Alive Community Education Centre

We are registering students for our upcoming modules - Grief & Crisis Counselling, Counselling Practice & Solution-Oriented Counselling as described below in July. This is part of the courses leading to either the Diploma or Advanced Diploma in Counselling.

This programme and activities of the network were featured in the Straits Times on 14 April 2007. You may view a cutting of the article at <http://www.alivecommunity.net/network/testimonials/>

Our Advanced Diploma is a programme recognised as leading to professional membership with the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). ACA is an association of over 2500 professional counselors which has international standing and accredits counselling training programmes. For more details about ACA, do look at their website <http://www.theaca.net.au/>

Interested participants are welcome to join the programme at the start of these new modules to earn the diplomas. Individuals who are interested in learning counselling skills but are not interested in pursuing a formal diploma programme can enrol as audit students at a lower fee of $150 per module.
Our online brochures & application forms can be downloaded at <http://www.alivecommunity.net/education/counselling-program/>

Just submit your application form, together with a copy of your NRIC/Passport & a deposit of $100 (Credit students)/ $50 (Audit students) upon registration.

(1) Module Title: Grief and Crisis Counselling

Module Description:

People are most likely to ask for help, and possibly need it the most when they are undergoing a crisis. Such crises may include the death of a loved one, being told that you have a terminal disease, being fired from a job or the announcement of a divorce. How can the helper effectively deal with individuals who have experienced loss or who are set with a crises where the only solution they see is to end their life?

This course focuses on the theory and practice of crisis and grief counselling. Emphasis is on dealing with developmental and situational crises through various brief therapy interventions. Students will learn the basics of coping with suicidal individuals, those who are going through trauma and those in various stages of grief. As part of the course, students will be encouraged to consider the reality of their own mortality and come to grips with this reality.

Commencement Date: Saturday mornings, 930 am to 1230 pm

(2) Module Title: Counseling Practice

Module Description:

This module deals with providing an introduction to the role of the counselor and how he or she is able to meaningfully help individuals. Fundamental in this course will be exercises to develop personal self awareness and the ability to communicate in a sensitive manner to clients. Students will gain awareness on how their own personal values and background affect the counseling interaction. The student will learn how to conduct a counseling session including skills to engage the client, to provide intervention strategies and to monitor progress.

Commencement Date: Tuesday nights, 7pm to 10pm from 24 July to 16 October 2007

(3) Module Title: Solution-Oriented Counselling

Solution Oriented Counselling is an approach that focuses on eliciting strengths and solutions from people who seek counselling. It derives from the tradition of family therapy and the work of Dr. Milton H. Erickson and reflects the growing trend toward a more cooperative and respectful approach in the therapeutic setting. Sophisticated change-oriented language patterns are taught, demonstrated and practiced until finally naturally incorporated by the student. With its goal focus and relatively brief treatment length, this therapy is especially appropriate for any counseling context.

Commencement Date: Wednesday nights, 7pm to 10pm from 25 July to 17 October

Venue: Alive Community Network, Training Room, 291 New Bridge Road, #02-12 Oriental Plaza
(opposite Pearl Centre, 5 mins walk from Outram MRT station)

Course Fees: $550 is payable in 3 monthly installments.
Note: Staff and volunteers from NCSS Member VWOs are eligible for the 50% NCSS Pre-approved Training Grant for both the diploma programmes. Church staff and leaders involved in counselling can apply for special subsidies up to 40% from Alive Community Network.

Contact details:
Bobby Mathew, Course Facilitator email mathew@alivecommunity.net
Mei Cheng, Program Administrator at 63235393 or email to learning@alivecommunity.net

Course instructors for above modules:

(1) Ms Jeannie Koh, MA

Jeannie Koh received her MA in Community Counselling from Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, in 1993, where she also received a professional counselling license (State of Michigan). She was also certified with the National Board of Certified Counsellors (U.S.). Her specialisation is in grief and loss, crisis and trauma, and transitions.

She has since led and revamped a counselling service where she initiated and spearheaded mental health crisis frameworks for a large educational institution; served as a child, adolescent and family therapist for a multi-national organisation; worked in a residential community for developmentally disabled adults (Toronto, Canada); provided crisis counselling for a crisis centre (Detroit, Michigan); and was a counsellor with a hospice (Ann Arbor, Michigan). She also serves as consultant, trainer and mentor to various organisations regionally including churches and Christian organizations.

(2) Mr. Joachim Lee, MSocSc

Joachim has a Bachelor of Theology from Melbourne School of Theology and a Masters in Counselling from University of South Australia. He has pursued additional training and certification in Solution Oriented therapy, Yungian therapy and Gambling and Addictions counselling. Joachim had many years of counselling students at the NUS counselling centre where he was Senior Counsellor He was also responsible for both counselling services and ensures the ongoing training of the counsellors at the centre. Recently, he has been supervising and counselling at the Tampines Family Service Centre as a Director of the centre. Joachim is a Certified Clinical Supervisor.

