Course Details:
Session Type: In-person OR Online
Venue: G Floor, Neuroscience Institute Building OR Microsoft Teams
Time: 09h00 to 15h30
Course Fee: R2,200 per person
A Certificate of Attendance will be issued to participants of the course.
About the Course:
South Africa carries the largest HIV burden in the world – approximately one in 10 South Africans live with HIV. As clinical and non-clinical staff working in the field of HIV, mastering effective HIV counselling skills is key to the prevention and treatment of HIV and the support of potentially vulnerable individuals in South Africa.
Research has shown that individuals who receive adequate HIV counselling can cope better with their diagnosis and related emotions, are more likely to engage in responsible behaviour to decrease transmission, and are more likely to look after their health. However, HIV presents health workers and counsellors with a unique set of challenges. While many health workers have worked with life-threatening illnesses before the HIV epidemic, few have had to meet the challenge of working in an area of such sociocultural sensitivity.
The course manual was developed to support a range of providers (trained counsellors, lay counsellors, researchers, peer educators, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, community health workers, and others) who work with people living with HIV. The purpose of this manual is to provide training in basic HIV counselling. This includes strengthening basic counselling skills, developing HIV-related knowledge, and learning strategies to manage difficult counselling situations.
This course is offered online and contains +/—6 hours of content. Participants will receive the content prior to the course for their own perusal. The content is then consolidated during a synchronous online session, where participants are encouraged to ask questions and participate in supervised role-plays.
This course is ideal for you if you are a social worker, psychologist, nurse, research worker, community health worker, lay counsellor, or any cadre of staff working in the HIV field.
Entry requirements: There are no entry requirements. However, preference will be given to candidates working in a health- or social sciences-related field.
Course Content:
- Overview of HIV / AIDS Disease Process
- Overview of Counselling process and effective communication skills
- Legal and ethical issues including testing in children
- The contents of HIV pre- and HIV post-test counselling sessions
- Looking after yourself as the counsellor