Graduate Diploma of Counselling
2025 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Graduate Diploma of Counselling |
| Deakin course code | H658 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | This course is only offered Online |
| Duration | 1 year over 2 consecutive trimesters, or part-time equivalent.* The course is available to students on a full-time or part-time basis. |
| Course Map - enrolment planning tool | These course maps are for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2025: Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 8 |
Students admitted into the course prior to 2025, please refer to the course structure information in the previous handbook. Students should contact a Student Adviser in Student Central for course and enrolment information. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Indicative student workload
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Mandatory student checks
- Pathways
- 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. Study flexibly with Deakin’s premium interactive learning platform, where you’ll learn from industry experts and develop your skills alongside like-minded peers in live seminars and through practical assessment tasks.
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 will 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 lectures, seminars, workshops and online interaction. 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
Mandatory student checks
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.
Pathways
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:
- DAI001 Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0-credit-point compulsory unit) in their first study period
- 8 credit points of core units consisting of:
- 4 credit points of Foundations of Counselling units
- 4 credit points of Fundamentals of Counselling 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 (Full Time)
Trimester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth ^ |
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles ~ |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling ^ |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations ~ |
Trimester 2
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling ^ |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling ^ |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies ~ |
| HPY744 | Research in Counselling |
^Foundations of Counselling unit
~Fundamentals of Counselling unit
Trimester 1 Intake (Part Time)
Trimester 1
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth ^ |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling ^ |
Trimester 2
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling ^ |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling ^ |
Trimester 1
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles ~ |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations ~ |
Trimester 2
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies ~ |
| HPY744 | Research in Counselling |
^Foundations of Counselling unit
~Fundamentals of Counselling unit
Trimester 2 Intake (Full Time)
Trimester 2
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling ^ |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling ^ |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies ~ |
| HPY744 | Research in Counselling |
Trimester 1
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth ^ |
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles ~ |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling ^ |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations ~ |
^Foundations of Counselling unit
~Fundamentals of Counselling unit
Trimester 2 Intake (Part Time)
Trimester 2
| DAI001 | Academic Integrity and Respect at Deakin (0 credit points) |
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling ^ |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling ^ |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies ~ |
Trimester 1
| HPY730 | Principles of Counselling and Telehealth ^ |
| HPY732 | Professional Counselling Roles ~ |
| HPY734 | Ethical and Legal Issues in Counselling ^ |
| HPY735 | Counselling Diverse Populations ~ |
Trimester 2
| HPY744 | Research in Counselling |
^Foundations of Counselling unit
~Fundamentals of Counselling unit
Course duration
Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as failing of units or accessing or completing placements.
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.