Counselling and Interviewing Skills

This subject provides students with an introduction to the microskills of interpersonal communication for professional practice. It is an experiential subject designed to prepare students for entry into supervised agency-based practice. The subject focuses on the development of communication, basic interviewing and counselling, and critical self-reflection skills, for application in a variety of social work contexts. Cultural diversity is explored throughout. In addition to large group discussions and exercises, students engage weekly in role plays and class demonstrations to develop specific micro-skills - in particular, the skills of engaging, attending, listening, questioning, and responding.