Clare Blanch

Graduate Diploma of Counselling
Completed: 2003

Study mode(s): Sydney Campus

Professional membership(s):

Royal College of Nursing
NSW College of Nursing

Fieldwork placement: W.N. Bull Funeral Directors & Homicide Victims Support Group Inc.

Working with Grief Counsellor at Funeral directors - follow-up visits to clients who had counselling following bereavement and had used W.N. Bull's services.

Working with Trauma and Bereavement Counsellors at HVSG - telephone contact with clients whose family member/s had been murdered / attendance at support meetings, accompanying counsellors on home visits.

Experience at ACAP:

I had a very positive experience - this was the best way to learn for me - experiential and hands on - small classes - interesting and enthusiastic tutors who had actually worked for years in their areas of specialisation, some with ongoing practices.

How has study at ACAP benefitted you personally and/or professionally?

I was able to change my career successfully. I am more contented and live with less stress. My responses to people and situations are more calm, considered and less emotionally charged.

How have you used your ACAP qualification?
I was offered a position at the Homicide Victims Support Group as a Counsellor - my secondment served as a sort of 'selection process'. The work is very challenging and not suitable for everyone - the time I spent there enabled them to assess my suitability and safe practice with this vulnerable client population.

In private practice:
No