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Graduate Story: Bernie Turnbull

AIPC Graduate Bernie Turnbull shares her story… “I never really thought about a job as a counsellor until I went through my own traumatic experience in my mid-thirties. My husband and I started trying for a child in 2003, but we had 6 miscarriages over the course of seven years. During this period, we had […]

A Brief Comparison of Psychologies

What is it about a counselling or psychotherapy process that makes people change? In other words: what are the mechanisms of therapy? What does the paradigm supporting a given school of psychology assume about the nature of human beings and therefore how they can change? What are the main concepts of a given psychology and […]

Sleep and wellbeing

Sleep is essential for health and well-being. But millions of people don’t get enough, resulting in such problems as daytime sleepiness, poor decision-making, interference with learning and accidents. The American Psychological Association’s page on “Sleep” includes a range of articles with scientific information on sleep-related issues, and tips on how to sleep better? Other popular […]

ACT: Definitions, Goals and Underlying Philosophy

Acceptance and commitment therapy (usually pronounced as the word “act” rather than the initials “A-C-T”) is a form of clinical behavioural analysis developed in 1986 by psychologists Steven Hayes, Kelly Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl. Originally called comprehensive distancing, it gets its current name from one of its core messages: the injunction to accept what is […]

Psychological First Aid Program Released

Mental Health Academy – the largest provider of continuing professional development (CPD) education for the mental health industry in Australia – have just released a comprehensive program focusing on Psychological First Aid in disaster relief settings or situations of narrower-scale adversity. The Psychological First Aid program is a quality 10-hour course developed by MHA in […]

AIPC on YouTube

Want to watch personal and professional development videos, student interviews, conversations with employers of AIPC graduates, and inspirational stories from current and past students? Now you can do that, and much more, with the new AIPC YouTube Channel. Just visit the link below and make sure you click the “Subscribe” button to receive updates each […]

OCD vs OCPD

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) are said to affect two to three percent of the population for OCD (that is: more than 500,000 Australians) and one percent for OCPD, although three to ten percent of the psychiatric population is said to have it (Long, 2011). Many cases probably go untreated. Definitions If […]

Professor Windy Dryden on REBT

Professor Windy Dryden, author of nearly 200 books, discusses how his journey through the world of psychology led to his enthusiastic adoption of the precepts and practice of REBT. REBT is one of the most thoroughly researched and widely used therapeutic approaches in the UK today, and has also been called ‘applied philosophy’ for its […]

Book Review: Counselling Older People with Alcohol Problems

Mike Fox, Lesley Wilson (2011). Jessica Kingsley Publishing. Australia, like other developed countries, has a rapidly ageing population. Over the next 50 years the Australian Bureau of Statistic (2000) predicts that the number of older Australians is expected to increase to 6.5 million, representing approximately 25% of the total population. Whilst the use and abuse […]

Counselling Dilemma: Dual Relationship Boundaries

You have been working with a client for the last 3 months on rebuilding his life and re-integrating into society after having spent 6 years in prison for sex offences. For the last month, you have been working on issues of him frequently stealing money from his girlfriend’s wallet for drinks with his mates, him […]