Burnout is a syndrome which occurs due to prolonged emotional strain of dealing extensively with other human beings, particularly in helper and recipient relationships. Burnout is categorised as a type of stress. Unlike normal workplace stress which predominately affects individuals physically, burnout affects individuals emotionally. The term burnout was introduced in the 1970’s, and although […]

Personal Effectiveness
Eleven Ways to Become a Better Counsellor
What can counsellors do to become better professionals, and ultimately help improve the quality of life of their clients? In this post, we explore 11 ways – both direct and indirect – that counsellors can boost their practical skills and expertise. #1 Work on Your Microskills Counselling Microskills include Focusing, Encouragers, Paraphrasing and Summarising, Questioning, […]
- September 2, 2009
- 18
- 171261
- Career Development, Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness, Private Practice
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Dealing Effectively with Loneliness
Loneliness is such a subjective concept and what really is important here is the degree to which loneliness is affecting one’s life and/or a family’s life where relevant. What age is the person, because life goals and needs are often quite different for different age groups and for people with different priorities at different stages […]
- August 24, 2009
- 0
- 3002
- Ageing Issues, Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Loneliness, Depression and Negative Thinking Patterns
In the previous post we explored some aspects of both loneliness and depression. The causes of each often have their basic roots in the way that modern life has progressed, particularly where ways of protecting oneself against being alone, feeling down and worthless and so on have been eroded. Isolation from others (geographic, social, emotional), […]
- August 20, 2009
- 0
- 4134
- Ageing Issues, Clinical Mental Health, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Journalling as a Tool to Reduce Stress
Journalling is a way of tracking the development of our thoughts and feelings. It enables us to not only record our journey but also to write down our goals and our plans on how to reach those goals. The journal is a very powerful tool which assists us in recording our perceptions. The Journal, as […]
- August 6, 2009
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- 1473
- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Negotiation Skills Training in Counselling
Negotiation is defined by the Macquarie Dictionary (1998) as ‘to confer (with another) with a view to agreement’. There are no formal rules governing how these negotiations are to be conducted, although there are culturally accepted styles or approaches for doing so. What negotiation and conflict have in common? The obvious common denominator in negotiation […]
- June 16, 2009
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- 7741
- Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness, Workplace Issues
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Principles of Active Listening in Counselling
Active listening is an essential skill counsellors can exploit to develop a positive and healthy interaction with a client. “Active listening intentionally focuses on who you are listening to, whether in a group or one-on-one, in order to understand what he or she is saying. As the listener, you should then be able to repeat […]
- June 2, 2009
- 3
- 85090
- Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness
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Time Management and Goal Setting
Allen (2001) explains that the essence of time management is completing decisions and determining action steps about the things that capture our psychological and physical space. To cope with everyday demands, Allen has suggested a processing sequence of work and tasks: Collect all situations, projects and tasks that need to be done, including those that […]
- May 26, 2009
- 1
- 4496
- Personal Effectiveness, Private Practice, Wellness
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What are Mastermind Groups?
In 1908, the richest man in the world at the time, the famous steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, commissioned Napoleon Hill to interview and study the 504 most successful people of the day. The objective was to distil which attributes these highly successful business pioneers had in common. Hills resulting book, “Think and Grow Rich”, came […]
- April 15, 2009
- 2
- 1358
- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness
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What is Assertiveness?
Assertiveness is the ability to express one’s feelings, opinions, beliefs and needs directly, openly and honestly, assert one’s rights whilst respecting the feelings and rights of another (Lloyd, 1998). Non-assertive individuals may be passive, aggressive or passive-aggressive. Passive clients appear to be unconcerned with their own rights and are more likely to allow others to […]
- March 31, 2008
- 2
- 6942
- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Series: Coping with Sudden Unemployment
Unfortunately ‘organisational restructuring’ and ‘downsizing’ are common events in today’s workplace. For those individuals who suddenly lose their job, financial pressures can be overwhelming. Most support individuals receive focus on supporting the individual financially. However even under the best conditions where someone has ample savings and decent job prospects, suddenly losing a job is an […]
- February 21, 2008
- 0
- 1824
- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Workplace Issues
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Steps to Improve Your Learning
“To be effective learners we must (1) perceive information, (2) reflect on how it will impact some aspect of our life, (3) compare how it fits into our own experiences, and (4) think about how this information offers new ways for us to act. Learning requires more than seeing, hearing, moving, or touching to learn. […]
- February 12, 2008
- 0
- 1815
- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness
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Coping Effectively with Change: Leisha’s Case Study
Leisha is a 17 year old girl who has a young infant daughter Tippa aged 15 months. Her partner left the relationship before Leisha had the baby and hasn’t been seen or heard of since. Leisha lives at home with her parents. Initially Leisha was very scared about having a baby, and although she went […]
- February 6, 2008
- 0
- 1921
- Children & Adolescents, Lifespan Development, Personal Effectiveness, Wellness
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Effective Options to Cope with Change
Experience and the literature inform us that transitions or changes in life are inevitable and you can fight them, flee from them or preferably accept that you need to prepare for and adapt to the changes in some way. Having confidence in being able to plan for and adapt to change, by having skills and […]
- February 5, 2008
- 1
- 1528
- Lifespan Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Ineffective Options to Cope with Change
It is a bit difficult to define ineffective options simply because it is easier to describe those situations where people have ineffective options to react to change. Nonetheless some ineffective options may include: Denying that a change is occurring; Not being aware of one’s environment – of change that is emerging over time; Not planning […]
- February 4, 2008
- 1
- 1619
- Lifespan Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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