Counselling placements

Placement information for Master of Counselling students.

Professional experience placement is a fundamental part of the Master of Counselling course, enabling you to apply and extend your knowledge and skills into practice in a professional counselling environment. It is designed to develop a range of professional skills and to acquaint you with issues of professional ethics and practice in counselling.

Students enrolled in the Master of Counselling program must complete 200 hours of placement as part of two sequential units: EDF5066: Supervised counselling placement A and EDF5067: Supervised counselling placement B. Students start their placement while enrolled in EDF5066 and must pass this unit before continuing to EDF5067. Students have two full semesters, plus the break between semesters, to complete all 200 placement hours and meet program requirements.

Unlike your coursework units, the placement units do not have any face-to-face classes, but we encourage you to engage with the Counselling Placement Team in our Professional Experience Office who will help you with all aspects of your placement.

Your placement unit has a specific Moodle site which will be your primary source of information relating to your counselling placement. You will gain access to this Moodle site in Orientation Week for the semester that you're enrolled in the placement unit (i.e. not Orientation Week when you commence the course).

Until you gain access to the placement Moodle site, use this page to see what to expect from your placement unit.

Things you should know

Timing of placement View

Placement hours required View

You will complete 200 hours of placement over the course of two placement units, EDF5066 and EDF5067. This comprises 100 client contact hours and 100 non-contact hours.

Client contact hours

Client contact hours refers to counselling in the direct presence of individual clients, couples or families, as well as the facilitation or co-facilitation of group counselling. It includes the following activities:

Face-to-face in-person/video-based telehealth* client intake and assessment
Face-to-face in-person/video-based telehealth* counselling of individuals, couples or family clients
Phone-based counselling – this must be a spoken, interactive client counselling session – text-based only or “active listening” platforms cannot be approved as contact hours (maximum 50 hours)
Facilitation or co-facilitation of a group counselling session – this must be an interactive client counselling session not purely a presentation or psycho-educational workshop (maximum 50 hours)
Case consultation with an ‘important other’ (e.g. family member/professional) about the client when that other has personal/professional experience of the client

*Video-based telehealth refers to the use of secure video-based/webcam online technology.

Students must complete a minimum of 50 client contact hours by counselling individuals, couples or family clients; and can complete all 100 hours in this client category. Counselling in face-to-face/in-person modality can meet the full 100 client contact hour requirement or can be combined with other modalities (i.e. video-based telehealth, group and phone-based), but a minimum of 40 hours must be completed in face-to-face/in-person modality.

Non-contact hours

Non-contact hours are other placement activities that support you to work with clients and gain your client contact hours. This includes the minimum requirement of 25 hours of clinical supervision, as well as placement induction/orientation activities, attending meetings, making appointments for counselling sessions, writing case notes/reports, researching counselling related materials, administration tasks, observation and attending training and professional development. Non-contact hours do not include non-counselling related activities such as running errands and cleaning.

Security clearances View

Preparing for placement View

Before you enrol in the placement unit, here are some things you can do to help secure your placement.

Mental health training

We highly recommend that you undertake relevant training and professional development ahead of your enrolment in the placement unit. Such training is well-regarded by placement hosts and will increase your chances of securing placement when included on your resume.

If you are a Monash student and located in Melbourne, you can consider undertaking the opportunities offered free of charge by the Monash Health and Wellbeing team including Mindfulness programs, safeTALK: Suicide prevention and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). Students in other locations will be able to source similar well-regarded programs via local training providers. If you were to undertake these training courses ahead of your enrolment in the placement unit, but while enrolled in the Master of Counselling, it will be possible to retrospectively add some of these hours (currently up to 20 hours) to your non-contact training hours in your Log Books.

Volunteering in relevant settings

Other students have found it is beneficial to volunteer with organisations ahead of being enrolled in the placement unit - even if this is not within a specific counselling capacity. This looks good on your resume and demonstrates a good work ethic. It's also an opportunity to establish contacts who may be able to assist you with placement in the future.

We suggest checking out websites like Volunteering Australia, Go Volunteer, Seek Volunteer, EthicalJobs, for example. Searching these websites can also highlight the types of organisations who employ counsellors, and therefore guide you on where to try for placements in the future.

Resume preparation and interview training

Searching for a placement should be taken as seriously as applying for a job. A professional resume and a cover letter will enhance your opportunity for application success. We encourage you to prepare these in advance of starting your placement.

Most placement opportunities will require you to attend an interview. Make sure you prepare yourself for interview success by researching the organisation and practice before attending.

We encourage you to make use of Monash Career Connect services (available online and in person) to improve these key application documents and to enhance your interview skills.

Organising your placement and approval View

Finding your placement

You should search for a placement based on your individual interests and career goals. You will be supported throughout this process by the Counselling Placement Team who will help to identify opportunities and support you throughout your placement’s duration.

The Counselling Placement Team sources multiple placement opportunities within the greater Melbourne metropolitan region. These opportunities will be advertised for Clayton-enrolled students to consider and apply for via the placement unit’s Moodle site.

Students based outside of Melbourne, in rural, remote, interstate or overseas locations, will be responsible for self-sourcing their own placement opportunities. The Counselling Placement Team will offer you practical support and guidance to do this.

We recommend that you start looking for placement options as soon as possible once you start the course. You can approach potential placement hosts yourself and discuss the possibility of placement with them. Previous students have found success with organisations such as:

community service groups,
local government,
school wellbeing teams,
not-for-profit and charitable organisations,
youth organisations,
private practice and EAP organisations,
cultural organisations if you have another language,
agencies supporting long-term unemployed and individuals with disabilities.

You can choose to complete your required hours in more than one placement setting to gain a variety of experience. It is also possible to complete up to 50% of your client contact hours in your current workplace where your role is primarily counselling. This cannot be applied retrospectively and you must record the activities and hours in your Log Book during your enrolment in the placement unit. You will need to complete the remaining 50% of your client contact hours in a separate setting. As with all placements, a workplace-based placement still needs to be assessed and approved by the Counselling Placement Team.

Obtaining approval for your placement

Once you have secured a placement you need to formally notify the Counselling Placement Team of the details. Your placement must be approved by the University before you can start placement and begin accruing your required hours. The placement approval process is fully explained on the placement unit's Moodle site.

It is not possible to commence your placement ahead of your enrolment in the placement unit, or until it is approved, as you would not be considered "officially" on placement and therefore not fully covered by Monash's student accident insurance, public liability and professional indemnity policies until that time.

Insurance

Monash covers all students on approved work placements, internships and/or practicum as part of a course or unit of study. These insurances include:

Personal accident insurance* for student injury, capital, medical and loss of income benefits. The Policy does not pay the Medicare/private health gap.
Public liability for student’s legal liability to third parties in respect to physical injury and/or property damage caused as a result of their negligence.
Professional indemnity for student's civil liability committed in their professional duty, but only within the limits of their training.

*Please note that the Personal accident insurance policy is only applicable if the placement is undertaken in Australia. Students undertaking placement in a country outside of Australia will not have access to this cover.

Copies of the Certificates of Currency for each policy are available from your placement unit's Moodle site and by request from the Counselling Placement Team.

Organising your Clinical Supervisor View

Log Books and placement completion View

Who to contact?

The Counselling Placement Team within the Professional Experience Office are dedicated to helping you with all aspects of your counselling placement.

To contact the Counselling Placement Team, please send your enquiry to the team email:

MoCplacement@monash.edu

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