Sarah Miles hadn’t studied seriously since her early 20s. This week she’s one of 10 new counsellors graduating from TAFE NSW in Port Macquarie, as demand for mental health support keeps climbing.
The Diploma of Counselling graduates are stepping into a sector hungry for workers. Health Care and Social Assistance is the biggest employer in the Port Macquarie-Hastings region, supporting an estimated 9,993 jobs.
Nationally, the pressure is even greater. Australia’s mental health workforce is projected to need more than 87,000 full-time equivalent workers by 2030 to meet national targets.
Miles runs her own photography and doula business and is raising her children, and she wasn’t sure how she’d cope going back to study.
“I had done a couple of certificates at TAFE NSW in my early 20s, but I hadn’t done proper study since and didn’t know how I was going to go,” Miles said.
“I didn’t know what to expect with online learning, but I found the course to be great and enjoyed all of it.”
“My TAFE NSW teacher had a great way of getting so much information across and finding all the relevant things we should be knowing for counselling.”
She has already enrolled in a Bachelor of Counselling at Southern Cross University. Her diploma cuts a full year off her university pathway.
The course builds communication, interviewing, and micro-counselling skills, along with an understanding of counselling therapies and how to build safe and respectful relationships.
Students also put their training to work through a collaboration with the Women’s Resilience Centre, a domestic and family violence support organisation.
“Counselling is a profession where strong theoretical knowledge needs to be matched with practical skills, confidence and the ability to build respectful relationships with people from diverse backgrounds,” said TAFE NSW Diploma of Counselling teacher Suzanne Longly.
“Throughout the course, we give students opportunities to put their learning into practice and develop an understanding of what working with people in real-world settings can look like.”
Longly brings real-world experience into the classroom. She has worked across counselling, child protection, youth work, complex needs case management, drug and alcohol counselling, and community education, and still works in the community alongside her teaching.
The nationally recognised diploma can lead to jobs as a counsellor, community worker, case manager, case coordinator, support worker, or mental health support worker.
It is accredited by the Australian Counselling Association. Eligible graduates can apply for Level 1 membership and registration, subject to the association’s additional requirements.
Graduates can also go on to further study, including a Diploma of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice or a Diploma of Mental Health at TAFE NSW.
For the 10 Port Macquarie graduates, this week marks the end of their formal training and the next step towards careers supporting individuals, families, and communities.
Miles is also preparing to begin training with Lifeline. Down the track, she hopes to provide counselling support online and through telehealth.
She says the need in regional communities is plain to see.
“You see a lot more on community pages, people asking for support. I do see there is a need, demand for counselling and social support in regional areas,”Miles said.
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