If you believe that your child is a victim of bullying, you are most probably experiencing two reactions. Firstly, outrage, coupled with other emotions such as confusion and guilt. Secondly, this may raise memories of your own experiences with bullying — either as being bullied, as the bully or as a bystander. It is absolutely […]
Stress
The Downward Spiral of Bullying
The act of bullying usually does not just happen. A child is not bully-free one day and then a victim of full-blown bullying the next. If this was the case, victims of bullying would be more likely able to react more proactively against the bullying behaviour. It is believed that bullying involves a gradual and […]
- May 20, 2008
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- Children & Adolescents, Relationship & Families, School Counselling
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Common Myths about Bullying
The knowledge many people have about bullying is based on myths and misunderstandings. These can be dangerous because these attitudes may make you double guess yourself and your reactions to bullying. The following table contains six of the most misconstrued myths about bullying. ‘We don’t have bullying in our school’ Bullying occurs in all schools […]
- May 16, 2008
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- Children & Adolescents, Relationship & Families, School Counselling
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What is Bullying?
According to the Victorian Education Department bullying is defined as: ‘when someone, or a group of people, who have more power at the time, deliberately upset or hurt another person, their property, reputation or social acceptance on more than one occasion.’ Understanding bullying becomes clearer when we identify examples from the 3 categories of bullying […]
- May 14, 2008
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- Children & Adolescents, Relationship & Families, School Counselling
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Child Bullying: Signs
In most cases a child will not tell an adult that they are being bullied and the school may not be aware of any subtle changes in a child’s behaviour. Therefore it is crucial for parents to identify when their child is experiencing a problem. If you have noticed that your child’s attitude, behaviour or […]
- May 12, 2008
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- Children & Adolescents, Relationship & Families, School Counselling
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Series: Coping with Your Child Being Bullied
Long gone are the days when the phrase ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me’ was used to toughen the kids in the school playground. Bullying is now an issue that is taken very seriously by parents and schools. Research over the past 25 years confirms that bullying is […]
- May 9, 2008
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- Children & Adolescents, Relationship & Families, School Counselling
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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
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management, Workplace Issues
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Counselling Case Study: Social Anxiety
Sasha is a 60 year old woman who has recently retired from a career in teaching. Working for many years in a secondary school environment, Sasha was confident, motivated and dedicated to her work, but at the same time looking forward to retirement so she and her husband could travel and spend more time with […]
- February 11, 2008
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- Case Studies, Clinical Mental Health, Stress Management
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Anger Management Strategy: Relaxation
The body tends to respond in an innate flight or fight response when faced with an anger-provoking situation. That means that reactions within your body call you to ask yourself whether you should leave the situation (flight) or use your newly produced adrenalin and cortisones to get through (fight). The body often responds to anger […]
- January 16, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Anger Management Strategy: Self-Calming
“What we think affects the way we feel. Distorted thinking can increase the likelihood of negative emotions such as anger, while calming or challenging thoughts can reduce the impact of these feelings. Self-calming statements are thoughts that can be (1) prepared in advance to anticipate and cope with a situation or trigger; (2) used to […]
- January 14, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Anger Management Strategy: Challenge Thoughts
Once appraisals of triggers have been identified, it can be beneficial for both counsellor and client to consider the appraisal and evaluate its validity. This can be achieved through a number of questioning techniques (as outlined below). Examining the evidence What is the evidence to suggest that the appraisal is accurate? What is the evidence […]
- January 11, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Anger Management Strategy: Record the Episode
To begin the management of anger, both counsellor and client require an understanding of the client’s expressive patterns. This can be achieved by encouraging clients to complete an Anger Episode Record. This is a record of each trigger, appraisal, experience, expressive pattern and outcome the client encounters during an established time period. Trigger The target […]
- January 10, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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The Anger Episode Model
Kassinove & Tafrate (2002) developed the anger episode model after conducting research that observed individuals responding to anger in real-life situations. The model has five main components, each interlinked with the next (click on the image below). Defining the Components of the Anger Episode Model Triggers are external or internal events, words, thoughts or experiences […]
- January 9, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Using the Anger Thermometer
The anger thermometer can be used in counselling as a mechanism for discussing various anger-provoking scenarios and establishing the label befitting the feeling evoked. Scenarios can range from yielding reactions that are mild to reactions that are intense. Examples include, the feeling evoked when: you are woken up 10 minutes early (mild) you know someone […]
- January 8, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Series: Anger Management
“Anger: Kassinove and Sukhodolsky (1995) defined anger as a felt emotional state. This private state varies in intensity and duration, as well as frequency, and is associated with cognitive distortions, verbal and motor behaviours, and patterns of physical arousal. Although anger may emerge spontaneously, another person is typically seen as the cause of anger. And […]
- January 7, 2008
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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