I finally completed the last day of the certification course on basic practical counseling this afternoon, and boy – has it been utterly draining! Not in the physical sense, but learning the procedures for counseling and suicide assessment intervention, the underlining principles involved and also of the many case incidents shared has on one hand been really illuminating, has also been at times both shocking and sobering to the point that you start feeling pretty inadequate with what your meager skills can offer.
I’ll be reflecting on the lessons learned and experiences shared in the coming days and maybe writing a post or two more of my experiences in the course – but not at the moment as the mind’s pretty much saturated.
The one comfort each evening has still been getting home and or going out with dinner as a small family. Hannah was in a pretty chirpy mood when I met her and Ling for dinner at Hougang Mall. We didn’t bring along a camera, so the Samsung Galaxy S phone camera had to do:
Yeah – decent pictures of Hannah and Daddy for a change.:)
Hellos! I am Ms Tay’s ex-student.
Nice pics of you and Hannah,hee I am a big fan of ur blog,with pics and stories of Hannah never failing to make me happy :)
Anyways,can I ask, can anyone take the basic counselling certification course? How long is it and what are the fees like?
Thanks a lot!
Hi Jin Ju,
Yes of course I know you from your visits to our home earlier this year.:)
I think the basic practical counseling certificate course I was in was a specifically designed program for teaching staff at my Poly, so I’m not sure if it’s offered to the general public. The agency that my Poly contacted to organize and host the training was the Academy of Human Development, but the instructor was external and a senior counselor from Fei Yue Family Welfare Services.
AHD however also offers a lot of short courses in counseling and social work. E.g. the one that my instructor does is in Suicide Assessment and Intervention (http://www.ahd.com.sg/index.cfm?GPID=81). There are also other short courses there; one of them might be the one you’re looking for.:)
Thank You! I will look out for them! :)