Counselling Placements

Students enrolled in the Graduate Diploma Counselling or the Master of Counselling can elect to undertake a WIL unit HSCS441 Field Placement and Supervision.

This unit is a year-long unit of study. Students electing this unit are reminded to follow their approved study plan when enrolling.

This year-long unit requires students to undertake a 200hr clinical placement. Successful completion of this unit will require students to complete 40 hours of face to client contact as well as 10hours of supervision.

Students are required to meet the Inherent requirements of this degree as well as successfully meet a number of pre-placement requirements. Further specific information in relation to the field placement requirements is found in the unit handbook.

ALL students are advised that there are several mandatory requirements that must be met. These include a current Working with Children Check and a National Criminal History Check;

Working with children check

Evidence of a current Working with Children Check or equivalent valid in the state they will attend placement. This must remain current for the duration of their enrolment in the course.

Further information on applying for a check can be found as follows:

• ACT
• NSW
• QLD
• NT
• SA
• WA

National Criminal History Check

Students must have a National History Criminal check undertaken prior to attending any clinical placement, the check must be accepted in the State or Territory the placement is undertaken. Each state and territory in Australia accepts varying checks depending on the location and type of placement being undertaken, to avoid issues with your placement UNE recommends the following online checks:

• A NSW Police Check OR;
• A Federal Australian Police Check for those students based outside of NSW

Students must also submit a placement proposal for approval by the unit coordinator. Once approved a UNE Student placement agreement is to be signed by the placement host organisation and UNE. Further information on this part of the placement process is available in the Unit handbook or by contacting the Unit Coordinator.

Students planning to undertake their placement in a public health facility must be able to meet NSW Health immunisation and Criminal history check requirements, as these requirements can take 6mths to complete students interested in this pathway MUST indicate this to the unit coordinator when choosing this unit. Further information on meeting these requirements can be found online through the NSW Health HETI website.

Placement organisation

Students are responsible for sourcing a placement organisation. Students may attend placement at more than one site.

This site MUST then be approved by the unit coordinator.

To obtain approval students must submit a proposed placement application, if successful they will be provided with a Student Placement Agreement to have signed by the host agency and returned to the Counselling team. This agreement must be fully executed by both parties before a placement can commence.

Placements not approved by the unit coordinator will not count towards successful completion of the unit.

Whilst students do negotiate their own placement, the unit coordinator does have a list of previous sites students can request to access.

During placement, students must meet the requirements of the placement as outlined in the unit information.

Further information on counselling placement options can be found by contacting the team via AskUNE OR counsellingplacement@une.edu.au