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 […]
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Personal Effectiveness
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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Finding Balance Between Work and Life
According to the Australian National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Report, December 2003, high stress levels lead to thousands of stress-related WorkCover claims every year. Cases of mental stress had by far the highest median (8.5 weeks) and average (16 weeks) time lost, and accounted for 29% of all new cases of disease. This is […]
- September 30, 2009
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Workplace Issues
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What is Burnout?
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 […]
- September 10, 2009
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Workplace Issues
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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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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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- 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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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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