The Counselling for Non-Counsellors Course
The Counselling for Non-Counsellors Course is now a 2-part course that teaches some practical counselling and effective nurturing skills for use in life with partners, kids, family, friends, colleagues, clients, etc.
It is for those who have a desire to gain the skills or enhance their existing skills to help others when they are emotional, stressed or suffering or who need some nurturing, but who don't want to spend a lot of money and time getting trained as a professional counsellor. There is no other pre-requisite for this workshop than a desire to help and care for others.
This course is specifically recommended for anyone who has learnt to do the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and wants to use it with others but hasn't otherwise been trained as a counsellor or coach. These foundational counselling skills will noticeably enhance the results obtainable when using EFT with others.
Part One of this course will be held on Saturday afternoon (1:30 PM to 5:30 PM) and Sunday (10 AM to 5 PM), the 11th and 12th of JULY 2009. Part Two will be held about 8-10 weeks later.
The aim of the course is to:
An added bonus is that attendees will get the opportunity to do some personal work with themselves and will learn some powerful techniques on this course can also be easily self-applied.
The skills learnt on this course are very useful in relationships and especially in your relationships that really matter. Enhancing communications skills (especially listening skills), and taking them to a new level, are emphasized and thoroughly practiced throughout this course.
The need for these skills lies in the fact that the most common source of frustration in relationships is that those concerned don't feel heard and understood. Added to that is the fact that resolving issues or upsets that occur in relationships (and they do occur) requires the use of communication, but it must be effective communication. The consequence of not resolving issues is that unresolved emotional issues tend to stack up (and may become emotional baggage and cause problems). Effective communication is the magic key that opens the door. It is very learnable. You'll be amazed.
These are some of the comments from people who did the Counselling for Non-Counsellors Course last year:
"I gave up one of my passions to attend this workshop and … it was worth every minute of it." - Felicia Sandover. "The practical side was of the most benefit - putting concepts into practice". - E.C. "... a very supportive environment in which to interact and learn ... the demonstrations were very helpful …" - Margaret. “I have learned a great deal, all of it valuable. I feel much more confident in dealing with my issues with regards to helping others ..." - Janette Thornton. "The workshop introduced me to a wide variety of options to use in a counselling situation … Several of my new skills have already helped me in personal and professional situations." - Peggy Webb (Ayuveda practitioner). "I learnt the importance of active listening and how to help others resolve their emotional issues and personal problems even though I am not a professional counsellor." - D.A.B.
Presented by: Dr Donna Brandes, PhD (psychology) and Peter Graham (relationship coach and certified EFT Master).
Registration: Call Donna Brandes on (08) 9339 1574 or click here to send Donna an email.
Part One Cost: $295 per person.
Venue: To be advised after enrolment.
Register early as it is likely to be fully booked.
One of my reasons for collaborating with Dr Donna Brandes to run this course was my repeated observation that many of the people who I taught to do the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) are very enthusiastic about it but some are limited by their lack of basic counselling skills. These are the fundamental concepts and skills concerning counselling and how to conduct a session (formally or informally over coffee) - regardless of what particular technique is being used.
This fundamental knowledge and these basic skills help to create an environment in which effective techniques can be used successfully and within which the person feels safe enough to communicate about and work on the issues that he/she wants to address.
These skills help to develop the confidence to help others, to establish rapport with the person you are working with, to gain and maintain his/her co-operation and participation, and to be able to stay on the topic being worked on (and not wander all over the place) to ensure that some results are achieved. Communication skills are, of course, extremely important and play a central role. Many people have already developed some of these skills but enhancing or complementing them can make a big difference.
Consequently, I had been planning a "Basic Counselling Course" for some time but I discovered that Dr Donna Brandes was already teaching a similar course at UWA. It was a 4 night course called “Counselling for Non-counsellors”. It was for people who wanted to develop some counselling skills for use with friends, family, children, partners, etc. without the long training needed to become a professional counsellor. We compared notes and found a synergy which now neatly combines the two workshops into a eight evening course.
In April 2006, I started running a Relationship Skills Workshop. One of the nine important skills needed to maintain, enhance and heal relationships is Nurturing Skills. I was planning to run a separate workshop on "Practical Nurturing Skills" but found that it comfortably fitted in with this workshop. So, this Counselling for Non-counsellors Course workshop also includes learning and experiencing a set of exceptionally useful nurturing skills. It includes a very brief introduction to EFT (just enough to do a simple version EFT technique with someone) but EFT is only one of a number of nurturing skills to be learnt. They all blend together well.
Click on www.tap4peace.com.au to go to Peter's home page.
Click on www.synergyworks.com.au to go to Donna's web site.Note: This course is not a substitute for professional help when emotional issues are serious or persisting.
Peter Graham, Counsellor, certified EFT Master and Relationship Coach
Last updated: 14th April 2009
Copyright © 2009 by Peter D. Graham. All rights reserved.