A client comes to you with a common problem: he cannot find anything positive in his life. “My friends and family complain that my glass is always half empty. My negativity is getting me down. How can I get out of this negative space that seems to occupy my thought, my language and my attitude […]
Personal Effectiveness
Social Support Development Skills
The saying that “no man is an island” seems not truer anywhere than in the realm of resilience. Happiness author and business coach Alvah Parker lists ten traits of resilient, happy people. In the very first one she notes that resilient people “are strong people who realize the importance of having a good social support […]
- February 28, 2013
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- 2162
- Multicultural Issues, Personal Effectiveness, Relationship & Families, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Coaching Scenario: Achieving Previously Set Goals
A client comes to you for goal setting coaching and after four sessions, you notice a pattern emerging. The client has enthusiasm in setting goals, but during reviews of progress, the client consistently tells you that he has not achieved any process goals because “something always comes up.” Client says he finds himself easily swayed […]
- February 22, 2013
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- Coaching Scenarios, Personal Effectiveness
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Coaching Scenario: Effectiveness in the Workplace
Michael comes to you to assist him in being more effective in the workplace. He has recently started in a new position and finds it difficult to communicate with his manager who does not seem to have time for him. As the coach, how would you help this client? There are a couple of issues […]
- February 13, 2013
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- Coaching Scenarios, Personal Effectiveness, Workplace Issues
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A Personal Development Project
Self-improvement is paramount to personal success. And it is all about developing positive habits, and eradicating those habits and behaviours that are not conducive to growth. With that objective in mind (of creating “good” habits and eradicating “bad” ones), Benjamin Franklin developed a framework for personal development (which he coined “Plan for Attaining Moral Perfection”) consisting […]
- May 17, 2012
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- Personal Effectiveness
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Book Review: Back from the Edge
Publisher: Cape Catley Ltd ISBN: 978-1-877340-22-2 Publication: September 2009 Rob Hewitt was drawn from the water after 75 hours at sea. His skin had begun to separate from his body, his mind was barely holding on – but he survived. People said it was like a miracle. How did he do it, how did he […]
- August 8, 2011
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- 1884
- Book Reviews, Personal Effectiveness, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Goal Orientations Theory of Motivation
Goal orientations are cognitive representations of the general type of goal an individual will tend to pursue. Goal orientations are dynamic and subject to change as information pertaining to one’s performance on the task is processed. While an individual can hold a number of goal orientations that govern their reasons for engaging in an activity, […]
- November 18, 2010
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- 24505
- Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness
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Anxiety and Performance
Anxiety is most often considered a problem if it occurs when there is no real threat or when the anxiety response is disproportionate to the threat being faced. However, when there is a real situation or stressor to deal with, the anxiety level might actually be appropriate. Appropriate levels of anxiety activate the organism to […]
- August 5, 2010
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- Clinical Mental Health, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Study Stress: Keeping it in Perspective
Taking up further study can be a very exciting time as we take a step forward in our personal and professional lives. As we challenge ourselves to develop new skills and knowledge, a new framework to work from, and a new field to master, many of us embrace the role of student with both enthusiasm […]
- July 27, 2010
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- 1598
- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Values and Conflict Resolution
Every person has distinctive viewpoints that are equally valid (from where they stand) as the other party involved in the conflict. Each person’s viewpoint makes a contribution to the whole and requires consideration and respect in order to form a complete solution. This wider view can open up the communication transaction possibilities. It may require […]
- July 19, 2010
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness, Workplace Issues
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Common Thinking Errors
Below is a list of descriptions that cognitive-behavioural counsellors can use to categorise automatic thoughts. These are descriptions of the common types of faulty thinking. All-or-nothing thinking: You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure. Overgeneralisation: You see a single negative […]
- June 29, 2010
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Basic Principles of Time Management
Struggling to find time in your daily life? Consider the following proven time management principles and techniques. The 80/20 rule The 80/20 principle is also known as the Pareto principle. It is based on the ideas of an Italian economist called Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto was a French–Italian economist and philosopher who lived between 1848 and […]
- April 6, 2010
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Relaxation Strategies for Counsellors
It is important to be aware of the way in which stress may be impacting on you and your counselling work. Which aspects of you are more susceptible to the influence of stress? Relaxation strategies “What do you find relaxing? Is it dancing, art, meditation, fishing, going for a walk with friends, reading a book, […]
- October 26, 2009
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Albert Ellis, Rational and Irrational Beliefs
Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburg (1913). He spent most of his life in New York. A natural counsellor, Ellis studied psychoanalysis and was supervised by a training analyst. Ellis, however, grew increasingly frustrated by psychoanalysis which he concluded was unscientific and superficial (Corey, 2005). In the early 1950s, Ellis experimented with other treatment frameworks, […]
- October 15, 2009
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Counselling Therapies, Personal Effectiveness
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How Can Clients Become More Assertive?
It is beneficial for clients who are struggling with passive or aggressive communication to be encouraged by counsellors to become more assertive. In this post we outline a step-by-step process to teach clients assertiveness skills. Step one: Assessment of current communication style The first step in teaching a client to become more assertive is for […]
- October 12, 2009
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness
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