Become a qualified financial counsellor
Make a difference to the lives of those suffering financial hardship with a range of specialist legal, financial and counselling skills.
Financial counsellors help people to manage their finances and understand credit and debt issues as well as their rights and obligations. To be able to operate in Australia as a financial counsellor, you must have this qualification.
SM TAFE is the only registered training organisation in WA to deliver this course face-to-face, allowing more people to utilise this important service while the WA economy recovers. It also provides a solid understanding of social and systemic issues that impact on financial counselling clients.
Many charitable organisations seek to employ people who can provide these specialist financial support services and those already working in the community services sector will also benefit from being able to provide financial counselling to help people regain control of their lives.
Gain these skills:
- Manage the counselling relationship
- Develop counselling interview skills
- Application of technical financial information
- Program community support mechanisms
- Interpret and use financial law
- Provide advocacy and referrals
- Respond to crisis situations
Want to find out more about this industry?
Students in community services benefit from sharing information about organisations, initiatives and leading expertise in our Community Services Facebook page.
This course is part of the Lower fees, local skills initiative where you'll only pay half the course fees until December 2021. Fees are capped at $1,200; or $400 if you're aged 15—24 or eligible for a concession, plus resource fees and other fees that may apply to your course. Find out more
This course is a VET Student Loan eligible course. A VET Student Loan creates a debt that must be repaid to the Commonwealth and is only available to students who are eligible.
To find out if you are eligible or to see the list of eligible courses visit our Student Loans page.
| School Leaver | Non-School Leaver | AQF |
|---|---|---|
| Completion of WACE General or ATAR (Minimum C Grades) or equivalent | Completion of WACE General or ATAR or equivalent (minimum C Grades) | Certificate III |
- Applicants will need to demonstrate a work history in the form of a CV or resume to show that they have enough experience to tackle the broad aspects of learning to counsel at-risk clients in legal and financial matters
Attendance in class
You will need to attend class for 2 semesters when studied full-time, for 2 days per week in each semester.
As well as the in-class component, you will need to complete approximately 2 hours of additional study each week outside of class hours, including private study, assignment preparation, and research.
You will need to have the basic technical requirements for at-home study. If you don’t have access to a computer and WiFi at home, we recommend using our library computers during library hours.
Work placement
There is a requirement for 220 hours work placement in a suitable Financial Counselling organisation in this course.
You will be assisted to find an appropriate placement if you do not have one.
Online study
Students completing the online study option will enrol into and complete 4-5 units at a time, with progress monitored by their lecturer. This can be done at a pace suitable to you but for each group of units you have 6 months to complete, so we recommend you use our schedule provided to you at enrolment to assist you in avoiding having to re-enrol in the unit.
Your study will use online software, with access provided to you after enrolment. You will need to have the basic technical requirements for at-home study. If you don’t have access to a computer and WiFi at home, we recommend using our library computers during library hours.
The nature of online study can involve a significant investment of time and the ability to be a focused, self-motivated learner. You should consider your personal circumstances and past study history before committing to study online. Find out more in our online study info pack below.
Online study info pack (334 KB) (PDF document - opens in a new tab)
Study options and next steps
Click on your preferred study mode below to get started with your application.