Course Outline
COU100 Counselling for Addiction Disorders
Course Coordinator:Trudi Flynn (tflynn@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
2026Trimester 2
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
In this foundational course, student counsellors will learn the contemporary theories and frameworks that inform therapeutic understanding of Addiction Disorders. Included will be biopsychosocial and trauma informed models of addiction, the lived experience of addiction, factors of treatment readiness, and harm reduction approaches. There will be an applied skills focus on assessment and therapeutic case formulation in addiction disorders.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Weekly 1 hour online learning activities, delivered asynchronously, delivering curricula to meet learning objectives for each week. To include recorded lectures, you tube clips, websites, and interactive activities. | 1hr | Week 1 | 11 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Weekly 2 hour on campus tutorials that consolidate the weekly learning objectives and practice relevant skills. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 11 times |
Course Topics
Introduction to Addiction Disorders
The Biopsychosocial model of Addiction Disorders
A trauma informed understanding of Addiction Disorders
Addiction and Family
Culture and Diversity in Addiction
Treatment Frameworks in Addiction: An Overview
Screening and Assessment in Addiction Disorders
Case Formulation in Addiction Disorders
Stages of Change and Motivational Interviewing
The Recovery Model in Addiction
Mature Content
What level is this course?
100 Level (Introductory)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Comprehend contemporary theoretical models of substance and behavioural addictions | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Reflect on connections between theory and lived experience (case studies) in addiction disorders |
Knowledgeable Engaged |
| 3 | Demonstrate assessment and case formulation for addiction disorders | Empowered |
| 4 | Consider addiction factors in diverse populations | Ethical |
| 5 | Understand the principles of Harm Minimisation in addiction disorders |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
| 6 | Demonstrate academic integrity skills | Ethical |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
Not applicable
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
Not applicable
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
Students will be engaging in weekly practice quizzes leading up to Task 1 online quiz, in Week 5.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Activity Participation | Individual | 10% | Course duration |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | In Class |
| All | 2 | Quiz/zes | Individual | 20% | 70 minutes / 40 multiple choice questions. |
Week 5 | Online Submission |
| All | 3 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 35% | 12 Minutes duration; 8-12 slides |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 4 | Report | Individual | 35% | 2000 word report |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Participation | |||||||
| Goal: | Students will participate for a minimum of 80% of their on-campus tutorials. Failure to meet the minimum participation requirements will result in a failed grade for this task. |
||||||
| Product: | Activity Participation | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Tutor to assess and record participation each week. |
||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||
| Generic Skills: | |||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Online Quiz | ||||||||||
| Goal: | To assess students comprehension of the historical, political, and social aspects of addiction |
|||||||||
| Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||
| Format: | Students will be notified of a dated test window during which they will be able to access the online quiz in canvas. When open, students will have 60 minutes (+10 minutes reading time) to complete 40 multiple choice questions related to content covered during weeks 1-4 of the semester. |
|||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
|||||||||
| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
|||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 3:Learning Progress Portfolio | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | The learning progress portfolio invites students to consider theories of addiction explored within the course, alongside significant moments of personal learning, in order to map their evolving therapeutic understanding of addiction. |
||||||||||||
| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | The portfolio is comprised of four parts: i) a theoretical concept map, ii) a reflection on the contribution of lived experience narratives in counsellor education in addiction, iii) a reflection on emergent personal insights, and iv) a consideration of how this integrated learning may inform a developing therapeutic stance in relation to addiction. Students will prepare and submit their portfolio in the form of a narrated powerpoint presentation, that will be exported to an MP4 format for submission online. It will be a requirement of submission that the students utilise a 'talking head' style of narration, in which the presenting student is visible in an inset screen as they narrate the powerpoint, ensuring identifiability of the presenter. Students will also submit a referenced narration of their presentation utilising a provided template, demonstrating scholarly writing and academic integrity skills. |
||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | Communication, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 4:Assessment and Case Formulation in Addiction | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Demonstrate capacity in addiction-oriented assessment and case formulation. |
|||||||||||||||
| Product: | Report | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | A written report, comprised of three components, developed in response to a selected case study: i) an addiction-oriented biopsychosocial assessment, that incorporates the WHO ASSIST (Hemeniuk et al, 2010) tool; ii) a congruent case formulation; and iii) specification of addiction-oriented therapeutic priorities. |
|||||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
|||||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
|||||||||||||||
Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Specific requirements
Not applicable
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: