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Copyright: 2012 Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors

Institute Inbrief - 11/11/2014

WELCOME  

Welcome to Edition 214 of Institute Inbrief! In the previous two editions we discussed the process of providing emotional and psychological (or social) support to others – including the reasons why we help; the traps we can fall into as we attempt to help others; and the typical needs and motivations behind supporting others.
 
In this edition, we delve into key ethical considerations when providing social support, including the adoption of a code of ethics, the ethical decision-making process, and confidentiality issues.
  • Latest news and updates
  • Articles and CPD information
  • Social media review
  • Upcoming seminar dates
Enjoy your reading!
 
Editor.
 
 
Join our community:
 
 
 
 
INTOstudies  
 
Bachelor of Counselling
 
Become A Counsellor or Expand On Your Qualifications
With Australia’s Most Cost Effective & Flexible
Bachelor of Counselling
 
SEMESTER 1, 2015 INTAKE: NOW OPEN
 
AIPC is Australia’s largest and longest established educator of Counsellors. Over the past 22-years we’ve helped over 55,000 people from 27 countries pursue their dream of becoming a professional Counsellor.
 
The Bachelor of Counselling is a careful blend of theory and practical application. Theory is learnt through user-friendly learning materials that have been carefully designed to make your studies as accessible and conducive to learning as possible.
 
You can gain up to a full year’s academic credit (and save up to $8,700.00 with RPL) with a Diploma qualification. And the program is government Fee Help approved. With Fee-Help you can learn now and pay later: the government will finance all or part of your tuition fees, which you only start to repay from $40 per week once your income exceeds $51,309.
 
Here are some facts about the course:
  • Save up to $57,000 on your qualification.
  • Get started with NO MONEY DOWN using FEE-HELP.
  • Study externally from anywhere in Australia, even overseas.
  • You will be supported by a large team of highly-qualified counselling professionals.
  • Online learning portal with access to all study materials, readings and video lectures.
  • Attend Residential Schools in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to hone your practical skills and network with other students.
You can learn more here: www.aipc.edu.au/degree
 
Click here to see what students think of the program.
 
 
Bachelor of Psychological Science
 
Earn-While-You-Learn With Australia's
Best Value-for-Money & Flexible
Bachelor of Psychological Science
 
SEMESTER 1, 2015 INTAKE: NOW OPEN
 
Psychology is one of the most versatile undergraduate courses, leading to many different career opportunities. And now there's a truly flexible way to get your qualification – with internal or external study options. It means working while you study is a realistic alternative.
 
Cost of living pressures and lifestyle choices are evolving the way we learn and Australian Institute of Psychology (AIP) is paving the way through flexible, innovative learning models:
  • Save up to $35,800 on your qualification.
  • Get started with NO MONEY DOWN with FEE-HELP.
  • Earn while you learn with flexible external learning options.
  • Be supported by a large team of highly-qualified Psychology professionals.
  • Study internally or externally with individualised personal support.
  • Enjoy a flexible and supportive learning experience.
  • Benefit from less onerous course entry requirements.
  • Residential Schools in Melbourne*, Sydney* and Brisbane.
*Residential Schools in Melbourne and Sydney are available for CORE subjects only.
 
AIP is a registered Higher Education Provider with the Australian Government, delivering a three-year Bachelor of Psychological Science. The Bachelor of Psychological Science is accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC), the body that sets the standards of training for Psychology education in Australasia.
 
APAC accreditation requirements are uniform across all universities and providers in the country, meaning that Australian Institute of Psychology, whilst a private Higher Education Provider, is required to meet exactly the same high quality standards of training, education and support as any university provider in the country.
 
You can learn more here: www.aip.edu.au/degree
 
 
Diploma of Counselling
 
Imagine Being Passionate About Your Work
And Assisting People Every Day Lead Better Lives
 
 
It’s rare these days to hear people talk about their work with true passion. You hear so many stories of people working to pay the bills; putting up with imperfect situations; and compromising on their true desires.
 
