Course Description
This course builds upon a foundation of basic communication and helping skills , enabling students to effectively provide advanced leisure counselling services. A focus is on reflective practice in developing oneself into a resilient practitioner. Application of therapeutic recreation assessment practices will set the foundation for students to provide leisure counselling services for both individuals and groups in therapeutic recreation and health promotion settings.
Course Content
Professional Behaviour
- Values, ethics and ethical conduct
- Competence
- Confidentiality; informed practice
- Self-reflective practice
- Resiliency
- Compassion fatigue
Relationship Building Skills
- Observational skills
- Active listening skills: attending, paraphrasing, empathy, questions, summary, self-disclosure
- Cycle of caring
- Relationship building
Leisure Counselling
- Definitions, models and theories, leisure counselling
- Application of leisure counselling techniques
- Application of Therapeutic Recreation in clinical and community settings
- Trauma-informed practice
Empowerment Skills
- Strengths/assets focus
- Supporting, empowering
Challenge Skills
- Advanced empathy, reframing
- Helper self-disclosure
Confrontation skills
Goal setting and WRAP action planning
- Wellness Recovery Action Plan
- Client empowerment
Diversity Counselling
- Clients with challenging behaviours
- Cultural awareness
- Equity, diversity and inclusion
Group Counselling and Therapeutic Recreation
- Assessing, facilitation and evaluating leisure counselling groups
Therapeutic Recreation Assessment
- Application of assessment skills within a leisure counselling context
Learning Activities
In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as lecture, small group discussions, case studies, role play, practice counselling sessions, and video and audio recording
Means of Assessment
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course. This is a graded course.
Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of:
- Written reports
- Presentations
- Testing
- Audio Visual assignments
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate professional behaviour; specifically ethics, confidentiality and self-awareness;
- demonstrate active listening and relationship building skills;
- demonstrate the effective use of challenge skills;
- demonstrate skills in empowerment, including goal setting and action planning;
- describe methods for responding to the diverse needs, abilities, and experiences of clients;
- integrate theories of leisure and counselling into a practice of leisure counselling;
- describe the theories, models, interventions and service of leisure counselling;
- apply theory of group process to the facilitation and evaluation of a leisure counselling group.
Textbook Materials
Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester.