment equivalent to that of units in the Graduate Certificate in Counselling. A candidate may seek credit for up to a maximum of 18 credit points.
| For more information and applications see Credit Transfer. |
| All counselling courses will require students to undertake several practicum units that will allow them to outwork their practical skills through reflection and placements. These units will require students to organise a placement, take part in individual or group professional supervision, reflect and interact with fellow students, and work towards a minimum number of supervised counselling hours required for industry development and ongoing accreditation. See individual units for requirements. |
| Spiritual Formation is foundational to who we are. For ACOM, the learning process is not simply intellectual - it is about spiritual transformation. We care about the individual you are becoming and here’s why: we know that healthy, sustainable and effective graduates will be well grounded spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, physically and socially. Each ACOM course gives students the opportunity to study our Spiritual Formation units either as core or electives. Refer to your course plan to discover how our formation units can be incorporated into your study, or read more about the Spiritual Formation process. |
Students can pay their fees upfront or access the Australian Government’s Fee-HELP system. |
2023 Counselling Graduate Level Fees
Applicable to counselling courses studied at the Australian Quality Framework level 8-9 (AQF8-9 Graduate Level). This includes ACOM courses; Graduate Certificate of Counselling, Master of Counselling.
All ACOM Counselling awards are built around pairs of “spinal” units which provide the backbone on which the awards are built. The Spinal units are a pair of units which MUST BE TAKEN TOGETHER (normally over a whole year or a number of trimesters).
| 2023 | Price |
|---|---|
| Standard Unit (9CP) | $2890 |
| Spinal Unit (9CP) | $3790 |
Spinal Units
The Graduate Certificate in Counselling has one pair of Spinal Units:
Fundamentals of Counselling Theory and Practice and Supervised Counselling Practicum I
Pensioners
| Students holding a pension card and paying their fees upfront may be eligible for a $200 pension discount per standard 9CP unit at the relevant level of study. To apply for a pension discount simply contact ACOM and provide a current copy of your pension card. Once your eligibility has been confirmed by staff, register for units making a note of your pension discount. |
Note the following definitions:
Census Date: Last date to withdraw from a unit without financial penalty.
Academic Penalty Date: Last date to withdraw from a unit without academic penalty. If a student withdraws from a unit between the Census Date and the Academic Penalty Date, the unit will appear on their transcript with a withdrawn grade.
Check below for the key dates associated with your trimester of study. Note that registering or withdrawing outside of the key dates could incur incidental fees.
| 2023 | Trimester 1 | Trimester 2 | Trimester 3 | Spiritual Formation (Year Long) | Summer 2023-2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit Registration Deadline | 30/4/2023 | 6/8/2023 | 29/1/2023 | 5/11/2023 | |
| Start Date | 20/2/2023 | 29/5/2023 | 4/9/2023 | 20/2/2023 | 4/12/2023 |
| Census Date | 13/3/2023 | 19/6/2023 | 25/9/2023 | 17/4/2023 | 25/12/2023 |
| Academic Penalty Date | 2/4/2023 | 9/7/2023 | 15/10/2023 | 9/7/2023 | 7/1/2024 |
| End Date | 14/5/2023 | 20/8/2023 | 26/11/2023 | 26/11/2023 | 11/2/2024 |
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Studying with ACOM
| Students can choose to study part-time or full-time. ACOM operates on a trimester basis, with formation and other select units, being taken over the course of the full year. A full-time load is considered six to nine units, which is usually two to three units per trimester, with one year-long unit. A part-time load is usually three to four units per year. Each 9 credit point unit requires 143 demand hours of study. The demand hours represents the number of hours needed to meet all the requirements of the unit, including reading, researching and writing assignments and essays, and supervised fieldwork (see Student Handbook for hour breakdown). For each unit we recommend that you allocate approximately 10-12 hours for study per week (with more required during peak assessment periods). |
| To study with ACOM, you will need access to a computer with internet connection. You will also require an email address that we can use to contact you. For assessment writing, we require the use of a word-processing programme such as Microsoft Word. For a full list of hardware and software requirements please see the Student Handbook. |
Students Apply and are admitted to their course, which are made up of both core and elective units. All new students are required to complete Student Orientation, which involves both signing up for a Student Orientation Session, and taking part in a Student Orientation module through the online learning platform.
All students have access to personalised support through a dedicated Student Engagement Manager (or SEM). Our awesome team of SEMs bring a personal connection and listening ear to students who are spread the length and breadth of the country. SEMs work closely with each student to provide tailored academic and pastoral support, cheering them on every step of their learning journey. Read more about our Personalised Support.
A variety of units will be on offer each trimester for students to view on the unit schedules, and register in for study. All of our courses are flexible for students to choose their units and load according to their time commitments, interests and courseplans.
All students study 'online' through our online Learning Platform: Moodle. This is where all study materials, unit information, assessments and learning activities can be found. However, each unit may have a variety of study options available that are found on the schedules, and selected at the point of registration. These include Facilitated or not Facilitated options.
Run by experienced leaders, educators, and practitioners in their fields of study, facilitations are an opportunity for students to learn alongside others in a dynamic environment of enquiry and exploration. Facilitations can be scheduled in regular classes, or events run over individual or consecutive days.
The following will be found scheduled next to units to advise what options you can choose:
| Option | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| In Person: Facilitation | Learning with Others | In Person facilitations provide a physical space to strengthen skills by gathering like-minded local individuals together to learn and network together. These events can be run in a variety of locations across Australia and are run according to local time-zones. |
| Online: Facilitation | Learning with Others | Online facilitations provide flexible learning options for students nationwide, by giving them the ability to interact with facilitators and learners from across Australia from their devices. These events are run digitally on Zoom in AEST time-zone (or AEDT during daylight savings). |
| Online: No Facilitation | Integrated Learning Activities | ACOM is committed to ensuring students have the greatest flexibility to study at their own pace in their own place. To enable this all units scheduled in a trimester can be studied online via our digital learning platform. Students who choose this option will be provided with a series of Integrated Learning Activities designed to help them integrate what they are learning into life and ministry practice. These Integrated Learning Activities are available to all students to engage with, however only students who have selected the online Integrated Learning Activities study option are required to complete all activities to successfully pass the unit. |
For more student information see:
| Student Handbook Student Policies |
| ACOM assessments are essay based and do not usually involve exams. Units may include online quizzes and practical assessments that are completed in your ministry setting. Assessment dates are clearly published on our Learning Platform (Moodle) and all tasks must be submitted to pass the unit. Required readings are provided for students with online library access for further research. ACOM is continuously improving its digital library of learning resources. We have thousands of specialist books, articles and journals available to our students through our copyright licensing arrangements. Useful for both research and personal study, our students have access to over 100,000 e-books and journals on the Bible, leadership, pastoral care, theology and more. To read more go to our Digital Learning Systems. Some units may require the student to purchase textbook(s), so please check the textbook lists on the schedules or at the point of registration. |