That’s why it’s always so refreshing to hear regular stories from graduates living their dream to be a Counsellor. They’re always so full of energy, enthusiasm and passion. There’s no doubt that counselling is one of the most personally rewarding and enriching professions.
 
Just imagine someone comes to you for assistance. They’re emotionally paralysed by events in their life. They can’t even see a future for themselves. They can only focus on their pain and grief. The despair is so acute it pervades their entire life. Their relationship is breaking down and heading towards a divorce. They can’t focus on work and are getting in trouble with their boss. They feel they should be able to handle their problems alone, but know they can’t. It makes them feel helpless, worthless. Their self-esteem has never been lower. They’re caught in a cycle of destruction and pain.
 
Now imagine you have the knowledge and skills to help this person overcome their challenges. You assist to relieve their intense emotional pain. You give them hope for the future. You assist to rebuild their self-esteem and lead a satisfying, empowered life.
 
As a Counsellor you can experience these personal victories every day. And it’s truly enriching. There is nothing more fulfilling than helping another person overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.
 
You can learn more here: www.aipc.net.au/course_dippro.php
INTOmentalhealth  
 
All kinds of minds (TED Talks on mental Illness)
 
This very special TED (www.ted.com) playlist includes nine powerful stories that shatter preconceived notions about mental illness, and pose the provocative question: What can the world learn from different kinds of minds?
 
The playlist includes the following videos:
  • A tale of mental illness - from the inside (14min)
  • The world needs all kinds of minds (19min)
  • The voices in my head (14min)
  • What's so funny about mental illness? (8min)
  • How electroshock therapy changed me (22min)
  • On being just crazy enough (5min)
  • Strange answers to the psychopath test (18min)
  • What hallucination reveals about our minds (18min)
  • Music is medicine, music is sanity (9min)
Click here to watch these videos.
INTOcounselling  
 
Caring for Others: Ethical Considerations
 
In the previous two editions we discussed the process of providing emotional and psychological (or social) support to others – including the reasons why we help; the traps we can fall into as we attempt to help others; and the typical needs and motivations behind supporting others.
 
In this article, we delve into key ethical considerations when providing social support, including the adoption of a code of ethics, the ethical decision-making process, and confidentiality issues. Before reading this article, we recommend that you visit the “Social Support” article category in the AIPC online article library to review other articles on the subject.
 
Introduction
 
In offering social support to others, not only might we fail to help – or worse, inadvertently harm – our care recipient, but also, a lack of awareness could land us in legal or ethical trouble. As a social supporter, it is not enough to say, “Oh, I didn’t know.” Those involved with social support have a duty to find out about appropriate and ethical conduct, relevant legal codes, and boundary issues that will ensure that their offering is truly helpful.
 
We must follow the dictum of the Hippocratic Oath taken by all practitioners of the healing arts: first, do no harm. Put more positively, our two general ethical responsibilities are to:
  1. Provide the best help possible to our helpee, and
  2. Maintain our own wellbeing in the service of optimal care for the helpee.
This article discusses the over-arching responsibilities we have to our helpee. Then we propose some essential areas of responsibility towards ourselves as carers if we would be ethical helpers.
 
Responsibilities towards your helpee
 
What are the responsibilities imposed by a mandate for ethical practice, and how are these different from duties imposed by the legal system? Also, what purpose does a code of ethics serve? We must be able to recognise the subtly unethical behaviours that can crop up in ourselves or others. We discuss issues of confidentiality, which are paramount for the ethical helper.
 
Empowerment also has a place in this discussion; we see a responsibility to foster it in helpees. In a different vein, we see how crucial our unconditional acceptance of a helpee is for high quality social support. We discuss the question of personal limits, and why you need to know what yours are. And finally, if you are to be effective, you must know when and how to refer someone to a professional helper (if you are not one). There are some suggestions to clarify that. Many of these issues are the “deep end” of the helping business: the serious side which, if we fall afoul of it, trips us up in major ways, despite our most golden intentions for helping. Thus it is essential to gain awareness of what we must do if in order to do right by our helpee.
 
