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 […]

Wellness
Book Review: Developing Resilience
Neenan, M. (2009). Developing resilience: A cognitive-behavioural approach. East Essex, UK: Routledge. Pain, tragedy and sadness happen, how people react and recover from adverse life events can be as varied as the event itself. Why is this? How can two people experience the same incident yet one individual can fall apart and the other can […]
- December 30, 2013
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- Book Reviews, Personal Effectiveness, 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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Basics of Chronic Pain: Definition and Statistics
Chronic pain affects 29 percent of Australians, which means that at any given time nearly three out of ten people are suffering in some way (Stollznow Research for Pfizer Australia, 2010). When we add the emotional, physical, and financial challenges of the people who care for them, the percentage of lives touched by chronic pain […]
- July 23, 2013
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- Ageing Issues, Clinical Mental Health, Disability Issues, Wellness
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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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Lifestyle Interventions for Depression
Treatments for depression or anxiety, also called “interventions”, fall into one of three categories, and often several are recommended to be taken up at once. These main groupings are: Medical interventions; Psychological interventions; and Lifestyle interventions. In this post we overview a range of lifestyle interventions therapists can suggest when treating depression. Bibliotherapy What is […]
- September 3, 2012
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- Clinical Mental Health, Diagnosis & Treatment, Wellness
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Positive Psychology and Resilience
What makes one person ‘bounce back’ following adversity and another person seem to ‘crumble in a heap’? This question has always posed a fascination for me. I have often wondered whether individuals are simply born with the skills to cope with the difficulties that life often presents or whether there are a set of stress-coping […]
- May 10, 2012
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Wellness
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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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Happiness, Positive Psychology and Wellbeing
The concept of happiness is the corner stone of the assumptions of positive psychology. Happiness is characterised by the experience of more frequent positive affective states than negative ones as well as a perception that one is progressing toward important life goals (Tkach & Lyubomirsky, 2006). Identifying factors that contribute to happiness has proven to […]
- August 30, 2010
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- Counselling Therapies, Wellness
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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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7 Ways to Improve Intimacy in Your Relationship
Good relationships don’t just happen. Many people have the attitude that, “If I have to work at it, then it can’t be the right relationship.” This is not a true statement, any more than it’s true that you don’t have to work at good physical health through exercise, eating well, and stress reduction. There are […]
- July 7, 2010
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- Relationship & Families, Wellness
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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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Humour Makes Life Easier
Humour can be a powerful and effective mechanism for coping with stress, especially when combined with other means of stress reduction. The real power of humour and laughter shows up when you learn to use it in stressful situations. It keeps things in perspective, helps dispel negative emotions, and puts you in a frame of […]
- August 4, 2009
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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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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