(3) Mr. Wilson Phang, MSW

Wilson Phang received his BA in Psychology from Biola University, California, his MSW(Clinical Practice) from San Francisco State University and his MA(Family Studies) at Mutnomah Biblical Seminary. He holds certification as a mental health specialist, a child mental health specialist and a developmental disabilities mental health specialist by the State Board of Washington. Wilson moved from the US to practice in Singapore and has held various teaching positions including lecturer at East Asia School of Theology and adjunct lecturer at counselling programmes at Nanyang Technological University.

We will be glad to answer your queries!

God bless,
Mei Cheng
Program Administrator
Alive Community Education Centre
DID: 6372 1053/ 6323 5393/ 9475 1721
Email: learning@alivecommunity.net

Module Title: Grief and Crisis Counselling

Module Description:
People are most likely to ask for help, and possibly need it the most when they are undergoing a crisis. Such crises may include the death of a loved one, being told that you have a terminal disease, being fired from a job or the announcement of a divorce. How can the helper effectively deal with individuals who have experienced loss or who are set with a crises where the only solution they see is to end their life? This course focuses on the theory and practice of crisis and grief counselling. Emphasis is on dealing with developmental and situational crises through various brief therapy interventions.

Students will learn the basics of coping with suicidal individuals, those who are going through trauma and those in various stages of grief. As part of the course, students will be encouraged to consider the reality of their own mortality and come to grips with this reality.

Course instructors: Ms Jeannie Koh, MA and Mr. Joachim Lee, MSocSc
Ms Jeannie Koh received her MA in Community Counselling from Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, in 1993, where she also received a professional counselling license (State of Michigan). She was also certified with the National Board of Certified Counsellors (U.S.). Her specialisation is in grief and loss, crisis and trauma, and transitions. She has since led and revamped a counselling service where she initiated and spearheaded mental health crisis frameworks for a large educational institution; served as a child, adolescent and family therapist for a multi-national organisation; worked in a residential community for developmentally disabled adults (Toronto, Canada); provided crisis counselling for a crisis centre (Detroit, Michigan); and was a counsellor with a hospice (Ann Arbor, Michigan). She also serves as consultant, trainer and mentor to various organisations regionally including churches and Christian organizations.

Joachim has a Bachelor of Theology from Melbourne School of Theology and a Masters in Counselling from University of South Australia. He has pursued additional training and certification in Solution Oriented therapy, Yungian therapy and Gambling and Addictions counselling. Joachim had many years of counselling students at the NUS counselling centre where he was Senior Counsellor He was also responsible for both counselling services and ensures the ongoing training of the counsellors at the centre. Recently, he has been supervising and counselling at the Tampines Family Service Centre as a Director of the centre. Joachim is a Certified Clinical Supervisor.

Module Title: Psychopathology

Module Description: This course deals with all of the major categories of adult psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, mood disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance use disorders and schizophrenia. The course aims at providing students a working knowledge of how to identify individuals who potentially have underlying psychopathology and how to work in collaboration with other mental health professionals in the care of the mentally distressed. Special attention will be given on the use of psychological techniques in the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders.

Course Instructor: Wilson Phang, MSW, MA
Wilson Phang received his BA in Psychology from Biola University, California, his MSW(Clinical Practice) from San Francisco State University, his MA(Family Studies) at Mutnomah Biblical Seminary and candidated for the PhD in psychology at Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology. He holds certification as a mental health specialist, a child mental health specialist anda developmental disabilities mental health specialist by the State Board of Washington. For 13 years he worked in a in-patient mental health institution as a psychiatric therapist. Wilson moved from the US to practice in Singapore and has held various teaching positions, including lecturer at East Asia School of Theology and adjunct lecturer in the MA(Applied Psychology - Counselling) program at Nanyang Technological University. Wilson is in demand both locally and in the region to provide both counselling care and training. Currently he spends most of his time attending to emergency situations in the region where mental health care is required.

Commencement Dates:

Crisis and Grief Counselling - Starting on 28 February 2007 for 13 weeks on Wednesday evenings from 7 - 10 pm.
Psychopathology - Starting on 3 March 2007 with intensive first week of classes on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Subsequent classes will be held regularly on Saturday mornings 9:30-12:30pm. All classes on weekday evenings are from 7-10 pm.

Venue: Alive Community Network, Training Room, #02-12 Oriental Plaza, 291 New Bridge Road (opposite Pearl Centre, 5 mins walk from Outram MRT Station).

Course Fees: $550 per course payable in 3 monthly installments.

