In this section you will learn to:
- Access and review information on current and emerging industry developments and use these to improve practice
- Assess and confirm own practice against ethical and legal requirements and opportunities
- Identify and engage with opportunities to extend and expand own expertise
- Regularly participate in review processes as a commitment to upgrading skills and knowledge
Supplementary materials relevant to this section:
- Reading F: CPD in Health and Social Care
- Reading G: Continuing to Learn
The final section of this module, is aimed at providing you with the skills and knowledge to enable you to facilitate your professional development. We will begin by exploring professional development and the processes involved. You will also learn about ways that you can connect with the industry to keep your practice up to date with industry developments and methods you can use to assess your practice against legal and ethical requirements.
Professional development is the process of continuous learning and training to update your skills and knowledge. Professional development can be completed independently through self-learning (some strategies will be provided later) or it can be completed through formal training.
As professional activity is so complex, the more discussion there is around practice and capability, the better. Talking about practice, especially within a culture of learning, helps us to become more aware of particular aspects or nuances of professional thinking, decision-making and action. The development of professional expertise is said to come from building up a bank of experience and range of examples, which are then used to help form strategies for dealing with new experiences. It is not about repeatedly following prescribed routines or having a stock of procedures which are then retrieved and rigidly followed. Your expertise and confidence comes from continually creating 'new' practice to fit situations and continually learning from this, with the latter benefitting from shared reflection, exploration and feedback (Boshuizen et al., 2004).
(Rutter, 2013)
When you work for a counselling organisation, a range of opportunities may be available for professional development, often referred to as Continuing Professional Development (CPD) or Ongoing Professional Development (OPD). Although most counsellors do not have a specific professional obligation to maintain a registration with a governing body like professionals such as social workers do, those who are registered with a professional body are typically required to demonstrate a certain amount of ongoing professional development to maintain their membership. Professional development is now an expected part of the profession and is strongly encouraged, as is indicated by the following extract taken from Australian Community Workers Association’s (ACWA) practice guidelines.
Guideline 7 Professional Development
The education of a community work practitioner does not cease upon graduation. It is incumbent on the community worker to undertake relevant professional development throughout her or his career to ensure their knowledge remains current and informs their everyday practice. Indicators To comply with the intent of this guideline a community work practitioner will be required to:
- Identify skill and knowledge gaps and remedy through training, supervision or other means.
- Seek appropriate professional support, mentoring or advice to address personal and professional limitations.
- Critically analyse the profession, human service agencies and organisations, and social institutions in all aspects of the community work role.
- Acknowledge personal responsibility and accountability for actions, decisions and professional development.
- Increase new knowledge and information about the profession, the sector or areas of practice through active engagement with research and enquiry.
- Keep abreast of current research, models of practice, and theory.
- Supervise students, staff and volunteers in an ethical manner and from an appropriately qualified knowledge base.
- Share information and knowledge with colleagues.
(ACWA, 2017, p. 9)
Professional development is widely recognised as a necessary component of effective practice and is strongly encouraged. Most organisations respect the importance of professional development and will provide professional development opportunities to their counsellors. Many organisations have structured training and development activities and will include staff training in their budget. Training may require staff to attend a training venue with external trainers or may be completed ‘in-house’ by either fellow staff members or trainers that have been brought in from an external training organisation. For example, a mental health agency may organise for a specialist in cultural mental health issues to attend the workplace to train staff on how to be aware of cultural issues involved in working with certain groups.
Some organisations will have professional development opportunities that you are strongly encouraged to attend. For example, if some of your work involves working with at-risk children and families, you may be encouraged to train in family-centred practice, child and adolescent development, or child sexual abuse. It is your responsibility to follow the prescribed professional development activities of the organisation you work for. Depending on the organisation, there may be a wide range of development opportunities that focus on topics such as:
- Crisis intervention skills
- Case management practice for specific client groups
- Cultural and diversity awareness
- Different theoretical practices and skills, such as trauma informed practice, or the strengths-based approach
- Dealing with difficult or challenging behaviour
- Workplace health and safety
- Specific organisational training on procedures regarding the recording of information, referrals and privacy.
It is a good idea to ask about professional development opportunities when you attend an interview for a position. The interviewers should be able to provide an outline of what professional development you will be required to participate in and what opportunities you would be expected to follow up yourself. This information should be reinforced and expanded upon when you accept a position and undertake the organisational induction process. If you are in doubt about the professional development activities available at your workplace, make sure you take a proactive approach and ask your supervisor or other relevant staff.
Read
Reading F – CPD in Health and Social Care provides an overview about continuous professional development in the health and social care sector. Specifically, this reading discusses the importance and benefits of CPD and learning as a practising worker, including the different principles that you, your employer, and the wider system are expected to uphold.
