Institute Inbrief - 28/12/2016
Welcome to Edition 261 of Institute Inbrief! Catching up on your reading during the festive season? In this edition we have put together a list of our 10 most popular articles for the year, tackling a broad range of topics within counselling, mental health, wellness, productivity and more!
Also in this edition:
- Trends and Statistics of the Contemporary Family
- Understanding Self-harming
- A Review of 2016 (Blog Posts)
- Social Media Updates & Much More!
Enjoy your reading!
Editor.
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Bachelor and Master of Counselling
Semester 1, 2017 intake – now open
Have you started thinking about study in 2017?
Our Semester 1, 2017 intake is now open for the Bachelor of Counselling and Master of Counselling. Places are strictly limited, so please express your interest early.
The programs are all government Fee-Help approved, so you can Learn Now and Pay Later.
Some unique features of the programs include:
- [Master] Receive up to 6-months credit for prior Counselling studies
- [Bachelor] Affordable, high quality tertiary education
- Study externally from anywhere in Australia, even overseas
- Residential Schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth*
- Start with just 1 subject
- Online learning portal with all study materials, readings and video lectures
- Live in Sydney? Attend regular classes at our Parramatta campus*
*New students in Bachelor of Counselling only
You can learn more about the programs here:
Applications will exceed available places, so we urge you to submit your obligation free expression of interest now.
Diploma of Counselling
It’s time to start loving what you do!
We’ve been training qualified Counsellors for over 25 years. Overwhelmingly, the number one reason people cite as why they became a Counsellor – to start loving what they do. They were stuck in a rut doing something they had no passion for, and it was dragging them down.
If you want a deeper understanding of yourself, and to use that knowledge to assist others overcome their challenges and start enjoying life again – then counselling is likely for you.
Too often we get drawn into a career that offers little personal satisfaction. Counsellors are passionate about the important work they do. They’re often someone that friends and family naturally come to for assistance. And they get immense personal reward helping others.
If that sounds like you, then it’s time to start pursuing your passion:
- Learn about yourself and help others lead better lives
- Be employed in one of the fastest industry growth sectors in the nation
- Self-paced training, so you can fit learning around your life
- Flexible and supported training with quality learning materials
Other courses:
AIPC Launches Community Services Courses
We’ve helped people from all sorts of backgrounds become counsellors, and now we can assist you in fulfilling your goal of working within the Community Services sector! From January 2017, AIPC will be delivering the following two new courses:
Diploma of Community Services (Case Management) – learn more
There has never been a better time for you to become involved and invested in the Community Services industries. It is predicted, between the years of 2015 to 2019, that employment within the Health Care and Social Assistance industries will increase by 18.7% (www.lmip.gov.au, 2015).
By gaining a qualification in Community Services (Case Management) or Youth Work, you will be contributing to an industry that serves a very important purpose: to assist those with personal or relationship challenges. There is nothing more fulfilling than helping others overcome seemingly impossible obstacles. And there’s no better time to do that than now!
Read The Professional Therapist Newsletter
Given the high psychological as well as social and economic burden associated with Major Depressive Episode, the prevention of relapse must be a high priority for health systems. But, if a person has already experienced anti-depressant medication and possibly regular therapy as well, what options might work to stop the sad cycle of relapse?
One therapeutic response which has demonstrated efficacy for the prevention of relapse in recurrent depression is that of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. In the latest edition of The Professional Therapist, we give you an overview of MBCT.
Year in Review: Our Most Popular Articles
Catching up on your reading during the festive season? We have put together a list of our 10 most popular articles for the year, tackling a broad range of topics in counselling, mental health, wellness, productivity and more! We hope you enjoy it.
Exercise: A Moving Part of Wellness
As with questions of diet, exercise is perhaps uppermost in the minds of those looking to enhance their wellness. The quest for fitness, however – as with diet – is so pervasive in developed cultures that some controversies are inevitable. We believe the best approach is for you to offer your client basic guidelines to help them (re-)shape their fitness regimens, but let them be the ultimate arbiters of what is right for their bodies, lifestyles, and preferences.
Identifying and Replacing Stress-inducing Attitudes in Clients
How willing are your clients to acknowledge unhelpful attitudes and beliefs that they may have? Some of these may be unexamined ways of thinking about themselves and their lives that were given to them by parents and other early caregivers. They may not really be the clients’ attitudes and values, but they were put there so early on, it is hard for clients to tell that they do not belong with them. You can recognise them because they are often distorted, exaggerated, highly self-critical, or self-defeating “tapes” that re-play over and over again in the client’s head, causing personal anxiety, self-doubt, depression, and of course, major stress.
Trauma: The Therapeutic Window
f you had to endure a traumatic event – say, dangerous flooding, an out-of-control bushfire, or being caught up in terrorism – would you want to talk about your experiences later? Would you believe that it would help you to heal from them if you did? Early models for treating trauma asked clients to do this, insisting that the cure was in the retelling. Just around the millennium, however, research began to show that, while some people were helped by going over the trauma again with a counsellor or other “de-briefer”, many others’ trauma symptoms were exacerbated by the insistence on going over the event (van der Kolk & McFarlane, 1996; Rothschild, 2000).
Fixed vs Growth Mindsets
Nearly four decades of research has shown that intelligence is not fixed as scientists used to think; rather, people can develop their brains like a muscle if they put in the effort. People who do that – persisting despite obstacles – can be said to have a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset and they enjoy significantly more success than their fixed-minded peers. In this article, we define and compare these two kinds of mindsets, and outline the benefits of developing a growth mindset.
