Overview
The Responsive Counselling Relationships & Interpersonal Communication course builds on the foundations of counselling theory, process, and critical reflection established in GCAP 631 and 633, including attention to both client and counsellor cultural identities and social locations. This course shifts the focus from conceptual understanding to applied practice. Learners will examine how counsellors’ relational practices, and the therapeutic relationship itself, can adapt in response to each client’s cultural identity, context, values, worldview, and needs. Emphasis is placed on the theoretical foundations of responsive relationships, the ways counselling processes both support and are shaped by these relationships, the use of specific microskills and techniques to foster responsiveness, and the role of reflective practice in ensuring client‑centred, culturally attuned counselling.
Synchronous Activities
GCAP 671 is a skills‑focused course with weekly synchronous lab activities across the 13‑week term. Learners will practice counselling microskills with various partners and receive direct coaching and feedback during group, partner, and individual labs from both the Instructor and the Instructional Support Facilitator. These synchronous sessions are scheduled throughout the semester to support learning while keeping time commitments manageable (approximately 4 hours per week).
Outline
Week 1: Communicating Care and Building Rapport
Week 2: Conceptualizing Lived Experiences Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
Week 3: Cultivating Connection: Working with Emotion and Body
Week 4: Co-Constructing Meaning: Working with Thoughts, Beliefs, Values, and Assumptions
Week 5: Culturally Attuned and Client-Responsive Relational Practice
Week 6: Setting the Stage for the First Counselling Session
Week 7: The First Counselling Session
Week 8: Counselling Session I
Week 9: The Counsellor’s Inner Work: Self-Awareness as the Foundation of Effective Practice
Week 10: Counselling Session II
Week 11: Therapeutic Closure
Week 12: Counselling Session III
Week 13: Developing Counsellor Competence
Evaluation
To receive credit for GCAP 671, learners must complete and submit all the activities listed below, obtain a pass on all the Applied Practice Activities, and obtain a composite grade of at B- (70 percent)
on the course. The weighing of the composite grade is as follows:
| Activity | Weight |
| Course Expectations and Consent Form for Participation in Virtual Labs | Complete/Incomplete |
| Mid-Point Self-Evaluation | P/F |
| Final Self-Evaluation | P/F |
| Reflective Journal Weekly Entries (Weeks 1 – 12) | 24% |
| Reflective Journal Final Summative Entry (Week 13) | 16% |
| Counselling Video and Session Summary I | 20% |
| Counselling Video and Session Summary II | 20% |
| Counselling Video and Session Summary III | 20% |
| Total | 100% |
Materials
All materials are available to students online.
Collins, S. (2020). Professional Writing in the Health Disciplines. Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University.
Corey, G. (2019). The art of integrative counseling (4th ed.). American Counseling Association. https://0-ebookcentral-proquest-com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/lib/athabasca-ebooks/reader.action?docID=5491630&ppg=19&c=UERG
Ko, G., Collins, S., & Yasynskyy, Y. (2023, June 01). A practical guide for counsellors: Co-Creating safe and culturally responsive relational spaces. (L. C. Fox, Ed.). Pressbooks. https://pressbooks.pub/responsiverelationships/ CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.