Ethics and the law
 
Practicing as an ethical helper involves much more than following a code of ethics. The nature of ethical dilemmas is that the problems are often complex, the answers not clearcut. Ethical codes are guidelines, not dogma, and the standards and codes vary between agencies. One thing that most organisations agree on, however, is that the social supporter who would practice safely should find out what their State (and Federal) legal boundaries and responsibilities are for the type of assistance that they are undertaking.
 
While both laws and ethics provide guidelines for acceptable helping practice and often overlap with each other, they are coming from different paradigms. A set of ethical codes is aspirational, setting out the goal behaviour that all helpers following it should try to attain. A legal code, on the other hand, offers the minimum standards that one must meet in order to avoid liability. Legal standards are enforced by government agencies, and ultimately, the court system. The upholding of ethical codes is generally overseen by professional bodies (e.g., peak associations such as the Australian Counselling Association for counsellors), national certification boards, and government boards which regulate professions.
 
Most of the time ethical codes will state that helpers must act in accordance with relevant legal statutes and regulations, yet there are times when ethical and legal duties conflict, creating a challenging situation for the helper. For instance, social supporters who work with minors and certain confined populations, such as prisoners or institutionalised persons, especially need to know how the law restricts what they can do. Some areas of social support that may be governed by law include issues of confidentiality, informed consent, parental consent, rights of institutionalised persons, and protection of care recipient welfare.
 
Being aware of legal rights and responsibilities that are relevant to your helping work will protect your helpee from unintentional harm. Equally importantly, they will protect you from unnecessary lawsuits that could arise merely because you are unaware of either the law or relevant ethical codes (Corey and Corey, 2007).
 
Codes of ethics: why have them?
 
Ethical codes are generally reactive: that is, when an incident happens or trend occurs which impacts on the welfare of helpees, the documents are changed to reflect the new concerns. This means that such codes tend to be dynamic, changing with societal attitudes and values. Generally, however, codes of ethics are steadfast in serving three main purposes:
  1. They inform helpers about solid ethical practice;
  2. They provide a way of making helpers accountable. The ultimate end goal here is protecting the “consumer” of the helping service;
  3. They function as catalysts for us as helpers to improve our practice, as we can reflect on our helping in the context of the ethical principles contained in the code (Corey and Corey, 2007).
Some available ethical codes
 
Whilst there are no specific codes of practice or statutory requirements for those offering social support, it would be considered good practice to be aware of codes that apply to the helping professions. You can find some samples of Codes of Ethics at these sites:
  • The Australian Counselling Association – click here to access.
  • The Australian Association of Social Workers – click here to access.
  • The New Zealand Association of Counsellors – click here to access.
  • Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia – click here to access.
  • Australian Psychological Society – click here to access
  • The (U.S.) National Association of Social Workers’ code – click here to access
  • The American Psychological Association – click here to access
Ethical decision-making: getting a procedure in place
 
From time to time it’s possible that when you’re offering your support you are faced with an ethical issue. Ethical problems are often not straightforward, so it makes sense to be prepared in advance. Here are some guiding principles to consider:
 
As far as possible, base any actions you take on sound judgment (part of growing as a Mental Health Social Supporter is developing that). Sound judgment includes establishing whether you have an ethical, legal, or other (say, practice-based) problem.
 
NEVER overstep your boundaries. Remember, you are a Mental Health Social Supporter, not a professional therapist.
 
Stay up-to-date with local laws and current versions of the code of conduct you have adopted.
 
Explore various courses of action to resolve the dilemma.
 