Helping Clients Develop Healthier Dietary Habits
Nutrition author Adel Davis used to claim, “You are what you eat” (Davis, 1970). Beyond diet, we “are” to some extent also how we exercise, how we sleep, and how we interact with our environment. That is because these are all variables which ultimately determine the condition of our physical self, which greatly impacts our capacity to express ourselves on other levels of being. In this article we examine the main considerations for a healthy diet, identifying brief points that you may wish to emphasise to any clients who need information on the topic in their quest for high-level wellness.
Understanding and Enhancing Interpersonal Communication
We’ve been doing it since the first humanoids appeared on the planet, so by now – hundreds of thousands of years into our existence – we have some basic notions about what governs our communication. We understand that our human interactions are purposeful, not random. We observe that we make choices, that there is usually room for another meaning from what we intend (so communication is ambiguous), that any communication has both a content and a relational dimension, that power is usually involved, and that it is inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable. In this article, we look at those in turn, and also note what the practical (skills) implications are for you.
CBT Interventions for Trauma
While the therapy-types on offer to treat PTSD abound, three different types of psychotherapeutic approaches come up again and again in the literature as workable and appropriate for trauma. These are: cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), eye movement de-sensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR), and psychodynamic psychotherapy. In this article, we explore the use the CBT and CBT-related therapies to treat trauma.
Schema Therapy: Origin, Definition and Characteristics
Have you been working as a therapist in shorter-term therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)? In Australia, the clients of psychologists, for example, have been able to access Medicare rebates for their therapy for a limited number of sessions. Their practitioners, in return, are strongly encouraged – if not mandated – to work in well-researched, “gold standard” therapies such as CBT; they are held accountable for certain outcomes. Yet not all clients respond equally well to therapies such as CBT, which usually include no more than 20 sessions and often less than that. What would you advocate as a therapist for the following clients?
MBCT: A Look at the Mechanisms of Action
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a psychological therapy designed to help prevent the relapse of depression, especially for those individuals who have Major Depressive Disorder (the principal type of depressive disorder defined by the DSM-5). MBCT employs traditional CBT methods and adds in mindfulness and mindfulness meditation strategies. In this article, we explore the mechanisms behind MBCT’s effectiveness in helping prevent relapse of depression.
Counselling the Terminally Ill: Anxiety and Spirituality
If we in the helping professions are to serve the burgeoning demographic of older, often unwell, people – or the caregivers caring for them – we need to know what their needs are. How are we to view death, and what philosophical or spiritual framework will help us work with clients dealing with it? This article entertains the question of what philosophical or spiritual preparation mental health helpers need in order to counsel someone who is chronically ill or dying, or that person’s caregiver.
Thank you for being a loyal reader of Institute Inbrief this year! We will be back in 2017 with more interesting articles and resources for your personal and professional growth! In the meantime, visit https://www.aipc.net.au/articles/ to access over 290 free online articles.
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Trends and Statistics of the Contemporary Family
If the family is society’s “fundamental unit”, what are some of the emergent trends and statistical truths about the unit in these times of accelerated change? If one of our goals, as counsellors, is to assist families in the crisis of transition, we must understand the changes and concomitant stressors that accompany the new forms. In this article, we look at some trends and statistics of the “contemporary family”.
Understanding Self-harming
Self-harming is a dangerous and pervasive problem especially common among adolescents and young adults (Craigen & Foster, 2009; Craigan & Foster, 2009). Self-harming is considered to be a common reason for emergency admission to hospital and also a common reason for suicide (Low, Jones, Duggan, Power & Mac Leod, 2001).
Mental Health Academy – First to Knowledge in Mental Health
Get unrestricted access to over 300 hours of professional development education in mental health, including specialist courses and on-demand videos.
Mental Health Academy is Australia’s leading provider of professional development for mental health practitioners. MHA’s all-inclusive memberships give you instant access to over 300 hours of learning – including videos presented by internationally-renowned experts in counselling, psychology and mental health.
Topics explored include: Evidence-based therapies, mindfulness, CBT, focused psychological strategies, children & adolescents, relationship counselling, motivational interviewing, depression & anxiety, addictions, trauma, e-therapy, supervision, ethics, plus much more.
Benefits of becoming a premium member:
- Over 110 specialist courses to choose from
- Over 100 hours of video learning on-demand
- CPD endorsed by leading industry associations
- Videos presented by international experts
- New programs released every month
- Huge range of topics and modalities
- Online, 24/7 access
Have you visited Counselling Connection yet? There are hundreds of interesting posts including case studies, profiles, success stories, videos and much more. Make sure you too get connected (and thank you for those who have already submitted comments and suggestions).
A Review of 2016
Planning to catch up on your reading during the festive season? We’ll make that easier for you! In this post we’ve compiled our top 14 blog posts for the year. Enjoy your reading!
Click here to read the full post and leave a comment.
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"Think of what you have rather than of what you lack. Of the things you have, select the best and then reflect how eagerly you would have sought them if you did not have them."
~ Marcus Aurelius
Many students of the Diploma of Counselling attend seminars to complete the practical requirements of their course. Seminars provide an ideal opportunity to network with other students and liaise with qualified counselling professionals in conjunction with completing compulsory coursework.
Seminar topics include:
- The Counselling Process
- Communication Skills I
- Communication Skills II
- Counselling Therapies I
- Counselling Therapies II
- Legal & Ethical Framework
- Family Therapy
- Case Management
Click here to access all seminar timetables online.
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