Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health

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Overview

If you’d like to build a career that makes a meaningful difference, La Trobe’s accredited Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health will give you the foundations for a rewarding career that supports others through huge life changes. Develop your professional knowledge, skills and expertise with this unique combination of … For more content click the Read more button below. You’ll get hands-on experience and will graduate prepared to work in rehabilitation counselling, as well as broader counselling settings such as mental health and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counselling. Explore a diverse range of workplaces and cultures. You’ll learn how to support individuals and communities through disability, disadvantage and injury – helping them to reach their full potential and reintegrate into work and the community. You'll learn:Professional counselling practiceAcquire skills that are essential for effective counselling practice through examining professional, ethical and legal issues that affect counselling practice in Australia. Mental health counsellingUnderstand the different types of mental health conditions and how they’re diagnosed. Learn how to effectively treat clinical and sub-clinical mental health conditions. Rehabilitation counsellingUnderstand the interpersonal helping process, especially as it applies to rehabilitation and behaviour change. Explore different counselling models and techniques (e.g. Motivational Interviewing).Employee Assistance Program counsellingDevelop specialised skills to work effectively and ethically as a counsellor in workplace settings.

Develop your professional knowledge, skills and expertise with this unique combination of rehabilitation counselling and mental health subjects.

You’ll get hands-on experience and will graduate prepared to work in rehabilitation counselling, as well as broader counselling settings such as mental health and Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counselling.

Explore a diverse range of workplaces and cultures. You’ll learn how to support individuals and communities through disability, disadvantage and injury – helping them to reach their full potential and reintegrate into work and the community.

You'll learn:

Professional counselling practice
- Acquire skills that are essential for effective counselling practice through examining professional, ethical and legal issues that affect counselling practice in Australia.
Mental health counselling
- Understand the different types of mental health conditions and how they’re diagnosed. Learn how to effectively treat clinical and sub-clinical mental health conditions.
Rehabilitation counselling
- Understand the interpersonal helping process, especially as it applies to rehabilitation and behaviour change. Explore different counselling models and techniques (e.g. Motivational Interviewing).

Employee Assistance Program counselling
- Develop specialised skills to work effectively and ethically as a counsellor in workplace settings.

Portfolio

Office of the Provost

School

Course coordinator

Paul O'Halloran

Location(s)

On-Line

Course instance contact

Paul O'Halloran

Course duration (full time)

2 years

Course duration (part time)

4 years

Course duration (accelerated)

N/A

Study level

Postgraduate

AQF level

Level 9 - Masters Degree

Available only as an exit award

Study options

Domestic

Completion requirements

To qualify for the award of Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health, students must have completed 240 credit points of study, comprised of: 165 core credit-points 15 core-choice credit points 60 specialisation or elective credit-points

Course structure
240 credit points

Level one120 credit points

Core105 credit points

Core choice15 credit points

Level two120 credit points

Core60 credit points

Core choice - Specialisations or Electives60 credit points

Advanced Practice60 credit points

Core45 credit points

Core choice15 credit points

Applied Research60 credit points

Core choice45 credit points

Core choice15 credit points

Electives60 credit points

Course intended learning outcomes

On successful completion you will be able to:

Apply advanced and specialist theory, philosophy, research and evaluation methods to facilitate rehabilitation counselling and counselling practice.

Plan, implement, and evaluate client-centred assessment to facilitate treatment outcomes in complex environments.

Apply complex and specialised counselling skills and psychological interventions with creativity and initiative to meet complex patient needs in rehabilitation counselling and counselling contexts.

Generate professional documentation and reports for various stakeholders within complex rehabilitation counselling and counselling contexts.

Critically reflect on rehabilitation counselling and mental health counselling practice through monitoring and evaluation of own work and develop plans to meet personal and professional development needs.

Appraise and apply legal, ethical and professional responsibilities of a counsellor and rehabilitation counsellor in complex environments and make referrals where appropriate.

Design, implement, evaluate and where necessary revise theoretically informed evidence-based counselling and behaviour change interventions to facilitate desired long term vocational and avocational outcomes.

Practice in an ethical and socially responsible manner as a health care practitioner and/or researcher.