Engage in an ongoing process of examination, working out the consequences of various actions for the parties involved, and for yourself. Second, what do you think about including your helpee in the process? Think about this: you are trying to help someone who has been beleaguered by life and events. You are keen to encourage them to become more independent and have more empowerment. Where appropriate, you may be able to foster more of such actions by making ethical decisions with them, rather than for them. You can think of the helpee as a collaborator (again: this may not always be possible). Remember, your role as a social supporter is not to direct, it is to support and where necessary refer to an appropriately trained professional.
 
Spotting unethical behaviour
 
Are you certain that you can recognise unethical behaviour when it is happening: in yourself? In colleagues and others? Chances are that, even if you haven’t been helping others for a long time, you would be able to identify grossly unethical actions: for example, the professional who claims that developing a sexual liaison with her client is somehow therapeutic for him. Or what about the volunteer helper who may not be getting paid in dollars, but is quietly accepting gifts of value from one of his helpees, a care recipient who can ill afford to give the gifts, but does not, in her state of mental illness, realise that?
 
These ethical transgressions seem blindingly obvious, but what about the more subtle situations that happen in everyday helping? Consider these examples:
 
1. Robert has, with the permission of his helpee Veronica, posted Veronica’s story on his website, ostensibly so that people will see what she has overcome, be impressed, and affirm her. Robert says that he hopes this will raise Veronica’s profile and her self-esteem. It is also true that, as people read the story, they hear about Robert’s role in her “miraculous” recovery, and some have emailed Robert to try to get appointments with him.
 
2. Jan sees her fellow social supporters weekly. They meet at a coffee bar in the small community where they all live, and where locals congregate. Sometimes the talk gets round to support work, and Jan, an entertaining story teller, is able to delight the group with humorous vignettes of things that have happened with her helpees. Of course, she never mentions names, but the vibrancy of her stories is greatly amplified by including other (true) details that are relevant to the story. She has a commanding presence, and a significant voice.
 
3. Maria is caring for her elderly mum in her own home. The situation works fairly well, although Maria, a writer, finds the constant demands that her mother makes a bit irritating in terms of the disruption to her thought while she is trying to write. The public nurses come by each week to see if her mum needs anything, and recently, Mum has mentioned that she isn’t really sleeping that well. The nurse says that she could give her medication for that, but it would mean that Mum was sleeping more during the day. Maria jumps on this solution, telling the nurse that they should definitely go ahead with it, “so that Mum can be more comfortable”.
 
Do you see yourself in any of these situations, or similar ones? Do you have a sense of what has gone wrong in the examples above? Can you name which, if any, ethical constraints are being violated? If Robert, Jan, or Maria were your colleagues, how willing would you be to address the ethical issue that may be occurring with each of them? We ask because personal confrontation of the erring colleague is indeed the normally recommended course of action.
 
If you think that it takes emotional honesty, courage, and the willingness to say something difficult – especially to someone that you work with – you are right. And if the person who is committing the ethical oversight is in a position of power over you, there is more bad news: you are vulnerable. But consider this. If your primary motivation is genuinely to provide social support to vulnerable people, and yet you stand by and do nothing while part of that population is being undermined – however subtly – how truly supportive are you? Confrontation of this sort is an art, a skill that develops over time. However, if we do not engage it when there is clearly a need, we may need to be reminded – and forgive us the paraphrase – that for unethical ways to prevail, all that is necessary is for good men (and women) to do nothing.
 
Checking for ethical awareness
 
How tuned in to potential ethical complications are you? For example, working with children may involve issues of parental consent. If you are a business person primarily and a social supporter in your spare time, are there any conflicts of interest with any clients given your dual roles? Challenge yourself to find at least one ethical dilemma. See if you can identify the ethical issues involved, and who would be hurt by the wrong action being taken. What should happen now? If this situation arose in the past and has already been dealt with, what did you do? How was it resolved, and how happy are you in retrospect with your action(s)? What did you learn from the situation?
 
