About Basic Counselling Skills Training
Counselling Corner was founded with the mission of improving the lives of others through counselling, psychotherapy and support empowerment by
advocacy and facilitating positive social changes within communities throughout Myanmar.
To create a bigger capacity and understanding, Counselling Corner launched the Basic Counselling Training to the public and trained over 1000 people
interested in the basics of mental health.
During 20 hours of training (2 hours a day) the basics of counselling are explained including topics such as the role of a counsellor, essential counselling skills, values, starting and ending a session and principles of counselling. Theory and interactive practice means that participants learn new skills that they can use immediately. Anyone regardless of their identity and background will be able to attend and learn this new and valuable life skill for everyone, especially volunteer counsellors, psychology students, teachers, educators, nurses, social volunteers, etc. Previous participants include Human Resources staff, psychology students, faith group counsellors, and medical doctors. The training is hailed by many previous students as “the best training they ever did” and the start of a career as a professional counsellor. This training is offered in Myanmar language, starts monthly and can also be done for a private group. The training is conducted online or face-to-face.
Training Objective
- To educate and train the participants about the theory and practices of basic counselling, the Skilled Helper Model, counselling principles and counsellors ethics and the role of a qualified counsellor.
- To promote self-reflection among the participants which is important both for one’s own well-being and to be able to help others.
- To understand and increase awareness about emotions and work-out on the feelings.
- To support another person’s mental health and emotional well-being with the combination of values, ethics, knowledge and communication skills gained from the training.
- To bring more skillful and competent counsellors by completion of a full training course (Basic – Intermediate – Advanced counselling skills training) and offer practical experience and give supervision for starting counsellors.
Training Agenda
| Day | Topic | Objectives |
| Day 1 | What is Counselling? | Overview of counselling To explore types of counselling3 types of counselling and how it works |
| Day 2 | Role of a Counselor | To know about the role of counsellor. Identify why and how people seek counselling To understand how confidentiality works in counselling sessions To reflect yourself why you want to be a counsellor |
| Day 3 | Natural Helping Style | To explore about personality types To know about the factors which influence our personality To be able to reflect your temperament and attachment styles To identify your natural helping styles |
| Day 4 | Essential Counselling Skills | To explore the essential counselling skills To be able to investigate which skills you can use in practice sessions To improve yourself to apply these skills To know about Skilled helper model and how it works |
| Day 5 | Communication | To know about how communication is important To observe verbal and nonverbal behavior of the clients To understand the communication process |
| Day 6 | Values | To find out what your own value system Value exercise To find out where our value comes from The connection between values and beliefs |
| Day 7 | Counselling Skills in Depth | To know in depth about one of the essential counselling skills: Reflection To explore how we use reflection skills in counselling session To differentiate between empathy and sympathy Acceptance, listening and questioning skills |
| Day 8 | Session from the start till the end | To know about how counselling sessions from the start till the end To understand more about counselling process5 stages of counselling process |
| Day 9 | Principles for Counselling | To know about basic counselling principles To learn about the personality trait of an effective counsellor To understand about qualities of counselling relationship To explore more about supervision and why it is needed for a counsellor To know about basic ethics to have in a counsellor |
| Day10 | Recap | To revise the previous topics |
Skills covered in the Basic Counselling Skills Training
- Basics of Counselling
- Essential Counselling Skills
- Counselling Skills in depth
- Communication Skills
- Values and Beliefs
- Essential qualities for a counsellor include Congruence, Empathy, Attentiveness, Non-judgement and Unconditional Positive Regards, Proficiency.
- Basic Ethics as a Counsellor
These skills are the foundation steps to become an accomplished counsellor and also very helpful to ourselves and can be used to help others in our environment. These skills are trained using both theory and practice, so participants gain a lot of knowledge and experiences to start using immediately.
Training method and assignments
The student-centered learning method is used for the training, so we proceed our sessions by a two-ways method that we can discuss, share and ask freely our own opinions between the trainer and participants. During the 20 hours of training, we go by presentations,discussion and practice sessions. There are also assignments to be done by the participants on each day.
Assignments include:
– Writing Reflective Essays which aim to explore our feelings and reflect our experiences
– Answering Assessment Questions
– Answering Divergent Questions
– Recording of Role-play Counselling Practice Session
To be certified for Basic Counselling Skills Training, all the participants must complete all the assignments given within a determined period
Next Steps For Participants
After completing the full course of Basic Counselling Skills Training, the participants can follow Counselling Corner’s Intermediate and Advanced Counselling Skills Trainings where you can learn more precise and efficient skills to become a qualified counsellor. Once you have finished your Advanced Counselling Skills training, we regularly offer opportunities to volunteer with some of our projects which could be research, co-facilitating an emotional workshop, assisting in training or other projects. The more experience you get in the field, the better and some of our former students have become junior counsellors with Counselling Corner or work at civil society organizations, schools, INGO’s or started their own practice.
Who Should Attend Basic Counselling Skills Training
Anyone regardless of their identity and background will be able to attend and learn this new and valuable life skill for everyone, especially volunteer counsellors, psychology students, teachers, educators, nurses, social volunteers, etc. Counselling Corner welcomes professionals from different fields who are interested in counselling, aspiring to become a counsellor and applying mental well-being to themselves and their surroundings.
If you are interested and want to apply for Basic Counselling Skills Training, you can register at our website or follow our Facebook page for more information.
Website – Basic Counselling Skills Training dates
Facebook – Counselling Corner Myanmar