Familiar with this scenario? The idiot cuts in front of you, causing you to nearly crash into him. Your pounding heart, flushed face, tight chest, and gritted teeth tell you: you are angry. Or, maybe someone you know violates you in a despicable way, steals from you or betrays you. You are a “nice” person, so you don’t experience anger, but a dark cloud descends over your life. Y... »
We’would like to introduce you to two people; in fact, more than introduce you. For the next several minutes, we’would like you to become these people. The first is a chronic pain patient, and the second is the family member caring for that patient. »
Haim, Jenetta. (2014). Stress-free health management: A natural solution for your health. Bloomington, IN: Balboa Press. »
Given that an estimated 60 percent of persons who have intellectual disability also experience severe communication deficits (AIHW, 2008), the literature on counselling this client group consistently refers to the importance of using “creative approaches” (WWILD, 2012, p 60) which allow the client to respond in both verbal and nonverbal ways. Thus, in addition to “talk therapy&rd... »
Your phone rings. You grab it to answer but as the caller’s number flashes on the screen, you hesitate. It is someone you’re not sure you want to continue being friends with. Maybe the person has broken promises to you, cancelling get-togethers at the last minute, or perhaps – as entertaining as they can be – this person only seems to care about themselves. Or maybe you met... »
Most practitioners would be shocked to hear it, but without realising it, many build resistance in clients – lowering their capacity to engage – through protocols and habits which communicate something very different to the client than what the practitioner is asking or intends to convey (Rosengren, 2009). In this article, we explore five ways in which practitioners may inadvertently build resista... »
The CEO of the fast-expanding organisation looked at me, despair seeping through a veneer of confidence. With three growing children, a loving husband, and work at the top of the corporate ladder, her life ticked all the boxes. “I’m coping OK,” she confided, “but I’ve been better.” “Better” was before she came to be afflicted with one of the most com... »
Have you ever seen a movie in which the main character wakes up in a strange hotel room, dressed weirdly, with no idea how she got there, and no relationship to the name she gave hotel staff upon check-in? Such drama is the stuff of Hollywood depictions of dissociative disorders. Dissociative identity disorder (DID), known as multiple personality disorder (MPD) until renamed in the DSM-IV (America... »
Most of us would have heard the saying, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” While the optimist in us will hope this saying holds true, it now seems there is some more veracity to this claim. Since the 1990s, there has been huge interest in the question of whether, after a trauma, we must succumb to post-traumatic stress, or whether we are able to instead experience post-tra... »
It’s 10:00 pm on December 24th, and you’re just beginning your Christmas shopping. You lost $1000 in extra taxes because you didn’t prepare or file your documents properly, on time. Your boss is upset because of all your missed deadlines, and your partner is truly “over” all your undone domestic work. If this resonates, you are one of the 20% who chronically procrasti... »
There were 22 filicide cases recorded in Australia between July 2008 and June 2010, or 11 per year on average. Seven involved the death of a child less than one year of age (Chan & Payne, 2013). Postnatal depression, or PND, figures largely in these sad statistics; it has been estimated that at least one in five mothers of full-term infants suffers from it (Priest et al, 2005, in Statewide Obstetr... »
Whether you love it or hate it, most people will agree that the mother-child relationship is one of the most significant relationships in a person’s life, affecting your wellbeing throughout your life. »
You’ll regularly receive powerful strategies for personal development, tips to improve the growth of your counselling practice, the latest industry news, and much more.
