Master of Counselling
2024 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2025 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Master of Counselling |
| Deakin course code | H758 |
| Faculty | Faculty of Health |
| Campus | Offered at Burwood (Melbourne) |
| Online | No |
| Duration | 2 years full-time or part-time equivalent |
| 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. |
| CRICOS course code | 112781A Burwood (Melbourne) |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9 |
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
More than 43% of Australians aged 16 to 85 have experienced a mental health challenge throughout their life*. With growing demand for counselling services, our Master of Counselling will help you build the advanced analytical and communication skills needed to support individuals, couples, and groups through mild to moderate mental health and developmental challenges.
Want to take the next step in your career and help people improve their mental wellbeing?
Whether you are from a counselling background or a related field like teaching, healthcare, or social work, the Master of Counselling will equip you with the skills to connect with and compassionately support your clients. You will graduate with 200 hours of practical experience, preparing you to provide personalised support to clients tailored to their unique circumstances. Through practical learning opportunities, you will learn how to apply complex counselling theories to identify and address emotional issues, using cognitive behaviour therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and other talking therapies.
Your learning will be shaped by our School of Psychology’s cutting-edge research, rated as well-above world standard^. You will critically explore contemporary research in the field, as well as a diverse range of specialist counselling topics including trauma, grief, sex and sexuality, relationship counselling, and group counselling. In addition to working with clients face-to-face, you will learn how to provide support via video call, telephone, and through other digital communication tools, which are each becoming increasingly important in modern counselling practice.
As a Master of Counselling graduate, you will demonstrate specialist knowledge of counselling roles, as well a practical understanding of skills, theory, interventions, and ethics across the lifespan to a variety of audiences. This includes:
- counselling micro-skills
- mental health issues
- professional practice issues
- human development
- counselling diverse populations
- counselling therapies
- ethics.
Starting in your second year, you will complement your theoretical learning and foundational skills with 200 hours of valuable placement experience#, where you will engage with clients of diverse backgrounds and age groups. Enabling you to further enhance your skills in building rapport with clients and providing personalised support through assessment and intervention strategies. Your placement hours will include autonomous direct client contact, non-contact activities, supervised training, as well as collaboration with other mental health professionals, preparing you to work in supervisory, leadership, and managerial roles.
Want to boost your career opportunities in shorter time? We offer a Graduate Certificate of Counselling and Graduate Diploma of Counselling, which are perfect for those wanting to upskill in a shorter timeframe.
* Australian Bureau of Statistics National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, 2020-21
^ Excellence in Research Australia, 2015-2018
# All placement hours must be completed with the placement host and students physically located in Australia.
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, practicals, placements 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. Teaching, placements and assessment tasks may take place outside of Deakin University teaching periods.
On-campus attendance requirements
To meet industry accreditation requirements, students must participate in a compulsory on-campus intensive (of either two- or three-days duration) for certain units. Please note that some units are entirely online, whilst others have a blended delivery of online and one face-to-face on-campus intensive. Please refer to the individual unit details in the online handbook for more information about how each unit is delivered. There are no weekly on-campus attendance requirements in any unit.
Professional recognition
The Master of Counselling is accredited by the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).
This qualification has been assessed as being an equivalent qualification for the purposes of the Mandatory Minimum Qualifications policy for employment in specialist family violence practitioner roles in Victoria.
Career opportunities
There is strong demand for counsellors in Australia, with 14.2% projected employment growth by November 2026**. Counsellors work across a broad range of roles related to mental health, disability, allied health, and social support services. Some roles may include:
- youth work and school counselling
- mental health support
- career and professional guidance
- telephone/online counselling services
- trauma counselling
- drug and alcohol counselling
- grief support
- relationship and family counselling
- sex and sexuality support services
- specialist family violence practitioner.
Our Master of Counselling is accredited with both of Australia’s accrediting associations: the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).
You may choose to become a student member of ACA and/or PACFA whilst you study whilst you study. Upon graduation you will be eligible to apply as a Registered Counsellor level 2 member with ACA or a provisional counsellor with PACFA, boosting your employment opportunities, establishing valuable networks and expanding your professional development opportunities.
Upon graduation, you may be eligible for accreditation with ACA and PACFA, boosting your employment opportunities.
**2021 Employment Outlook – for the five years to November 2026, Australian Government, Jobs and Skills Australia.
Participation requirements
Placement requirements
Students will be required to complete 200 hours of placement, composed of client contact, supervision and non-contact counselling related activities. All placement hours must be completed with the placement host and students physically located in Australia.
Placement is an essential component of the course, required by both accrediting associations, the Australian Counselling Association and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia. 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 and 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 and the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, 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) | |
| Graduate Diploma of Counselling (H658) |
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Demonstrate specialist knowledge of counselling roles, and knowledge and application of skills, theory, interventions, and ethics across the lifespan to a variety of audiences relevant to professional counselling. |
| Communication | Employ clear written and oral communication skills to effect therapeutic change among diverse client groups. Convey complex counselling theories and ideas to a variety of audiences, including clients, colleagues, and other professionals. |
| Digital literacy | Use a range of digital tools to locate and disseminate counselling information and client resources. Awareness and use of digital tools to provide counselling. |
| Critical thinking | Identify, synthesize, integrate, and critically reflect on research to inform counselling practice. |
| Problem solving | Appraise, select, and apply specialised counselling skills and knowledge to understand and work with. Initiate, plan, and implement tailored counselling interventions that address client issues. |
| 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 to promote professional competence and growth. 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 Master of Counselling students must pass 16 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
- 16 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.
Note:
- All placement hours must be completed with the placement host and students physically located in Australia.
Course structure
Year 1 - 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 |
Year 1 - Trimester 2
| HPY731 | Mental Health Counselling |
| HPY733 | Lifespan and Developmental Counselling |
| HPY736 | Contemporary Counselling Therapies |
| HPY744 | Research in Counselling |
Year 2 - Trimester 1
| HPY737 | Counselling Placement 1 * |
| HPY738 | Trauma Informed Counselling |
| HPY739 | Sex and Sexuality |
| HPY745 | Counselling and Family Violence |
Year 2 - Trimester 2
| HPY741 | Group Counselling |
| HPY743 | Grief and Bereavement Counselling |
| HPY742 | Counselling Placement 2 * |
| HPY746 | Relationship Counselling |
* All placement hours must be completed with the placement host and students physically located in Australia.
Other course information
Information for applicants and students
The Master of Counselling course contains topics that could be triggering or distressing for some individuals. If you have unresolved trauma or grief, we strongly recommend that you carefully consider whether you are ready to engage with this course at this time. It is important to prioritise your mental health and wellbeing, and seeking support from a mental health professional may be a helpful option. Please be aware that support is available to you throughout your studies, and we encourage you to reach out to the services provided by Wellbeing at Deakin if you need to do so.
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.