Bachelor of Counselling

The Bachelor of Counselling sits a little apart from the rest of the University of Divinity's catalogue, which is otherwise almost entirely theology and ministry. This is a professional counselling degree, though it's taught within a university whose identity and college network are explicitly Christian, and several of its member colleges (Whitley College, Eastern College Australia among them) fold a pastoral or values-based counselling orientation into the training rather than treating it as incidental.

Students complete core counselling theory, ethics and practice units alongside supervised placement hours, working toward eligibility for professional counselling registration in Australia (typically ACA or PACFA-aligned pathways depending on the specific college and cohort). The counselling degree exists partly because chaplaincy, pastoral care and church-based welfare work are common destinations for University of Divinity graduates broadly, and a dedicated counselling qualification lets students formalise that pastoral instinct into a registrable clinical skill set.

Graduates go into private practice, community and church-based counselling services, and pastoral care roles in hospitals, schools and aged care, often building on a values framework that's more explicit here than in a secular counselling degree elsewhere.