You may have faced this scenario before: anguished parents turn up in your rooms and plead with you for help: their cherished teenager, they find, is now sending and/or receiving sexually explicit text messages, photos, or videos. Oh, what to do? »
The counselling of parents, like most counselling and many other endeavours, is likely to be heavily influenced by what happens in the early stages. If parents come to you and feel welcomed, respected, and understood, they are more likely to open up with the vital information that will enable you to help their children change challenging or harmful behaviours. If in addition, you are able to conve... »
Have you ever attempted to speak with a gambler about his or her gambling patterns? Chances are that the person overrode any concerns you might have broached about their behaviour by saying that they couldn’t possibly become addicted because they don’t gamble regularly, they don’t lose more than a few hundred dollars at a time, and they always act responsibly. This is the moment ... »
Positive psychology, which has recently enjoyed a burgeoning base of research support, is “the scientific study of optimal functioning, performance, and wellbeing” (Langley & Francis, 2016). It asks not what is broken and needing to be fixed, but what is working, what is good in people and life. It wants to know what the positive experiences, characteristics, and practices are that enable indi... »
As a Financial Counsellor, you will have the ability to assist those who are facing financial hardship. »
Narrative therapy, emerging since the 1980s, has been defined as “a postmodern-feminist-constructivist approach that entails the co-construction of real, imagined, or possible stories of the past, present, or future” (Mascher, 2002, p. 58). The shift from problematic stories to more adaptive ones leads to greater empowerment and enables clients to more successfully manage their lives (Seligman, 20... »
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill You are here on this planet for the duration. What will you do with the time that is allotted to you? Who will you become? What will you have in your life: which people, things, and experiences? What will your legacy be? When you know the answers to these questions, you will be able to direct your energies, impulses, and activi... »
This year’s Mental Health Super Summit – Mental Health Academy‘s annual online conference co-hosted with Act for Kids – has raised over $140,000 to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect across Australia. The funds will be used to provide free therapy, deliver prevention and education programs, foster community engagement, and much more. »
Many people working in organisations try to avoid being part of a team. Perhaps the many levels of requirements for good teamwork place it in the “too-hard” basket. Yet there are many advantages accruing to both the organisation and the individual from successful teamwork. In this post, we look at some of these advantages. »
Child abuse and neglect is one of Australia’s biggest and most misunderstood social problems, with one child being abused or neglected every 12 minutes. Since 1988, Act for Kids has provided free therapeutic support for thousands of kids and families — but there are still many more who need urgent assistance right now. »
James is a 13 year old teenager in Grade 7 at school. His parents have recently divorced and share custody of James. His father Brett has noticed a shift in James’s behaviour over the last few weeks. During conversations, James is abrupt, curt and tries to avoid conversation. Most recently, James’s English teacher at school requested a parent-teacher interview because James has been ca... »
Mazza, James J., Dexter-Mazza, Elizabeth T., Miller, Alec L., Rathus, Jill H., and Murphy, Heather E. (2016) DBT® Skills in schools — Skills training for emotional problem solving for adolescents (DBT STEPS-A). (4th Ed). New York: The Guilford Press. »
When one of our writing team had trouble finding work a number of years ago, she mentioned this to her friend, whose mother was visiting from another country. “Oh,” said the mother, a vivacious business person, “I guess you’ll have to join a few more clubs.” She made this statement before the phenomenon we know as “social media” even existed. What she was ... »
If you are supporting a family in transition, you may perceive huge differences between them and the characteristics (named in our previous article) as belonging to resilient families. If so, you may be wondering: “So how do I help move my struggling family down the continuum towards greater functionality?” In this article we address three principal areas of focus, which reinforce one another: Sup... »
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