Dr Jeremy Dean, a psychologist and author of PsyBlog, recently wrote a blog post exploring a new technique that holds promise for those experiencing disturbing emotional flashbacks. The post offers insightful ideas — particularly for those working with trauma and grief. Here’s an abstract: A better way to deal with recurring negative memories is to […]

Stress Management
Core Actions of Psychological First Aid
In the first video of this two-part series (Principles of Psychological First Aid), Richard Hill looked at the five principles that are the basis for all Psychological First Aid: that is, promoting safety, calmness, self-efficacy, connectedness, and hope. In this talk, Richard will be putting you into the field: that is, the explorations will take […]
- April 11, 2014
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Loss & Grief, Multicultural Issues, Stress Management, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health, Videos
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Principles of Psychological First Aid
Psychological First Aid is a means of providing psychosocial support to individuals and families immediately after a disaster, terrorist or traumatic event, or other emergency. It consists of a set of helping actions which are systematically undertaken in order to reduce initial post-trauma distress and to support short- and long-term adaptive functioning. Based on the […]
- April 4, 2014
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Loss & Grief, Multicultural Issues, Stress Management, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health, Videos
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Supporting People with Chronic Pain
Have you ever had a period in your life when the main thing you recall from it was the relentless pain? What about a period when you were a caregiver for someone with chronic pain? In this video, Richard Hill talks about supporting those who are dealing with chronic pain, whether the person supported is […]
- March 14, 2014
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- Ageing Issues, Disability Issues, Stress Management, Videos
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Helping Yourself Get Past the Blues
You can’t beat depression through sheer willpower — it is an illness after all, not a sign of weakness — but you do have some control. Here are some tips for helping yourself to overcome depression. They involve finding things you enjoy (especially some new ones), staying active, and staying connected. Some of the tips […]
- February 21, 2014
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- Personal Effectiveness, Spirituality & Religion, Stress Management, Wellness
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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 […]
- November 7, 2013
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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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 […]
- October 11, 2013
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- Counselling Therapies, Stress Management
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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 […]
- August 12, 2013
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- Clinical Mental Health, Diagnosis & Treatment, Stress Management
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How Should Psychologists Engage with the Consequences of Poverty?
According to the World Health Organization website, “approximately 1.2 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty (on less than one dollar per day)” (http://bit.ly/173Mwtu accessed 30 May 2013). According to the World Bank web site “2.4 billion live on less than US $2 a day, the average poverty line in developing countries” and […]
- August 1, 2013
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- Multicultural Issues, Stress Management
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Coaching Scenario: Negative and Pessimistic Thoughts
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 […]
- March 6, 2013
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- Coaching Scenarios, Counselling Theory & Process, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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Counselling Dilemma: A Teenager Experiencing Study Stress
Anna is a 17 year old student in Year 12 who has come to counselling because she is not coping with the stress of her final year. Anna is from a culture where academic success is highly important and she is under intense pressure from her parents to get good grades and go to university. […]
- December 17, 2012
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- Children & Adolescents, Counselling Dilemmas, Ethics & Legal Issues, School Counselling, Stress Management
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Book Review: Help for the Helper
Rothschild, B. (2006). Help for the helper. The psychophysiology of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. New York. W. W. Norton & Company. Burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma are risks that, as therapist we are aware of however whilst many of us have a toolbox full of techniques to assist our clients, we often fall […]
- January 16, 2012
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- Book Reviews, Stress Management, Wellness
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The Aftermath of a Critical Incident
When we experience a threatening event, our bodies automatically respond in a way that allows us to protect ourselves or escape from the situation. This fight or flight involves an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and breathing rate. All these changes help us to physically deal with danger or leave the situation […]
- October 14, 2010
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- Stress Management, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Critical Incident Counselling
Over time, the distinction between the three terms, stress, traumatic stress, and crisis, have become blurred, thus numerous professionals started using these terms synonymously. Some authors specifically indicate that they deal with both stress and developmental crisis, but do not make distinctions between these terms/concepts. Others define their work as dealing with crisis, but take […]
- September 21, 2010
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- Stress Management, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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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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