Course descriptionThis course is for people with previous qualifying training in counselling or a closely related field such as social work.
You can study it as a stand alone module or use the credit towards a postgraduate award in the Professional Development in Counselling and Psychotherapy programme or the BA (Honours) Professional Development in Counselling.
Working with couples involves extra skills and knowledge compared with working with individuals. You learn how to work with individuals and couples who need help with their relationships.
You consider
• what makes a good couple relationship
• the role of power and money
• intimacy
• separation, loss and endings
• sexual issues
• ethical problems
• the effects of children on relationships
• decision making
• the impact of difference and social context for the couple
You examine the effects of social context and personal history on the couple’s relationship. This includes similarities and differences between heterosexual and other couple relationships.
During the course you
• explain and evaluate key differences between working with a client’s individual issues and working with a relationship focus
• identify, compare and evaluate some theoretical approaches to working with couples
• reflect on how your own experience and personal history affect working with relationship issues
• identify issues of social context and prejudice in couple relationships including non-traditional couples
• reflect on your own practice and attitude to new learning
• make and justify judgements and decisions about interventions referring to suitable theory, current research and supervision
Your own experience of relationships, sharing with peers and reflection on the various topics introduced contributes to developing your awareness.
Associated careers
Working with couples and their relationships involves specialist skills and knowledge. This course enables you to undertake couple and relationship counselling with confidence and increase the range of clients you are able to help.
Course content
Course content
• an overview of the major themes in, and theoretical approaches to understanding and working with couple relationships
• examining the effects of social context and personal history on the couple relationship, including similarities and differences between different types of couple relationship
• an introduction to some practice skills for managing the counselling relationship
• topics and ideas to challenge your perspectives on couple relationships