Program Overview

Centre for Continuing Education

The Centre for Continuing Education at the University of Sydney offers a diverse range of professional development short courses. These courses are designed to enhance career prospects and provide opportunities for personal growth.

Course Subjects

The Centre for Continuing Education offers courses in various subjects, including:

• Business and management
  • Business communication
  • Business strategy
  • Business writing
  • Cultural competence and diversity
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Management
  • Organisational psychology
  • Sales and customer service
• English
• HSC preparation (years 10-12)
  • HSC biology
  • HSC business studies
  • HSC chemistry
  • HSC economics
  • HSC English
  • HSC mathematics
  • HSC physics
  • Year 11 (Revision)
  • Years 10-12 study and essay skills
• Humanities and culture
  • Creative writing
  • Music
  • Philosophy
  • Psychology
• Information technology
  • Adobe
  • AI and machine learning courses
  • Data analysis and analytics
  • Google
  • Microsoft
• Language
  • Arabic
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Chinese
  • French
  • German
  • Greek
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Spanish
• Marketing
  • Digital marketing
  • Marketing communications
  • Product development
• Project management
  • Agile methodology courses
  • Change management for projects
  • Stakeholder and people management
  • Technical project management skills

Counselling Course: An Introduction

This course introduces participants to the concepts that underpin counselling, enabling them to offer support to colleagues, employees, family members, and friends. The course covers:

• Exploring emotions
  • Building rapport and helping to relax
  • Active listening skills
  • Reflection of content
  • Reflection of feelings
• Identifying the real problem
  • Summarising
  • Reframing
  • Probing
  • The 'five whys'
• Generating options
  • Reframing
  • Encouraging self-generation of options
  • How and when to add options
• Developing an action plan
  • The client choosing the preferred option
  • Facilitating action
  • Encouraging change
  • Establishing a follow-up mechanism
• Professional issues
  • The counselling environment
  • The need for confidentiality
  • The influence of the counsellor’s values and beliefs
  • Looking after yourself with healthy boundaries
• Dealing with particular problems
  • The angry client
  • The depressed client
  • Grief and loss counselling
  • The suicidal client

Course Details

• Duration: 1 session, 8 hours total
• Next date: 16 May 2026
• Location: Face-to-face (venue TBA)
• Cost: A$500.00

Intended Audience

This course is designed for individuals with little to no prior experience in counselling.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Delivery Mode

The course is delivered face-to-face, with a presenter-taught workshop.

Materials

Course materials are distributed electronically using Dropbox.

Organisational Training

For groups of six or more, courses can be delivered to teams with the option to tailor content.

Meet the Facilitators

John Le Mesurier brings a wealth of business, management, IT, consultancy, and training experience to many of the professional development courses on offer at the Centre for Continuing Education.

Testimonials

Previous participants have praised the course, citing its professional manner, interactive nature, and the presenter's insight and wisdom.

Related Courses

• Build a Resilient and Optimistic Mindset Course
• Emotional Intelligence Course
• Psychology Course: An Introduction
• The Psychology of Influence Course

Frequently Asked Questions

The Centre for Continuing Education provides answers to common questions about applications, payment, short courses, and more.