For some time I had considered studying counselling before the AIPC Diploma in Professional Counselling came to my notice. I had baulked at the thought of a study timetable that would not offer flexibility around work, family and friends.

In my field of work I have very busy periods that allow no time or head space for outside activities. Equally, there are easier periods where I do have time available for more leisure or external study. This course offered me a way to structure it to my needs. After viewing the course outline I decided that this was the best way for me to pursue counselling study.

When starting any new field of study, the language, concepts and theory can be challenging. I found the tutorials always clear and concise. They assisted with my motivation when my work commitments broke up the continuity of the study.

Practical sessions were again well directed and informative. Students involved were a most supportive group. Each was finding their own practical application for their studies. 

The support and encouragement offered by Robert Carrigan and his team was extremely professional. Even when there was the occasional ‘Not Yet Competent’ on the top of the assignment, you always received clear assistance for work that needed further clarification or reworking.

I continue on the path to be a fulltime counsellor. This year I am involved as a voluntary counsellor and while I learn more as each day passes, I sense and value the course work I undertook with AIPC even more. It has made a difference for me and it is exciting that through this work I am, in a small way, making a difference for others.

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“If you break your neck, if you have nothing to eat, if your house is on fire, then you got a problem.  Everything else is inconvenience”.  Robert Fulghum

Life is full of stumbling blocks, and you are constantly put to test as you progress through its stages. And on the face of adversity, we can only do our best to overcome imminent challenges and move forward towards our goals – whether they are reflected in financial success, happiness, love, friendships, life balance or something else.

But how often do you REALLY show your best? Or how often do you “finish strong”?

We recommend that you watch the video below, from motivational speaker Nick Vujicic, and reflect about your approach to life’s daily challenges and your disposition to overcome them. It’s a great inspirational journey, reflected by a person who deeply believes in our capacity to rise to unprecedented heights.

Click on the PLAY button to watch Nick:

Next time you are faced with overwhelming challenges, remember to never give in and never give up. Or in Winston Churchill’s astute words, “if you’re going through hell, keep going.”

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At the end of January 2003 I began my journey with AIPC.

Working full-time, I found the study packs a lot less onerous than I had anticipated and it was easy to pace myself. Each evening I was ‘staying in’ I started studying at a set time and finished at a set time. I found that if I didn’t set an end time as well that I would often get carried away into the night, which wasn’t appreciated by my work colleagues the next day (Zzzzz)! I was excited and challenged at the same time and thoroughly enjoyed each unit.

Of course there were tough times along the way (particularly after Unit 8 ) but when I calmed down and just approached the work in smaller pieces the answers amazingly flowed. If I got stuck on something and just couldn’t work out the question I was able to email or call the support team for help.

I have learned a lot about myself through this experience and a lot about other people. Judging others is destructive and not listening carefully to family and friends is thoughtless. I have stronger friendships now than I have ever had and I have learned the value of people in my life. I have also learned that in order for me to help others I must accept myself, warts and all, and love myself for who I am.

The best tips I could give anyone embarking on this course are to:

Read the questions very carefully, breaking them up into smaller phrases and taking in what that smaller phrase is saying before tackling the next phrase. It’s easy to jump to conclusions about what the question is asking and I got myself quite agitated, which just ended up frustrating my own efforts. There were no hidden meanings or trick questions or expectations to be some great philosopher! All I had to do was be ME, answer the questions honestly and refer to the text in front of me. It was as simple as that.

Take on board the feedback from the assessors to stay on track. Every time I had a Unit returned I went through the book and read the comments against the questions I could have answered better. This helped me to think a little more laterally and to see the bigger picture. Belinda, Beverley, Cynthia and Zahava had such valuable insight to offer along the way and they were more than willing to share it.

Never under-estimate your own abilities. I completed this course in 22 months! I didn’t think I would achieve that goal because as I got further along in my studies I started to doubt that I would be good enough or smart enough or diligent enough. But each time a Unit came back the comments lifted me up and my confidence had such a boost that I’d plough through the next book. I thrive on recognition and the Team catered very well!

Thank you AIPC for an enjoyable experience!

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The six million dollar question when you’re doing this course (Diploma of Professional Counselling) is - will it lead to a paying job and how will I get one.
 
Actually, that’s two questions, but you get the picture. I think just about every conversation I had with fellow students eventually turned to the inevitable “‘what will I do at the end of the course” question. 

I loved this course!  I’m a middle aged PA who returned from 15 years in London in 2004 to Brisbane - a bit of a culture shock, but I had one definite goal - as I’d been lucky enough to work for a drug and alcohol clinic I knew that was where I wanted to work as a counsellor.  So, I started the course in July 2004, finished in December 2005 and began job hunting in January.
 
About a month or two before finishing the course, I had a bit of a meltdown about finishing - that feeling of loss – I looked backwards from my ultimate dream job to where I was now and worked out options on how to get there.  The best advice I was given was that experience is everything.  So true.  If you are lucky enough to know what direction you want to head into with your counselling, then get voluntary work experience in that field - it is invaluable!
 
If you don’t know what field you want to work in, just do as much voluntary work wherever you can get it - there is no substitute for experience and often voluntary work leads to a permanent job. I think generic counselling like Lifeline is a great way to get all round experience - and they offer fabulous training.  It costs (not much - under $400 and it’s tax deductible) but it’s well worth it for the education and training.
 
So, I decided to hunt down drug and alcohol counselling and was lucky to get work as a duty counsellor with Queensland Injector’s Health Network from about September until December last year.  This looks great on my CV and I received a killer reference from my boss there - bless him!
 