Note: Staff and volunteers from NCSS Member VWOs are eligible for the 50% NCSS Pre-approved Training Grant for both the diploma programmes. Church staff and leaders involved in counselling can apply for special subsidies up to 40% of the course fees from Alive Community Network.

Contact details:
Mathew Mathews - mathew@alivecommunity.net
Mei Cheng - 63235393 or meicheng@alivecommunity.net

Module Title: Grief and Crisis Counselling

Module Description: People are most likely to ask for help, and possibly need it the most when they are undergoing a crisis. Such crises may include the death of a loved one, being told that you have a terminal disease, being fired from a job or the announcement of a divorce. How can the helper effectively deal with individuals who have experienced loss or who are set with a crises where the only solution they see is to end their life? This course focuses on the theory and practice of crisis and grief counselling. Emphasis is on dealing with developmental and situational crises through various brief therapy interventions. Students will learn the basics of coping with suicidal individuals, those who are going through trauma and those in various stages of grief. As part of the course, students will be encouraged to consider the reality of their own mortality and come to grips with this reality.

Commencement Date: Starting from 25 November 2006 for 13 weeks on Saturday mornings from 9:30am - 12:30 pm

Venue: Alive Community Network, Training Room, #02-12 Oriental Plaza, No. 291 New Bridge Road (opposite Pearl Centre, 5 mins walk from Outram MRT station)

Course Fees: $550 can be payable in 3 monthly installments.

Note: Staff and volunteers from NCSS Member VWOs are eligible for the 50% NCSS Pre-approved Training Grant for both the diploma programmes. Church staff and leaders involved in counselling can apply for special subsidies from Alive Community Network.

Contact details:
Bobby Mathew, Course Facilitator email to mathew@alivecommunity.net
Mei Cheng, Program Administrator at 63235393 or email to learning@alivecommunity.net

Course instructors: Ms Jeannie Koh, MA and Mr. Joachim Lee, MSocSc

Ms Jeannie Koh received her MA in Community Counselling from Eastern Michigan University, Michigan, in 1993, where she also received a professional counselling license (State of Michigan). She was also certified with the National Board of Certified Counsellors (U.S.). Her specialisation is in grief and loss, crisis and trauma, and transitions. She has since led and revamped a counselling service where she initiated and spearheaded mental health crisis frameworks for a large educational institution; served as a child, adolescent and family therapist for a multi-national organisation; worked in a residential community for developmentally disabled adults (Toronto, Canada); provided crisis counselling for a crisis centre (Detroit, Michigan); and was a counsellor with a hospice (Ann Arbor, Michigan). She also serves as consultant, trainer and mentor to various organisations regionally including churches and Christian organizations.

Joachim has a Bachelor of Theology from Melbourne School of Theology and a Masters in Counselling from University of South Australia. He has pursued additional training and certification in Solution Oriented therapy, Yungian therapy and Gambling and Addictions counselling. Joachim had many years of counselling students at the NUS counselling centre where he was Senior Counsellor He was also responsible for both counselling services and ensures the ongoing training of the counsellors at the centre. Recently, he has been supervising and counselling at the Tampines Family Service Centre as a Director of the centre. Joachim is a Certified Clinical Supervisor.

1. Which organization is running this course?

This programme, duly registered with Ministry of Education, is run by Alive Community Education Centre (Alive Centre). Alive Community Education Centre is the educational arm of Alive Community Network, a voluntary welfare organization which is a full member of the National Council of Social Services (NCSS).

Venue: Alive Community Network Training room #02-12, No. 291 New Bridge Road, Oriental Plaza (opposite Pearl’s centre, 5 mins walk from Outram MRT)

Time: Every week either on Saturday mornings from 930am to 1230pm or weekday nights from 7pm to 10pm.
Course fees: $550 per module, payable in 3 monthly installments.
Note: Staff & volunteers from NCSS Member VWOs are eligible for 50% Pre-approved Training Grant for both diploma programmes. Church staff and leaders involved in counselling can apply for special subsidies up to 40% from Alive Community Network.

Contact details:

2. What is the difference between the Diploma and Advanced Diploma programmes?

The Diploma in Counselling involves completing 4 modules while the Advanced Diploma requires 9 modules (including a practicum). The Diploma is meant for those who are interested in understanding issues in counselling but do not intend to take up the professional demands of a trained counselor. The Advanced diploma is to help prepare those who are interested in working either professionally or voluntarily as a trained counselling professional.

3. Are your programmes recognized?

Both the Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Counselling are registered with the Ministry of Education. In addition, our Advanced Diploma is an approved training for those who want to become members of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA). ACA is an association of over 2500 professional counselors which has international standing and accredits counselling training programmes. Eligibility for membership to a professional counselling body is the usual criteria to qualify as a trained counselor.

