Welcome to the AIPC Counselling Articles Page

Ethics and Disclosure - 01-07-2009
Disclosure is a controversial issue when examining therapeutic boundaries. There are two issues to consider regarding disclosure. The first is counsellor disclosure and confidentiality. The second is counsellor disclosure (ie. how much does a client disclose about their own lives to a client?).

Teaching Clients to Become Assertive - 18-06-2009
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.

Domestic Violence: Understanding the Situation - 09-06-2009
Around the world at least one woman in every three has been beaten, abused or coerced into sex during her lifetime. Most often the abuser is a member of her own family. The prevalence of domestic violence is difficult to determine for several reasons: it often goes unreported, and there is some ambiguity about what should be included in the definition of domestic violence.

A Case of Childhood Sexual Abuse - 09-06-2009
Marna attended counselling to try to do “something” with her memories of child abuse that currently seem to be affecting her life. She attended twelve appointments over a six-month period...

Ego States: Concepts - 09-06-2009
Eric Berne, the pioneer of transactional analysis, made complex interpersonal transactions understandable when he recognised that the human personality is made up of three "ego states". Each ego state is an entire system of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from which we interact with one another.

A Case of using Logical Consequences to help a Client to make difficult decisions - 09-06-2009
Richard is a 41-year-old plant operator in a heavy machinery company. He works long hours and must start very early each day. Twelve months ago he accepted a transfer from a country location to a capital city 250 kilometres away from his family. Due to financial obligations this was seen as a necessity. He travelled back to see his family on weekends. He has a wife and 4 children to support...

Trauma and Counselling - 09-06-2009
The word 'trauma' originates from the Greek 'wound', and it refers to both psychological and physiological aspects. Trauma occurs as a result of a serious event and it has deep roots in various levels of the human mind and behaviour...

Narrative Therapy: Principles and Objectives - 09-06-2009
Your life is a narrative, counted and recounted from many different perspectives, and by diverse people. There are settings, themes, characters and plots – just like in any movie, book, historical account or legendary fable. In this article we review the approach of Narrative Therapy and how it can be effectively used by counsellors to assist individuals improve their lives. Narrative Therapy: Principles and Objectives

Multicultural Counselling - 09-06-2009
Australia is a land of enormous cultural diversity. Almost one quarter of our population were born in another country, yet most mainstream services mirror only broad Australian values and attitudes. Many of our multicultural clients may prefer to talk with a counsellor from their own cultural background, but often this may not be possible. It is therefore important that as counsellors we are able to offer a consistent and competent service to all our clients regardless of their language and cultural diversity.

A Case of Acceptance and Letting Go - 09-06-2009
Elizabeth came to counselling because she was experiencing intense anger, and was not coping with her life. She complained of failed relationships with her ex-husband, and with another man whom she left her husband to be with.