Now the fun starts ……. the job hunt.  Now this is hard work and I am not a patient person (anyone who reads this who has met me will marvel at that understatement) but believe me - persistence really does pay!
 
I started by the usual routes - all the job networks on the internet, all newspapers, counselling organisations and surfing the government jobs, charitable organisations and voluntary organisations every day.  But you have to do more.  Since I had a goal industry, I printed off a list of all the drug and alcohol clinics in my region and telephoned every single one of them to get the name of the person best to address an ‘off the cuff’ application to and had a chat with the person on the phone to establish their culture and hope they would remember me when my letter and CV hit their doorstep.  Some said they had nothing and would have nothing due to the structure of their company, but out of the 86 I called, about 78 were genuinely happy to hear from me.
 
These places didn’t have vacancies, but you never know!  I sent a generic covering letter and my CV off - ok, it’s costly and time consuming but it works!  I posted 35 off in my first 10 days here and have since been offered 4 job interviews and 11 telephoned to thank me for writing to them and offered me advice and further leads. My CV looked great - I had my voluntary experience, my qualification, anything even remotely relating to the field I wanted to work in and a membership to the ACA and the AIPC - which I thoroughly recommend as I have been asked in interview if I am a member of any professional bodies - it’s highly thought of, believe me.
 
Anyway, they were all really impressed with my initiative and every single one I talked to was kind, keen and helpful.  >From the people I spoke to, if they didn’t want my CV, I would ask them if they had any ideas or thoughts on where I could apply to.  From that I received more leads - rehab and detox centres, other government web sites, other job centres - until I can say that my job hunting became a full time job.  I would sit at my computer at 7am, do my internet search, then send off applications and make phone calls and stop for lunch, maybe continue in the afternoon and every night I would do the admin - i.e. write down where I had applied, when I’d sent my CV and so on.  I know it sounds pedantic, but when they start calling you for interviews (and they will) you want to sound like you know what they’re talking about as it’s easy to get lost in all these applications!
 
Being proactive and getting in first is not only a terrific way to get a job, it gets your name out there in the industry and you know you are doing absolutely everything you can to get that dream job.
 
In my first 2 weeks of serious job hunting I had 5 interviews, 3 permanent job offers and an offer of casual work - and they still keep calling ………….. I graduated on the 3rd of December last year and I start my new job next Monday - my dream job that I am so excited and terrified of I can barely breathe! 

The one I got is with the Regional Health Board as a drug and alcohol counsellor for the MERIT program - the Magistrates Early Referral into Treatment Initiative - you’ll know what that means.  A real counsellor!  Can’t decide whether I am more excited or scared but all in all I am thrilled.

I suggest to others to cast your net wide if you can - all that hard work and sacrifices you made whilst studying, the angst and brain strain - it doesn’t end when you graduate - it ends when you have given every thing you have to get that job - then it’s all worthwhile!

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I graduated as a counsellor with AIPC after 3 years study. I had always been intrigued by the concept of a counsellor as a helper of people, and I found that university studies did not suit my timeframe and were not very user friendly.

At age 48 I found myself in a position where I could envision myself able to be employed in the near future, but with no particular training other than a considerable knowledge of the earthmoving and civil engineering industry. I investigated the education scene and found an external degree in Education, in the area of Vocational Education and Training, and decided to embark on that course. I gained my degree at age 50 and worked for a time in the education sector as a supply teacher. I found teaching in schools very draining, and embarked on another uni course – a Masters in Anthropology, but found the time constraints too difficult. The deadlines for assignments were just that – deadly!

A chance encounter with a friend who was an AIPC graduate and working in industry, found me phoning Robert Carrigan and asking for an appointment to discuss the course, its validity and an inspection of the curriculum. I was most impressed with the professional approach used and the course design, and I decided then and there to enrol and pay for 2 majors up front. I brought my husband along with me to make him a ‘stakeholder’ in the process. He remarked to Robert Carrigan – “I don’t really think she is capable of doing this work!!!”

Despite a number of intrusive but external events within my family, and several house moves, and a motor-home trip around Australia, I managed to complete my 22 units in around 3 years, and even had a few ‘not yet competents’, which only provided a challenge, and usually meant minimal hiccups in completion of a unit. I often had to set up the computer and printer on the dashboard of the motor home to prepare assignments.

I found the seminars excellent learning opportunities, and I flew in from places far and wide, but thoroughly enjoyed the interaction with staff and fellow students, who, we decided, were all ‘people people’. I have made excellent friends and contacts through these seminars, and of course, had a little retail therapy on the side. Robert Carrigan usually provided a friendly face on arrival and was always very encouraging of us all – and remembered all our names!

I have commenced work in industry as a counsellor with a private provider company, and work with an excellent team of those same ‘people people’, and currently work in an alumina refinery, an aluminium smelter and with the Central Queensland Port Authority.

My clients are predominantly male, present with a wide variety of concerns, and it is really a pleasure to help them help themselves in their journey through life. The background provided by AIPC has been an excellent tool in my work in industry, and I am currently working through a major in grief and loss. What I will do for my other major I don’t yet know. I counsel on site, in the town office, sometimes in the clients’ homes, and occasionally in a café or other venue chosen by the client.

I appreciate that I am in a privileged position within my clients’ lives, and I am well aware of the code of ethics we must use as a guideline. (And I thought the ethics unit would be a complete bore – it was really very interesting – and very necessary.)

Best wishes to everyone studying with AIPC – just plod on and you will get there, and then you will get such a sense of achievement and satisfaction when you finish your course. It truly is worth every minute of it.

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