4. Can I register for the courses without taking any exams?

You may register this course as an audit student. However, you will not be awarded a diploma. The cost of each module for audit student is $150.

5. Can I take this course without completing all the modules?

Yes you may as you’ll receive a certificate of successful completion for every module. Do note that you are not eligible to apply for membership to the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) unless you complete the prescribed programme.

6. Can I obtain discounts for these courses?

Our course fees are very reasonable and are rather low in consideration of the quality. However, if there is a genuine difficulty in finances despite strong interest in the course, please contact our facilitator to discuss possible funding options or installment payment schemes.

7. Upon completion of the Advanced Diploma programme, can I use apply for another degree programme i.e. a Masters or Degree etc.?

Firstly, such entry requirements are dependent on the respective university that offers the Master’s degree that you intend to enroll. There are several Master’s programmes in UK and Australia that allow Advanced Diploma courses that are approved training programmes of the Australian or British Counselling Association to gain direct entry or exemptions into their programmes.We have ensured that the rigors of our programme in terms of its course content and course requirements, together with the qualification of the instructors are of a good standard to meet these requirements for exemptions.

8. Can I enroll in your programmes if I do not hold a first degree?

The Singapore Association of Counsellors (SAC) expects those who want to register with them to hold a basic degree in addition to a postgraduate qualification in counselling. Both the British and Australian Counselling Associations do not have such requirements. In our programmes, we teach the courses at a graduate level, i.e. there is the expectation that students have a prior first degree. We welcome your application to our programmes even if you do not have a first degree as long as you recognise that the course assignments are set at a graduate level. You will be eligible to qualify for membership with the ACA without a first degree. We are also exploring options to continue our Advanced Diploma to a three year programme for students who do not have a first degree but who are interested in enrolling into some Australian universities’ Master’s programme.

9. Who are the instructors of the Counselling programmes?

We select experienced instructors in counseling with adequate qualifications and ample teaching experience. These trainers have excellent academic and practical backgrounds. All our instructors have at least a Master’s degree in a relevant helping professional field and qualify for clinical membership in a recognized counselling association.

10. What is the size of each class?

We try to keep our class to small groups of 15 to 18 students. When classes are larger, we will have additional tutorial sessions with the instructors/tutors to ensure that you will get maximum instructor attention.

11. What if I cannot attend every class?

It will be ideal that you try to make it for every class. However, we will ensure that there will be a video-recording of each class which you can purchase at a nominal fee. This will help you to stay abreast of class material in case you cannot attend a particular lesson.

12. How difficult are the assignments? Will they require lots of study time?

All courses have a mixture of assignments. These include testing your memory of materials learnt, your ability to apply the materials to actual counselling scenarios and activities to develop your own personal awareness. We use a mixture of short quizzes, essay exams & papers, presentations of role plays through video-recordings and journaling.

Assignments do take time and effort though we believe that it will be rewarding for you. Moreover, our facilitators are glad to help you through any difficulties you encounter in these assignments. As for study time, we hope that with discipline & planning, you will be able to manage your time for this programme.

Module Description (modified from formal course description):

All professional fields have a body of theory which guides their practice. This is the case with professional counselling as well. This course will take you through the main theoretical perspectives used in counselling and highlight to you the main assumptions and intervention strategies offered by each of these perspectives. You will also learn how different theories might be most applicable in working with different client groups from different gender, educational, demographic and cultural backgrounds.

This course will make use of numerous training videos and role plays to help you appreciate the different methods used by the different theoretical traditions in counselling Throughout the course you will also be challenged to develop your own personal theory of counselling based on the different models popular today.

Module Commencement Date:

13 weeks starting from 5 August 2006 (Saturday mornings, 9:30am - 12:30 pm)

Venue:
Alive Community Network, Training Room, #02-12 Oriental Plaza,
291 New Bridge Road (opposite Pearl Centre, 5 mins walk from Outram MRT station)

Course Fees: $550, payable in 3 monthly installments

Textbook: Systems of Psychotherapy : A Transtheoretical Analysis
by James O. Prochaska and John C. Norcross
Contact info: Mr Mathew Mathews, Course Facilitator - 96961770 (M)
Email Address: mathew@alivecommunity.net

Counselling Course
Alive Community Network launches its counseling program this Saturday (15 April 2006) 9:30-12:30 noon. This programme leads to a formal Diploma/Advanced Diploma recognized by the Australian Counselling Association.

If you are interested in taking this course, please feel free to contact Pastor Mathew Mathews for further discussion. Also we are creating a few spaces for students who want to learn some things from the course but do not want to receive any formal certification. We will provide them a Certificate of Attendance but their participation will not count towards a formal diploma. The cost of this training option is very much lower.
The details of the first course is as follows:
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