Course Overview
Financial hardship can affect anyone, and AIPC’s Diploma of Financial Counselling prepares you to help. You’ll gain specialised skills grounded in counselling and community services disciplines, ready to launch a new career or complement one you already have in teaching, nursing, ministry, corrective services or administration.
AIPC is the largest provider of counselling courses in the country, specialising in counsellor training for over 30 years and having helped over 55,000 people from 27 countries pursue their personal and career interests in counselling.
Who's It For?
The Diploma of Financial Counselling is applicable to people from all backgrounds, including those:
- Seeking a fresh start in a worthwhile profession as a financial counsellor
- Looking to acquire financial counselling skills as an adjunct to an existing core profession — such as teachers, nurses, ministers of religion, corrective services officers, and administrators
Job Outcomes
Potential career outcomes could include:
- Community organisations
- Community legal centres
- Not-for-profit agencies
- Local government services
What You'll Learn
- Assess a client's financial situation and work out which debts to prioritise
- Work through consumer law, credit law, bankruptcy rules and hardship provisions that determine a client's options
- Negotiate hardship arrangements with creditors on a client's behalf
- Support clients with co-existing mental health and alcohol or other drug concerns
- Develop plans of action with clients rather than for them
- Recognise the risks a client faces and reduce them where possible
Recognition
Study Method
- OnlineOnline delivery - online course content with the exception of assessments and work placement
- BlendedBlended delivery - both online course content and partial face to face requirements
- In-classIn class delivery - predominately face to face course content conducted at a specific location
- VirtualVirtual Delivery - Live and interactive classroom-style learning conducted completely online
Duration Study Load
12 months full-time (17 units). Part-time and self-paced options are also available.
Delivery
The Diploma of Financial Counselling is delivered fully online, allowing students to study from home anywhere in Australia. The course is designed to maximise learning from home, enabling students to progress through studies at their own pace.
Practical components can be completed through a variety of flexible options:
- Online group workshops via Zoom or Skype
- Uploading a video demonstration of skills
- One-on-one sessions with a private assessor (available in numerous regional areas across Australia)
Entry Requirements
You are able to gain entry to the Diploma of Financial Counselling if you are over 18 years of age and have:
- Completed Year 12, or
- Completed a Certificate III qualification, or
- At least 3 years of sufficient life experience (work or study), if over 21 years of age.
Course Features
Career ready: Graduates are well prepared to pursue a career in Financial Counselling, employed or self-employed, backed by AIPC's strong industry reputation and linkage.
Extremely applicable: Suitable for people from all backgrounds — whether seeking a new career or adding financial counselling skills to an existing profession.
Counselling education specialists: AIPC concentrates exclusively on counselling and community services education, rather than delivering courses across a variety of industries.
Flexible learning: Designed to maximise learning from home, allowing students to progress at their own pace around other commitments.
Study Assistance: Unlimited access to AIPC's Toll Free Study Assistance Line, staffed by degree-qualified education advisers available Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm EST. Support includes assignment guidance, personal coaching, and hints on specific concepts.
Online student portal (My.AIPC): Access to electronic workbooks, activity uploads, an Online Education Adviser, a Knowledge Base of academic questions, seminar schedules, and more.
Work Placement
This course requires completion of a work placement of a minimum of 220 hours in a financial counselling agency. Students complete placement in a service near where they live. There is also an option to do work placement online through Financial Counselling Australia's simulated workplace.
Professional Recognition
NRT – Nationally Recognised Training (course code CHC51122).
The Diploma of Financial Counselling is the qualification required to practise as a financial counsellor in Australia. Accounting and financial planning credentials do not substitute for it. Graduates are also eligible for membership of their state financial counselling association.
Assessment
Assessment includes both theoretical and practical components:
- Some units require the practical demonstration of skills in a real or simulated work environment.
- A work placement of a minimum of 220 hours is required for specific units.
- Practical components cover topics including Case Management, Counselling and Interview Skills, the Financial Counselling Process and practical application of Financial Counselling techniques.
- Students may also complete work placement online through Financial Counselling Australia's simulated workplace.
Subjects
About Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors
The Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors (AIPC) is Australia’s largest and longest-established educator of Counsellors. Our specialist training programs include our acclaimed Diploma of Counselling, Bachelor of Counselling, and Master of Counselling. All our programs are government and industry-accredited.
We are an organisation founded on the principle of enabling people to help others. At the very heart of our logo, designed three decades ago, is the statement “Caring for people.” That’s the core of what we do, and that’s why our work matters.
RTO Provider Number: 0670 | Institute of Higher Education: Provider ID PRV12083.
