HKU Moodle

This course provides an overview on professional ethics and a theoretical foundation for the practices in mental health
counselling. It has two major objectives: First, it intends to discuss key ethical issues in counselling, and to critically examine
counsellors as persons guided by their value orientation, intentionality, and reflexivity. Second, it attempts to present a
range of current evidence-based bio-psycho-social intervention approaches for working with people in face of mental
distress and for nourishing people’s positive mental health.

As an overview, it covers some of the current and contemporary approaches stemming from various theoretical orientations such as body and mind, cognition and behavior, constructivism and post-modernism, and family systems. Their application and evidence of effectiveness in mental health counselling will be discussed. Some lectures may also involve personal reflection, experiential learning, and skills training.