Confidentiality issues in meeting helpee responsibilities
 
At least one of the situations above is an ethical problem because of violations of confidentiality. While at first glance, confidentiality may seem to be a simple precept – that is, you don’t talk about your helpees outside of the place where you are helping them – in truth, there are a number of problematic issues for ethical helpers, especially in the modern world of technology, multi-tiered health delivery systems, and complex legal requirements. Yet, as one of the most basic ethical obligations, we must observe confidentiality of helpee disclosures if we would preserve the trust on which our helping relationship is based.
 
Your helpees have a right to expect that their disclosures to you will remain confidential, but they also need to understand that that confidentiality is not absolute. Questions of safety for helpees or others, legal requirements for disclosure, and parental rights are only a few of the issues that may supersede their right to a confidential helping disclosure.
 
The duty to warn and protect
 
There are exceptions to confidentiality created by the courts of most modern nations. If as a social supporter, you have reason to believe that a helpee poses a danger to themselves or others, you are obligated by law to protect that helpee or relevant others by warning appropriate parties of the imminent danger. If you think that a helpee is, say, suicidal or about to self-harm, you must advise either the person’s family or relevant authorities, such as mental health crisis teams (the helpee’s circumstances will dictate who should be told). If the helpee is mentally unstable and has threatened to harm or kill others, you need to let them know that your duty to warn and protect overrides their right to confidentiality, and then you need to tell the right parties: possibly, the police, the crisis team, and the person or persons to whom the threat is directed.
 
Similarly, you have an obligation to warn and protect people who may be exposed, or may have been exposed, to a disease borne by a helpee: for example, someone who is HIV-positive and has disclosed this to you, but not told their sexual partner(s), of their HIV status.
 
A special note: confidentiality in a high-tech world
 
Confidentiality and privacy are complex issues in our technological world. With the advent of telephone messaging systems, fax machines, email, and phone texting, there are now multiple ways to accidentally violate your helpee’s privacy that were not nearly as widely used just a few years ago. As helpful as these methods of communication are, they pose special risks to confidentiality for helper and helpee alike. Take note of the following:
 
If you have an answering machine/messaging system, make sure that unauthorised people do not hear messages that are coming in, or that you’re retrieving.
 
If you must call to a helpee’s residence, make sure that you and the helpee are in agreement about what may be said, with whom you are allowed to speak, and when you may call. Not all helpees disclose to all family members that they are receiving social support.
 
When you must speak with a helpee on their mobile phone, assume that they are somewhere public, where anyone can hear them, and structure your conversation accordingly.
 
Never acknowledge who is on your helpee list, or that particular people are receiving your help. NEVER give out information on helpees to unknown callers. This one is linked with the boundary of not socialising with helpees. Imagine the situation where you might be seen socially with a helpee, and along comes a mutual acquaintance of both of you. The person, surprised to see you together, says, “So how do you two know each other, anyway?” An awkward moment, to say the least.
 
Never make any comments that you would not want your helpee to hear. What if these comments were to make their way to the courts system in any sort of dispute? Even if the dispute were not between you and the helpee, it could be harmful to the helpee if the remarks were about them, or about their relationship (for example: what if judgmental remarks you made about a helpee going through an acrimonious divorce were to be recorded or overheard by someone acting on the side of the ex-partner?).
 
If you must send a fax, a follow-up telephone call is in order to make sure that the facsimile is received by the correct person, and delivered to the intended recipient, if they are not standing by the fax machine at the moment it arrives.
 
And the very biggest confidentiality breaker of all: sending sensitive information via email, text message, or – unbelievable, but people have done it – via social networking sites. With all of these methods of communication, messages can and regularly are accessed by people other than the intended recipients. There is simply no guarantee of privacy or confidentiality, and you must be totally clear with your helpee about what information is permissible to send through these channels.
 
