Relationships, Marriage and Family Counselling

The Relationships, Marriage and Family Counselling Course is designed to provide the caregiver (pastor, lay and professional counsellor) with a bio-psycho-social-spiritual understanding of singleness, dating and the choosing of a marriage partner, the marital relationships, family relationships, and relationship breakdown. It will introduce the student to the theory and theology of couples, marriage and family counselling, and provide an understanding of pre-marital, couples, marriage, family, and divorce counselling from a lay and pastoral perspective. Lay and pastoral care-givers and counsellors will be equipped with the necessary skills to make an assessment of the marital relationship, assist couples with their marital relationship, understand the causes of divorce and remarriage, understand family issues; assist dysfunctional families, and understand sexuality in relationships. Christian Counsellors will be able to come alongside people with relationship issues with supportive caregiving and will be able to counsel and do therapy within the boundaries of their training. By the end of this course you should be able to:

Demonstrate an understanding of issues involved in singleness and choosing a marriage partner

• Express an understanding of marital relationships and marital problems from a Christian counselling perspective
• Make an accurate assessment of the marital relationship
• Demonstrate an understanding of sexuality
• Assist couples with their marital relationship

You will be required to purchase the following textbooks in order to complete all counselling courses:

• Collins, G. 2007. Christian Counseling - a Comprehensive Guide (Third Edition). Thomas Nelson.
• Meier, Minirth, Wichern & Ratcliff. 1999. Introduction to Psychology and Counseling: Christian Perspectives and Applications. 2nd Baker Books.
• Tan, S. & Scalise, E.T. 2016. Lay Counseling: Equipping Christians for a Helping Ministry (Revised and Updated).
• Tan, Siang-Yang, 2011. Counseling and Psychotherapy: A Christian Perspective. Baker Publishing