Course Coordinator:Trudi Flynn (tflynn@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
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 usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course examines the definitions and practices of mindfulness-based therapies, and their role in counselling. The course will focus on empirically supported clinical interventions across a wide range of populations, with attention given to the conduct of group work for therapeutic benefit. Mindfulness will be explored as a means of fostering self-care and growth as a counselling professional. The course will be both knowledge-based and experiential, as you will learn and apply a variety of mindfulness-based practices.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus workshop - 3 hours | 3hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
Origins, Principles and Practices of Mindfulness;
Self-Compassion as a Foundation for Mindfulness Practice;
Developing Therapeutic Presence ;
Mindfulness and the Critical Self;
Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Program (MBCT) I & II ;
Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and the Somatic Approaches;
Mindfulness and the Creative Arts Therapies;
Therapeutic Group Work and Design I & II;
Mindfulness-based Group Work;
Mindfulness with Children;
[Adult themes across all topics]
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
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 | Demonstrate critical understanding and analysis of the research-based evidence for mindfulness interventions in counselling and psychotherapy. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
2 | Reflect critically on your own values, attitudes and beliefs in relation to the use of mindfulness practices for yourself and with your clients. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
3 | Synthesise and evaluate the body of research on particular aspects of mindfulness practice and its use in mental health. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
4 | Apply a mindfulness based intervention as self-care in your counsellor trainee role. |
Knowledgeable Empowered Engaged |
5 | Create a mindfulness-based intervention for an identified group of clients. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Empowered Engaged |
6 | Demonstrate understanding of the ethical responsibilities and professional requirements which underpin mindfulness-based interventions. |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
7 | Demonstrate a developing scholarly capacity in written submissions, incorporating clarity of written expression, integration of academic literature, and adherence to APA style. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Engaged |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Enrolled in Program AR708
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include extended discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.
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 | Journal | Individual | 0% | 250 words |
Week 3 | Online Submission |
All | 2 | Essay | Individual | 30% | 2250 words |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Plan | Group | 40% | 2500 words |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 4 | Oral | Individual | 30% | 15 Minute presentation |
Refer to Format | In Class |
All - Assessment Task 1:Mindful Practice Logbook Reflection | |||||||
Goal: | To establish and document a daily mindfulness practice. To articulate new knowing emerging from this commencing practice. |
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Product: | Journal | ||||||
Format: | At the commencement of the course, you will be invited to develop an ongoing daily mindfulness practice. You will be requested to document your practice utilising a provided Mindfulness Log. In Week Three you will be invited to submit a reflective statement articulating your experience of your commencing practice. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Applying technologies |
All - Assessment Task 2:Literature Review | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate a scholarly approach to your learning through critical analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the research literature relating to a specific area of mindfulness intervention in counselling and psychotherapy. |
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Product: | Essay | |||||||||||||||
Format: | Prepare a 2250 word literature review on a selected area of mindfulness based intervention in mental health and counselling (e.g. depression, stress, illness and pain), with an identified population (e.g. children, elderly, special needs, women/men, chronic health condition, cultural group). Demonstrate a scholarly approach through critical analysis, synthesis and evaluation of the research literature. See Canvas for further details. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Organisation, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Mindfulness-based group intervention therapeutic plan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | Create a 6 or 8 week mindfulness-based intervention plan for a specific population group. |
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Product: | Plan | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format: | You will work in pairs to create a detailed outline for a mindfulness-based intervention program for a group of choice. Your 2,500 word plan needs to include: a description of the population group; a needs assessment of this group; a scholarly rationale for the program, a description of the program goals, a session plan for each week of the program; a time frame; a resources list, and a budget. See Canvas for further details. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
All - Assessment Task 4:Illustrated self-reflective journal summary class presentation | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To develop and demonstrate your ability to critically self-reflect on your experience of applying mindfulness based interventions in your own life, providing visual evidence of reflection on your mindfulness efforts, in the form of an oral presentation. |
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Product: | Oral | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Submit: Weeks 12 and 13. You will use the entries made into your journal as the basis for this summary, and conclude with advice for others beginning to use mindfulness. This individual task will build on the mindfulness practices that you will have learnt and practiced in class. You will accompany the summary with illustrations (hand-drawn, photographic, collage, etc.) that evidence your reflective process. See further details on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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.
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.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | Christopher Germer,Ronald D. Siegel,Paul R. Fulton | 2016 | Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, Second Edition | 2 | Guilford Publications |
Nil
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.
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct.
Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: - 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. - A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
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