If you’ve ever been stressed, anxious, or just feeling a little blue, you know that it can be tough to find the motivation to get out of the house and into nature. But several studies have found that being in nature for even short periods of time can have a positive effect on our mental health. How is this possible, and how can we most effectively reap the mental health benefits that nature offers?
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Finding Meaning: Masculinity in Crisis
Many young men seek counselling because they feel lost. This happens especially in today’s world, where the boundaries of how a man is supposed to behave are shifting rapidly. This article articulates some causes and concepts that can assist counsellors in understanding masculinity, so they can help men find meaning in the modern world.
- August 12, 2021
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Multicultural Issues, Relationship & Families
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Anger Management: De-escalating Anger
Would you know what to say or do in order to de-escalate from a client – or anyone – threatening to harm you if they don’t get what they want? Would you know – if all else fails – how to keep yourself safe in a violent situation? In this article, we share with you a set of responses for dealing with an angry person – safely – at each of seven levels of anger.
- July 22, 2021
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Relationship & Families
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Counselling Immigrants in Australia: Context and Clinical Considerations
If you are a counsellor, you will always be faced with the challenge of counselling someone who comes from a different culture. So, what do you do if you feel you are unequipped to take these clients on? Will it be too difficult to work with someone who speaks a different language, or who comes from a vastly different culture? How can you be sure that you are giving them the assistance they require? Should we avoid these clients, or refer them elsewhere?
- June 30, 2021
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- Multicultural Issues, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Busting Common Myths About Anger
Because it is so multi-faceted, misperceptions about anger abound, and the question arises: how shall we regard anger? How do we advise the client to think about it? Folk wisdom often would say that the best thing to do is just let it all out, but is it? Clients complain that they cannot control it, that the tendency to be easily angered is inherited, but again, is there evidence for that? This article expores common myths people tend to hold about anger, and factual statements following them that you can use to clarify for the client why learning to deal with problem anger is time well spent.
- June 7, 2021
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- Counselling Theory & Process, Relationship & Families, Wellness
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Strategies for Creating (or Destroying) Habits
In a previous article, we defined habits, looked at how they are formed (through the lens of Duhigg’s and Clear’s models), and then outlined the science behind them. According to James Clear’s Four Laws of Behaviour Change (2018), there are four steps to establishing a habit: cue, craving, routine, reward (Clear, 2018). This article is about how we turn the above steps into practical actions/advice that can help clients not only alter the way they do things, but also make the changes stick.
- May 24, 2021
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- Neuroscience, Personal Effectiveness, Wellness
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Understanding Diverse Genders and Sexualities
To work effectively with a range of clients, it is important for counsellors to understand the concept of diverse genders and sexualities and to reflect upon what these concepts mean in the context of their own practice and the client-counsellor relationship.
- April 27, 2021
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- LGBTI Issues, Multicultural Issues
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Enhancing Wellbeing in the Workplace
The morning alarm jolts you awake, and you roll over to swat the snooze button – just like that, Monday has come again, along with another working week. You mourn the freedoms of the weekend and drag yourself out of bed whilst wondering why your alarm’s tone is so irritating. “I need coffee”, you think. […]
- March 30, 2021
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- Stress Management, Wellness, Workplace Issues
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Identifying and Managing Therapist Burnout
It’s a new year, we’ve all renewed ourselves with a fabulous holiday break, and we’re raring to go again, having said goodbye to the factors stressing us in 2020, right? Or maybe not. Much of the developed world has, at this writing, only recently come out of lockdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, and many countries […]
- March 1, 2021
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- Stress Management, Wellness, Workplace Issues
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Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): What the Research Shows
Read the first part of this article series here. Here’s a question: What therapy is fairly new to the scene, works in non-traditional ways, and is showing itself to be as effective as some gold standard therapies, but in less time? If you answered “EMDR” – Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy – you are right […]
- February 23, 2021
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- Counselling Therapies, Diagnosis & Treatment, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR): Background, Structure and Applications
In this article, we explore what Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) is, how it works, which conditions are being treated with it, and what’s involved in each of its eight phases. A companion piece offers a snapshot of research conducted so far, outlines the main effects the therapy induces, and notes the requirements for […]
- February 18, 2021
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- Counselling Therapies, Diagnosis & Treatment, Trauma & Disaster Mental Health
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Take the Mindful Path to Self-Care
Imagine a self-care strategy which relies solely on you. It can be done in a quiet space or on-the-go; it can take place individually or with like-minded others; and it can be flexible to your needs and circumstances. Furthermore, in a time when uncertainty never feels too far away, it is unlikely to become a casualty of lockdown or physical distancing. Within a working context, if utilised properly, this self-care strategy can enable you to become a better helping professional, as well as inform and improve upon your interactions and practices with clients. Welcome to the world of mindfulness.
- February 3, 2021
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- Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Wellness
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The Science Behind Habit Formation
Oh, here we go again! You’ve got a wonderful new smart phone – or maybe a computer – with all the bells and whistles, but how do you make it work? How do you get from one screen or one app to the next? Chances are, the first day will involve a bit of brainwork; you’ll notice what happens when you push this button or come to that screen and you may feel slightly clumsy working it, but after a day or two, you will be so used to the new device that you will forget how the old one operated. So, from the brain’s perspective, what just happened?
- January 7, 2021
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- Neuroscience, Personal Effectiveness
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7 Powerful Strategies to Help Your Child Balance Their Brain Budget
This article has been republished with the permission of Superpower Kids. Superpower Kids develop fun, engaging social and emotional learning programs for children aged 5 to 10 years. You can find more informative articles like this at Superpower Kids Blog It never feels good to blow your budget and go into overdraft. Yet, going into […]
- January 5, 2021
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- Children & Adolescents, Neuroscience, Relationship & Families
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Emotionally Intelligent Leadership
Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a hot topic in business, personal development, relationships and the media for at least the past decade. While some see it as a touchy-feely or overly personal approach to leadership, many experts believe that it pays dividends in terms of productivity, performance, turnover, motivation and ultimately success. EI is the […]
- November 3, 2020
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Workplace Issues
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