Graduate Diploma of Counselling
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Graduate Diploma of Counselling |
| Deakin course code | H658 |
| Course version | 1 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Course Information | For students who commenced from 2022 to 2023 |
| Campus | Campus of offer - For students who commenced prior to Trimester 2 2023 Online |
| Duration | The course is available to students on a part-time basis. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 8 |
Course offered to continuing students only. The final intake to this course version was in Trimester 1 2023. Students should contact a Student Adviser in Student Central for course, course map and enrolment information. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Participation requirements
- Mandatory student checks
- Alternative exits
- Course learning outcomes
- Course rules
- Course structure
- Fees and charges
Course overview
Our Graduate Diploma of Counselling will provide you with essential knowledge and skills in counselling required to effectively and compassionately support individuals with mild or moderate mental health problems and normal developmental issues. You will undertake 100 hours of valuable counselling placement during your course which will equip you with practical counselling experience and enable you to develop relationships that will support your future employability.
Want to enter a career in counselling and be equipped to support the mental health of individuals?
The Graduate Diploma of Counselling will be a perfect fit for you if you’ve considered a career related to counselling or would like to develop counselling expertise to support your current role and expand your career opportunities (i.e. support workers, social workers, teachers, student advisors, nurses, supervisors, managers, doctors, occupational therapists etc.).
The course has a particular focus on telecounselling and counselling diversity, both of which are of increasing importance and experiencing higher demand in Australia and globally. As a graduate you will be armed with practical knowledge and expertise relating to counselling micro-skills, mental health issues, professional practice issues, human development, multicultural counselling, counselling therapies and ethics.
By studying counselling with Deakin, you’ll be joining a university ranked well above world standard for our Psychology and Cognitive Sciences research.*
*Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) 2018.
Indicative student workload
As a student in the Faculty of Health you can expect to participate in a range of teaching activities each week. This could include classes, seminars, workshops, online interaction and clinical placements. You can refer to the individual unit details in the course structure for more information. You will also need to study and complete assessment tasks in your own time.
All years of the course require a part-time commitment, with a substantive load of required learning activities and study time. Although the course is designed for working health professionals, students will on average spend 150 hours over the teaching period undertaking the teaching, learning and assessment activities per unit credit point.
Professional recognition
The Graduate Diploma of Counselling is accredited by the Australian Counselling Association (ACA).
Career opportunities
The course has been designed to foster practical counselling skills that can be applied in-person, over the phone or online via videoconference. There is a growing demand for these skills across a range of occupations related to mental health, disability, allied health and social support services with an expected very strong increase in demand over the next five years.*
As a counsellor you will provide advice and information on relationships, social, educational, occupational and a range of other every-day life difficulties. You will develop rapport and a healthy therapeutic relationship with people to help them to identify and define their emotional issues through a range of therapies including cognitive behaviour therapy, interpersonal therapy and other talking therapies.
The course has been designed to meet the requirements of the Australian Counselling Association, so you will be eligible for membership upon graduation, increasing opportunities for employment.
*Australian Government Job Outlook
Participation requirements
Students will be required to complete 100 hours of placement, composed of 40 hours of client contact, 10 hours of supervision, and 50 hours of non-contact counselling related activities.
Placement is an essential component of the course, required for Australian Counselling Association registration. When students complete the course, they may be asked to submit evidence of their placement with a detailed log book of hours attained.
Mandatory student checks
In order to undertake placement, students will be required to attain a police check. some placement opportunities may require students to also attain a "Working with Children" check, or equivalent based on their State of residence.
Students undertaking placement in any environment may be required to work with children, or incidentally exposed to children due to the nature of the counselling profession. Hence, the University has an obligation to ensure that students are suitable for placement and the children they work with are safe.
To gain professional accreditation with the Australian Counselling Association, students are required to disclose and explain any professional misconduct, formal complaints made against them as a counsellor, serious criminal offences, current investigations, or refusal of application to work with children.
Alternative exits
| Graduate Certificate of Counselling (H558) |
Course learning outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Demonstrate specialist knowledge of counselling roles, skills, theory, interventions, ethics, and legal issues across the lifespan to a variety of audiences relevant to professional counselling. |
| Communication | Employ clear written and oral communication skills in order to effect therapeutic change in counselling. Convey complex counselling theories and ideas to a variety of audiences. |
| Digital literacy | Select appropriate digital tools to find, use, and disseminate information in counselling practice. |
| Critical thinking | Identify, synthesize, integrate, and critically reflect on research to inform counselling practice. |
| Problem solving | Appraise, select, and apply specialized counselling skills and knowledge to solve complex problems in the field of counselling. Initiate, plan, and implement counselling interventions that creatively solve problems. |
| Self-management | Demonstrate high-level self-management and awareness in learning and practice that reinforces the importance of responsibility, accountability, and ethics in professional counselling. |
| Teamwork | Work effectively in supervisory, leadership, and managerial capacities with diverse ethnic and cultural partners and teams. Communicate and collaborate with other mental health professionals to support clients. |
| Global citizenship | Evaluate and apply ethical principles to work productively in the field of counselling within diverse social, cultural and environmental contexts. Collaborate and communicate in a self-reflective and culturally sensitive manner. |
Course rules
To complete the Graduate Diploma of Counselling students must pass 8 credit points and meet the following course rules to be eligible to graduate:
- HAI010 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 8 credit points of core units
Students are required to meet the University's academic progress and conduct requirements. See the enrolment codes and terminology to help make sense of the University’s vocabulary.
Course structure
Trimester 1 Intake
Trimester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin '(0 credit points)'(replaces HAI010* |
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling |
Trimester 2
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles |
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations |
Trimester 3
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies |
| HPY737 | Counselling Placement 1 * |
*HPY737-Start anytime once HPY730 and HPY732 have been completed.
HAI010 Academic Integrity (no longer available for enrolment, replacement unit DAI001)
Trimester 2 Intake
Trimester 2
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin '(0 credit points)'(replaces HAI010* |
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles |
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling |
Trimester 3
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies |
Trimester 1
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling |
Trimester 2
| HPY737 | Counselling Placement 1 |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations * |
**HPY737-Start anytime once HPY730 and HPY732 have been completed.
*HAI010 Academic Integrity (no longer available for enrolment, replacement unit DAI001)
Trimester 3 Intake
Trimester 3
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin '(0 credit points)'(replaces HAI010* |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies |
Trimester 1
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling |
Trimester 2
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles |
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations |
Trimester 3
| HPY737 | Counselling Placement 1 * |
**HPY737-Start anytime once HPY730 and HPY732 have been completed.
*HAI010 Academic Integrity (no longer available for enrolment, replacement unit DAI001)
Course duration
You may be able to study available units in the optional third trimester to fast-track your degree, however your course duration may be extended if there are delays in meeting course requirements, such as completing a placement.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on the type of fee place you hold, your course, your commencement year, the units you choose to study, and their study discipline or your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
For further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods visit our Current students website.