Read
Reading G – Continuing to Learn looks at the how workers in the community services sectors could continue to learn when throughout their practising journey. This includes looking at professional development and field and professional supervision.
Participation in Review Mechanisms
In addition to training, you may be required to undertake regular performance appraisals to ensure that you are meeting your job specifications and other organisational requirements. This is known as a performance appraisal. Performance appraisals provide an opportunity for both employees and their manager/supervisor to discuss the employee’s work and to plan for future development.
The purpose of performance appraisals is to:
- Provide feedback on individual performance
- Help and support the employee
- Assess training and development needs
- Discuss career opportunities within the organisation
- Establish goals that contribute to the employee’s development as well as meeting organisational objectives.
Performance appraisals help employees to:
- Develop a clear understanding of what is expected of them
- Recognise their strengths as a counsellor and areas where they may need development
- Promote a solid relationship with their manager or supervisor.
To prepare for a performance appraisal, employees should consider areas where they are having difficulties, as well as their perceived strengths. Commitment to upgrading skills and knowledge can be demonstrated by undertaking regular appraisals, participating in supervision sessions, and being involved in various peer review activities, such as peer discussion or feedback groups.
Other ways that employees can demonstrate or express their interest in broadening their skills include:
- Participating in work-based projects such as reviewing policies, rewriting procedures, developing user surveys
- Undertaking job exchanges
- Preparing presentations for meetings
- Networking with other organisations to share professional development opportunities
- Engaging in reflective practice
- Attending relevant training provided by the organisation they work for
- Organising visits to other services to learn about what they do and how they do it
Case Study
Taliyah works as a counsellor for an organisation that provides counselling services and other supports to older people in the community. As part of her employment contract, she gets a small pay rise on an annual basis as long as she participates in an annual performance appraisal and can demonstrate her professional development.
Her organisation became very busy and she was almost past the 12 month mark since she last completed a performance appraisal. She took the initiative and booked in a time with her manager. She went to the meeting very well prepared, they discussed her progress over the last year and she had developed a new set of goals for the following 12 months.
Reflect
In the case study above, Taliyah had to be proactive about her professional development to get her raise. How do you feel about being proactive in your professional development? Have you ever held a role where professional development was an important component?
As a profession, counselling is evolving rapidly with many opportunities opening up for skilled and flexible practitioners. You can make sure that they keep up with the latest industry developments by joining a professional organisation, attending conferences and workshops, joining online forums in areas of interest, reading current professional journals, and networking with other professionals.
Supervisors and colleagues are an important source of information regarding the latest industry developments. Attending external training sessions, conferences and workshops are also important ways for counsellors to network with others in their field, gain a wider perspective on their work, and learn about current issues in the industry. However, conferences and workshops can be expensive, and they are not the only options available for learning about the latest developments in counselling.
You can also take the initiative to find ways of keeping up to date with the latest developments. There is a wide variety of resources and information available either online or in the community. These include:
- The Internet. Many government and non-government organisations provide their research, resources, and reports online to the public. There are also online journals, professional reading material, industry forums and newsletters.
- Podcasts and videos. There are a range of podcasts and videos that are available on relevant counselling issues and can be done while walking, driving, commuting or exercising.
Additionally, watching presentations or lectures by industry professionals is another way to keep up to date with the latest theory or research. TED is a non-profit global community that offers free, short and powerful talks on almost any topic but often covers information on social issues (https://www.ted.com/). - E-Learning. Many helping professionals like to engage in e-learning in their spare time. For example, the Salvation Army offers free online training courses in suicide prevention (http://suicideprevention.salvos.org.au/), or Reconciliation Australia has developed a website so people can get a glimpse into the lives and culture of Indigenous Australians (http://shareourpride.reconciliation.org.au/).
- Developing and maintaining professional networks. Becoming involved in professional networks is a useful way of staying up to date with changes within the industry and will provide you with a support system of knowledgeable professionals. In addition to being a member of the Australian Counselling Association, there are several ACA Professional Colleges that can provide this sort of professional association. They include the colleges of:
- Alcohol & Other Drugs
- Family Therapy
- Grief & Loss
- Counselling Supervisors
- Counselling Hypnotherapy
- Creative Arts Therapies
- Some Australian states also have their own counselling associations:
- Queensland Counsellors Association: http://qca.asn.au/
- Counsellors Victoria: http://www.counsellorsvictoria.asn.au/
- Undertaking further study. Many counsellors choose to upgrade their knowledge, skills, and qualifications by undertaking further study such as an Advanced Diploma or Bachelor qualification.
