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Role Play Demonstration of a Supervision Session

In this video, Philip Armstrong (Clinical Director of the Clinical Counselling Centre and CEO of the Australian Counselling Association) and Catherine Dodemont (Registered Supervisor and Level 4 Member of the Australian Counselling Association) demonstrate (through a role-play) a counselling supervision session. Topics explored include counsellor self-care, professional development, confidentiality issues, practice management and marketing, and […]

Book Review: Spirituality in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Johnson, Rick. (2013). Spirituality in counseling and psychotherapy: An integrative approach that empowers clients. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Spirituality in counselling and psychotherapy offers a practical exploration of the understanding and integration of spirituality in contemporary counselling. It is a practical text guiding the reader through an awareness of self and the role […]

Counselling Dilemma: An Issue of Sexuality and Boundaries

A counsellor has been working with a client over a period of 9 months assisting with inner child therapy work. During the period, the client also talks about her relationship issues, sexuality as well as a relationship with another person. The counsellor, who also happens to be in a same sex relationship and going through […]

From Evidence-Based Medicine to Marketing-Based Medicine

Dr Peter Parry is an Australian child & adolescent psychiatrist who has researched the “Paediatric Bipolar Disorder” diagnosis emanating from the USA, a diagnosis completely at odds with his training and clinical experience in Australian child and adolescent mental health. As part of his research into the PBD phenomenon, he noticed hundreds of internal pharmaceutical […]

Mindfulness Practice: Problems and Solutions

Although only recently embraced by Western psychology, mindfulness practices and techniques have been part of many Eastern philosophies, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Tai Chi, Hinduism, and most martial arts, for thousands of years. The various definitions of it revolve around bringing non-judgmental consciousness to the present experience, so it can be considered the art of […]

Dealing with Transference in Counselling

Transference is a phenomenon in psychology characterised by “unconscious redirection of feelings of one person to another” (Wiki Answers, n.d.). It can occur both in everyday life and also in the therapy room. One example of how it can happen is when a person mistrusts another because the other resembles, say, an ex-spouse, in manners, […]

Play Therapy Activities to Develop Social Skills

Social skills include the ways in which the child relates to others in order to make friends, get their needs met, be assertive, employ boundaries and cooperate. In order to develop social skills effectively, it is important that the child understands and experiences different behaviors and their consequences. To achieve this in play therapy, a […]

Mindfulness Techniques: Defusion Exercises

Mindfulness (learn more about mindfulness here) interventions have been shown to be beneficial for a wide range of psychological and physical conditions such as anxiety, depression, chronic pain, personality disorders, and addictions. Controlled trials of normal populations have also demonstrated positive changes in brain function and immune response, self-awareness, perceived stress, and increase in self-compassion […]

Brain Pickings

Brain Pickings, a project by writer Maria Popova, has recently caught our eye thanks to its wide range of insightful book reviews, interviews and resources. If you are looking for interesting books covering topics such as psychology, arts, creativity, design, history and science – this website is a formidable reference. Brain Pickings is a human-powered discovery engine […]

Common Stages of Disaster Recovery

Disasters and mass disruptive events can be extremely unpredictable and chaotic. Even though that is a valid characterisation of catastrophe, disaster experts have discerned a general pattern or cycle of phases that a community and the individuals in it go through from the time of impact of a disaster to establishing a newly reconstructed life. […]

Book Review: Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for Wellness and Recovery

Bein, A. (2014). Dialectical behaviour therapy for wellness and recovery. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive behaviour therapy. Developed by psychologist Marsha M. Linehan in the late 1980s, the approach emphasises the psychosocial elements of treatment. Dialectical behavior therapy for wellness and recovery by Andrew Bein presents […]

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There are many ways you can regularly interact with our team and thousands of your peers – plus enjoy ongoing access to the industry news, articles, videos and numerous educational resources. Below is an overview of our open-access social media resources, and how you can join them. Counselling Connection [this blog!] – www.aipc.net.au/blog What is […]