Counseling Skills Course

“I closed my eyes and thought: what would I like to do if I participated, as a psychologist, in a counseling skills course? And if I did it as a social worker or a family mediator, would it be different? How might it be experienced by a lawyer, a doctor, or a teacher? I imagined, then, a course that, in addition to offering counseling skills (related to active listening, assertiveness, resolving conflict situations, knowing how to ask questions and formulate hypotheses or redefine positively), would become a journey where the sum of the training days would be for each person a way to feel better about themselves and become not only a better professional but, above all, a more "beautiful" person.” (C. Edelstein)..

The Counseling Skills Course offered by the Shinui Center, recognized by AssoCounseling (Professional Category Association), follows the Sistemic Pluralist model created by Cecilia Edelstein and aims at the development of human potentials, intertwining the power of storytelling - including autobiographical - with emotions, the use of space, and listening to the body. The challenge is to intertwine the three levels of theory, practice, and experience in a balanced way. The experiential aspect concerns self-work within the group, also using non-verbal expressive techniques, partly developed by the Shinui Center staff.

The Shinui Center’s Counseling Skills Course aims to promote the knowledge of new methodologies for thinking and working for not only professional but also personal growth through the development of communication skills in work contexts and daily life, availability for active listening, the ability to make participants more aware of their biases, even to use them in working with people, and to promote conflict management skills, achieving greater work and personal well-being.

The intention is to start from the students, their life experiences, and their theoretical-practical knowledge. Given the heterogeneous nature of the group's basic training, care will be taken to work on each person's resonances and thus on the individual and group self.

31 training credits and 14 ethical credits will be recognized by Croas Lombardia.

The course grants the title of “Counseling Skills Professional” and provides the opportunity to register with the Italian Register of Counseling Skills Professionals at AssoCounseling.

Course recognized by
AssoCounseling

Definition

It is generally thought that professional choice is primarily a more or less accurate response to one's nature, personal characteristics, strengths, tastes, and resources. Choosing a profession, however, is rather an identity choice that does not come by chance but is contextualized within the relational systems in which we grew up and is marked by the path traversed in personal biography.

The narratives connected to life history, which will be examined during the course, will allow individual group members to become more aware of their choices, the constraints related to them, and the needs they address. This greater awareness can outline individual goals for the current training path, as Counseling Skills, while transversal, are specific to each profession and individual.

What remains common to all is the interest in Counseling, a professional activity that has received various definitions over the last few decades and has traced a history over the almost past century.

Objectives

Structure

Duration

10 days of 8 hours each, from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, on Saturdays, plus a residential seminar for an entire weekend out of town (Saturday and Sunday).

Assessment of Acquired Skills

As it is a small group, students are closely followed and supported throughout their journey. Each training day has a personal aspect related to self-work and a practical aspect related to exercises. In this sense, each meeting represents an opportunity to engage with the growth and development process. Additionally, towards the end of the year, each participant will prepare a brief written report on their experiences during the training and its impact on their work. This report will be presented by each student on the last training day in the format they find most suitable (any form of creativity is allowed).

Absences

Students are required to attend all lessons and seminars (a maximum of 10% of total course hours is allowed for absences). Attendance at the residential seminar is mandatory; in case of illness or other impediments, absences from lessons can be recovered by arranging the most appropriate method with the instructors. For the residential seminar, recovery can be done by attending other seminars organized by Shinui or other schools with a systemic approach, provided it is previously agreed with their tutor/responsible (additional costs may apply for these training proposals).

Residential Seminar

The residential seminar, held with other students from Shinui Center courses, will involve small cross-course working groups, in a sort of itinerant experiential labs. The groups will be coordinated by Shinui Center instructors and their respective tutors. Each group will follow a different sequence (some will start with the first lab up to the fourth, others will follow the second lab, and so on). The lab is not to be considered as a linear space for simply recounting and sharing one's story but as an experiential space where each person has the opportunity to build their own narrative through stimuli received from other participants' stories and through non-verbal and narrative expressive techniques applicable to counseling (cards, collages, images...). There will be plenary sessions as well as enjoyable and informal meetings such as the Saturday lunch or dinner.

Final Report

Each participant will prepare a brief written report (approximately 10 pages) on their experiences during the training and its impact on their work, which will be presented at the final meeting.

Annual Counseling Skills Course 2025