- Participating in mentoring and coaching programs. Having a mentor or professional coach can enable counsellors to hone their knowledge and skills and stay abreast of changes in the industry.
Reflect
How do you think you would like to keep up to date with the industry? Would you enjoy listening to podcasts? Or perhaps you would prefer to take a more interactive approach and join a forum? Professional development should be interesting, so it can be worthwhile in participating in a professional activity that suits you.
Case Study
Mordecai works for an alcohol and other drugs support service. As an employee, he has access to a host of online databases that offer the latest articles and papers on alcohol and other drugs treatments and research. When he commenced the role, he signed up for a weekly journal article to be sent to his work email. Initially, he would set aside time to read the article. However lately, he has felt too busy to read them. He simply puts the articles into an archived folder. Mordecai feels bad about this and, as the unread articles pile up, he feels worse and worse.
He decides to talk to his supervisor about it and how he has good intentions of keeping up to date with research and he is interested in it, but that he feels like he doesn’t have the time or energy to read even one article per week. His supervisor suggests that Mordecai download podcasts onto his phone and provided a couple of websites that offered these. The podcasts are interesting, engaging, and often on very topical. Since then, Mordecai often listen to podcasts on the train home from work every evening. He finds it both relaxing and an important opportunity to increase his professional knowledge.
As the case study highlights, finding a way of keeping up to date with industry developments that works for you is important. In this way, counsellors will be aware of any changes the industry might be going through, such as the development of new ethical standards or research on changes to best practice.
Counsellors should keep abreast of changes in the field and emerging industry developments. The following extract is from a report called “Forecasting the Future: Community Services in Queensland 2025”. It highlights emerging trends in the industry and likely future developments. While it is focused on Queensland, these same trends are applicable to other states and territories in Australia.
The Community Services Industry is undergoing a major structural transition. This transition is, in part, driven by the mismatch between investment in responding to social issues, and the progress that is required to improve them. Therein also lies an opportunity to rewrite the narrative about the Industry to focus on not only the social contribution, but the Industry’s economic contribution. Through Industry inputs and outputs, as well as Industry outcomes such as increased social and economic participation, the Community Services Industry has a role to play in economic growth and social prosperity across the State.
Government investment in community services is unlikely to be able to keep pace with growing demand. This will drive organisations to seek diversified revenue and funding sources, and find new ways of delivering services and meeting client needs, manifesting itself in a number of implications for the Industry.
Investors in service provision, whether they be the Government, private partners, consumers, or organisations themselves, will be seeking better value for money and return on investment. Insufficient collection of, and access to, appropriate and accurate data will limit the ability for Government and other organisations to strategically plan and evaluate programs.
Policy and funding model directions towards client choice, value for money and social impact investments are likely to generate a more competitive environment. This will create an imperative for providers to become more efficient through innovative solutions, and to demonstrate the impact and outcomes of their service. At the same time, the imperative to provide integrated services and place-based responses will lead organisations to establish more formal joint ventures and enterprise cooperatives to better meet client and community needs.
The number of organisations may reduce over the forecast period by way of partnerships, joint ventures, consolidation, mergers and acquisitions. In addition, there may also be some cases of financial failure or withdrawal from the market as a result of lack of demand for service offerings. There are also likely to be new entrants to the market, including social entrepreneurs, digital solution providers, social enterprises and new service models that leverage existing assets or capture consumer demand in new and innovative ways.
With increasing demand for services comes increasing demand for workers to enter the sector. The Industry will need strategies in place to compete with other skilled sectors in attracting and retaining the right talent in an increasingly competitive labour market. It may also find itself competing internally across service areas for the skilled workforce it needs. This challenge is amplified by the profile of the current workforce, with the prospect of the replacement of a high proportion of the workforce as they reach retirement over the next ten years.
Readiness to adapt and invest in technology will be important to the Industry to continue to meet the needs of clients and communities, and enable prioritisation of human resources in areas of service that necessitate human contact. The current skills profile of the workforce will need to adjust to meet future needs of the Industry to address skills shortages in growing areas of need such as data management and analysis, outcome measurement, ability to adopt digital solutions, and finance and business acumen.
Current cost breakdown of the Industry indicates small profit margins, which limits the capacity to invest in systems and infrastructure to improve service provision. This highlights the need to seek alternative sources of capital.
In considering the implications of the future direction of the Industry, and the context in which it will operate, desired future states in seven key domains have been identified alongside key success imperatives to enable the Industry to realise these future states.
