Please not that this course is taking no new enrolments. If you are looking to start Bachelor study in the area of Counselling please refer to the Bachelor of Arts (Counselling)

The Bachelor of Counselling course is designed to prepare people wishing to be involved in the counselling profession or related fields of Christian ministry to undertake formal study at the undergraduate level. Although the course is expected particularly to attract people from the Pentecostal/Charismatic sectors of the Church, no one particular denominational perspective is presented.

The input from various external Assessment/Review Panels, national course review Working Parties, professional counselling associations practising counsellors and educators is reflected in the design of the course. The structure of the course includes broad philosophical and theoretical approaches to counselling as well as the development of task specific skills and outcomes. The organisation of the compulsory component of the course into theoretical and practical core modules gives recognition to this.

The course has two core strands, a strand in counselling psychology and a strand in theology. This reflects a goal of the course to train counsellors to integrate their counselling knowledge and expertise with a solid theological reflection on the distinctive features and insights of the Christian faith.

To ensure that the graduate of the degree is prepared to perform as a competent professional in contemporary society, the course content encompasses the body of theoretical knowledge making up the field of counselling psychology with an emphasis on therapeutic strategies and counselling skills that are required for the appropriate application of this knowledge in counselling work with clients. This includes compulsory study in the area of professional ethics.

Studies in the Theoretical Core Strand acknowledges that a solid knowledge of theology is foundational for ministry within a Christian context. This includes working as a counsellor within the context of ministry in the Christian church. This strand builds on a foundation of basic biblical knowledge with Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, New Testament Introduction and Old Testament Introduction. The course then builds upon this biblical foundation with modules that provide the student with a knowledge of the foundational concepts of systematic theology through compulsory study of Introduction to Christian Belief, Creative Living and Ministry of the Spirit. In addition to this, many of the compulsory counselling modules provide opportunities for students to apply theological insights to the counselling concepts and therapeutic issues the modules are addressing.

The practical core modules provide the student with the theoretical and practical experiences required to function effectively in a variety of church, para-church and community-based settings as a counsellor. Initially the practical experiences are in class exercises and role plays and assignments that require students to understand and effectively apply generic counselling and communication skills in a variety of settings. Students are expected to add to these generic skills theoretical perspectives and apply the therapeutic strategies related to the theoretical models they study through structured opportunities to observe and practice these strategies in a class setting.

Progressively a greater degree of independence is required of the student. The practical learning opportunities in the counselling core modules build to a more independent learning experience in the Counselling Field Education module that involves a year-long placement of the student in a counselling setting within the community. The student will initially progress from observing counselling settings to increasing active participation in counselling settings under the supervision of an experienced counsellor to working independently with his or her own clients as the supervising counsellor judges the student has developed sufficient expertise to competently work with counselling clients.

The inclusion of an Elective Strand in the course provides the student with the opportunity to pursue the study of subjects or areas that have a personal appeal. This element of the course design not only allows study in areas of interest but also lays the basis for the on-going education of the graduate in counselling.

The need for this course is assessed on the changing needs for counselling services not only within the church but also in the wider community. The design of this course takes into consideration place of the contemporary church and its practical and long-term ministry needs as well as developing community standards for basic training courses in the field of counselling. Tabor College is in a unique position to offer such a design as there is the scope and exposure across the range of denominations as well as across the disciplines of psychology, ministry and theology.

Further Details

Study Sequence