Course features

Work based learning (placement) requirements

Compulsory placements (Work Based Learning)
During this course, you will participate in one or more supervised Work Based Learning (WBL) placements designed to allow you to practice newly acquired skills, behaviours and knowledge while integrating theory with practice. The placements will immerse you in professional work culture, enabling you to develop and further enhance your skills. WBL provides you with the opportunity to gain valuable industry experience at one or more of our local, interstate or international industry partners or agencies. WBL placements will generally be arranged by the College based Placements Operation Team or Experiential Learning Team at La Trobe University. The number of hours undertaken can vary considerably, depending on the requirements of the course. Students may incur additional costs and it may be necessary to travel or relocate to complete a specific placement. Please refer to the individual subject entries for more information.

Work integrated learning opportunities
A course that integrates theory with the practice of work.

Career development learning, Industry informed curriculum, Industry presentations, Industry-informed projects, Interprofessional learning, Professional simulations

Career outcomes

After graduation, you could work across a wide range of industries, including allied health, education, government, sports, and more.

Possible roles include:

Rehabilitation counsellor
- Support people who are injured or experiencing disability or disadvantage, through the counselling process, to reintegrate into work and/or the community.
Counsellor
- Work with individuals who are experiencing personal difficulties and help them to make meaningful and helpful changes geared toward promotion of wellbeing in their lives.
Mental health counsellor
- Promote individual and/or community mental health and wellbeing through helping individuals, families, groups and/or communities to process difficult emotions, and through assessment and treatment of mental health disorders and trauma.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) counsellor
- Assist employees, through the counselling process, with personal problems impacting their work performance, health and/or wellbeing.
Student wellbeing coordinator
- Provide welfare support, through the counselling process and coordinate development and wellbeing programs for students.

Professional recognition

The Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health is accredited by the Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors (ASORC). Graduates of the Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health may apply for membership with ASORC and the Australian Counselling Association.

Membership may be subject to additional or ongoing requirements beyond completion of the degree. Please contact the relevant professional body for details.

Other course instances

Select a related course instance to view more information.

Internal course relationships

Nested

Graduate Certificate in Service Co-Ordination and Rehabilitation

Graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation Counselling

Core participation requirements

Behavioural and relational skills

Core requirement

Students must be able to manage their own responses and behaviour to work effectively in a range of learning environments with diverse people and tasks. This includes the capacity to be receptive and respond appropriately to constructive feedback. Students should also be able to work with others in a team or group environment and make and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of individuals in order to complete tasks or for professional practice.

See also Student behaviours policy for more information.

Course-specific requirement

Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health must demonstrate strong interpersonal and interpersonal communication skills that will allow them to continuously develop their communication and counselling skills throughout their careers.
Students must be able to manage personal responses, beliefs or preferences in order to work in an ethical and socially responsible manner with diverse groups , for example to be able to work with people from ethnically and religiously diverse backgrounds.

Cognition

Core requirement

Students must be able to locate, acquire, retain and apply knowledge as part of their learning and for assessment. They must have the ability to sustain their attention over a designated period, maintain their focus in a variety of learning environments and remember information long enough to complete tasks in a reasonable and safe timeframe.

Course-specific requirement

Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health students must be able to use retained knowledge to determine safe and appropriate care decisions. Students must be able to notice, focus their attention and process information in order to respond in an ethically and socially responsible manner that recognises the perspectives of multiple stakeholders and legislative requirements. For example, for a client in a return to work setting they must be able to focus on and respond to changing information from clients in order to respond in an appropriate manner that recognises both the duty of care for the client and the client’s rights and responsibilities as stipulated by legislation.

Sensory (visual, auditory, tactile, olfaction)

Core requirement

Students should possess the ability to interact with visual, auditory or tactile inputs sufficiently to manage their learning environment and to meet professional performance needs.

Course-specific requirement

Master of Rehabilitation Counselling and Mental Health students must be able to process visual and or auditory information and monitor the broader environment for client safety, including observing multiple people and events simultaneously. Students must be able to detect changes in client voice, vocal content, posture, movement and other responses to clinical treatments.

Handbook