These domains are based on research and evidence regarding national and international trends in the Community Services Industry, as well as other industries transforming the way they meet the needs of clients:
- Outcomes focus – approaching service planning and provision of services based on the desired end state for the client or community;
- Research and innovation – the process of systematically investigating and studying new materials and methods (research), and the process of applying these materials and methods to improve products and processes (innovation);
- Digital disruption – the impact of digital innovation, including advances in computing, networks and devices, and the capabilities they hold;
- Funding and financing – the mechanisms by which services are commissioned and paid for, by private investors, Government, and clients;
- Productivity – focus on the efficient delivery of goods and services to achieve the desired outcome;
- Collaboration and cooperation – partnerships and collaborative models within the Industry, with other businesses, institutions, investors, clients and communities; and
- Policy and regulation – principles, plans and courses of action developed by Government to enable or discourage certain behaviours of individuals, communities and industries.in the same circumstances that occurred during the actual traumas they experienced.
(Deloitte Access Economics, 2016, pp. 21-23)
One of the steps to becoming a reflective counsellor is having the ability to assess your practice and understand whether you are fulfilling the requirements of your clients, your organisation, and your ethical and legal obligations. As a counsellor, you should always be mindful of adhering to service objectives and the ethical standards of your profession to provide an accountable service based on best practice. You must ensure you are aware of your organisation’s policies, plans, and procedures and be able to prove that you understand and are implementing them.
Counsellors should also be aware of the latest research and legal developments in their field and refer to evidence-based research. This can be done by keeping up to date with current professional literature and attending workshops and conferences that focus on the latest research findings. Ongoing research leads to what is commonly referred to as evidence-based practice, which indicates that certain practices or methods have empirical or practical evidence to support their effectiveness.
Counsellors and other professionals also use codes of ethics, practice, and conduct to guide their professional conduct and help them make ethical decisions in their daily practice. Many organisations have their own codes of ethics. The extract below is taken from the ACWA code of ethics. It highlights the importance of continuing education in the profession as an ethical responsibility.
Protecting the Reputation of the Profession
The community worker will:
- maintain, through ongoing education and training, the standards required for exemplary and contemporary practice
- address in a timely manner and through an appropriate channel any behaviour in a colleague or an employer that is either incompatible with this code, or impinges on the rights of clients and their families, or contravenes the law
- seek advice when unsure of a course of action and make informed decisions
- participate in any complaint process if a public complaint is brought against them
- distinguish in public statements, for example on social media, whether acting as an authorised spokesperson of their organisation or in a private capacity
- respect the rights and legal protections of others
- act responsibly in the expenditure of public monies
- disclose any improper relationship between a colleague and client
- meet the expectations of this code and the practice standards at all times.
(ACWA, 2017, p. 4)
As previously mentioned, although there is not a requirement for registration in counselling, most organisations will expect their employees to maintain their knowledge and skills in the industry.
Methods for Assessing Practice
Increasingly, counsellors are being expected to not only use practices that are supported by evidence, and which adhere to service objectives and professional ethics, but also demonstrate that their practice meets service objectives and professional ethics. Some of the sources of information that can be drawn from to prove these points include:
- Client case notes
- Practice and self-reflection journals
- Client feedback forms
- Supervisor’s reports
- Peer reviews
- Client outcomes
- Policies and practices regarding confidentiality, record keeping, etc.
- Records of professional development undertaken
It can also be useful for counsellors to include clients in the evaluation process. By doing this, you can ensure that you are sticking to the identified objectives of both the client and the organisation you work for as well as checking for appropriate ethical practice.
Reflect
Have you ever experienced an ethical or legal dilemma? How did you manage? Do you believe that ongoing assessment of your practice against an ethical code would help?
Counselling Skills: Practice and Reflections
In this video, the professional counsellor provides a role-play with a client, and he intersperses his own reflective comments as a counsellor. It provides an excellent insight on counselling and reflective practice. An excellent way to end this module!
In this section, you have learned about different processes that can enable you to continue your professional development. Once you are working as a counsellor, you need to ensure that you take an active role in your professional development to continue to develop as a practitioner and build upon your skills and knowledge.
The counselling field is an ever-changing landscape. It may be up to you to prioritise your own learning and growth and keep up to date with the latest policy and research to allow you to be the best practitioner you can be while ensuring that your practice is legally and ethically compliant. Please keep this in mind as you progress in your career.
Best of luck in your future endeavours and congratulations for completing the content for the Diploma of Counselling!
Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA). (2017, February). Australian community workers ethics and good practice guide. https://www.acwa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ACWA-Ethics-and-good-practice-guide-1.pdf
Deloitte Access Economics. (2016). Forecasting the future: Community services in Queensland 2025. Community Services Alliance. Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability. Retrieved from https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/resources/reform-renewal/social-investment/forecasting-the-future-community-services-in-qld-2025-summary-report.pdf
Rutter, L. (2013). Continuing professional develop in social care. London, UK: SAGE.