Summary
 
Guarding confidentiality and privacy may seem like common sense, but the “heads-up” is to stay alert for potential unintended breaches. At least, a thorough discussion with helpees at the outset of any helping work may be able to avoid the worst harm from this source.
 
This article was adapted from AIPC’s “Mental Health Social Support” e-course. For more information, visit www.mhss.net.au.
 
References:
 
Corey, G.; Corey, M.; and Callanan, P. (2007). Issues and ethics in the helping professions. California, USA: Thomas Brooks-Cole.
 
Course information:
 
 
Join our community:
 
 
 
 
INTObookstore  
 
The Institute has a list of recommended textbooks and DVDs that can add great value to your learning journey - and the good news is that you can purchase them very easily. The AIPC bookstore will give you discounted prices, an easy ordering method and quality guarantee!
 
This fortnight's feature is...
 
Name: Stress: Myth, Theory and Research
Author: Jones, F. & Bright, M.
AIPC Code: JONES
AIPC Price: $72.95 (RRP $61.10)
ISBN: 978-013-041-1891
 
This book attempts a clear overview of our current understanding of stress. It highlights some of the popular misconceptions about stress, providing a valuable resource in terms of suggestions for further reading and the guidance it provides through a developing and complex field.
 
To order this book, contact your Student Support Centre or the AIPC Head Office (1800 657 667).
INTOarticles  
 
Counselling Sexual and Gender Minorities: Three Key Issues
 
To come into relationship with the notion that one is – and probably has always been – different from the “norm” of heterosexuality is for many individuals a terrifying experience, bringing with it a plethora of social, interpersonal, intrapersonal, employment, and sometimes religious and legal issues. Once the dawning of awareness has happened, however, few feel like it is possible to go back to the pre-dawn consciousness of attempting to engage life as before. Most wish to continue the journey of authenticity, finding out how to be in life as their inner identities dictate. Many will desire assistance from counsellors, psychotherapists, and psychologists for this journey. Yet how many mental health helpers are prepared (as in: qualified, skilled, experienced, and willing) to work with this population?
 
to continue reading this article.
 
 
Motivational Enhancement Therapy
 
Motivational enhancement is a style of person-centred counselling developed to facilitate change in health-related behaviours. The core principle of the approach is negotiation rather than conflict. It aims to help people explore and resolve their ambivalence about behaviour change.
 
It combines warmth and empathy with focused reflective listening and the development of discrepancy between where the person is and where they would like to be. A core principle is that the person’s motivation to change is enhanced if there is a gentle process of negotiation in which the client, not the counsellor, explores the benefits and costs involved in change. Another strong principle of this approach is that conflict is unhelpful and that a collaborative relationship is essential between counsellor and client, in order to tackle the problem together (Miller & Rollnick, 1991).
 
Click here to continue reading this article.
 
More articles: www.aipc.net.au/articles
INTOdevelopment  
 
Mental Health Academy – First to Knowledge in Mental Health
 
Get unlimited access to over 50 hours of CPD video workshops and over 100 specialist courses, for just $39/month or $349/year. Plus FREE and EXCLUSIVE access to the 10-hour Psychological First Aid program ($595.00 value).
 
We want you to experience unlimited, unrestricted access to the largest repository of professional development programs available anywhere in the country.
 
When you join our Premium Level membership, you’ll get all-inclusive access to over 50 hours of video workshops (presented by leading mental health experts) on-demand, 24/7.
 
You’ll also get access to over 100 specialist courses exploring a huge range of topics, including counselling interventions, communications skills, conflict, child development, mental health disorders, stress and trauma, relationships, ethics, reflective practice, plus much more. 
 
You’ll also get FREE and EXCLUSIVE access to the Psychological First Aid course ($595.00 value). The PFA course a high quality 10-hour program developed by Mental Health Academy in partnership with the Australian Institute of Psychology and the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors, and framed around the internationally accepted principals of the NCTSN Field Operations Guide.
 
Benefits of becoming a premium member:
  • FREE and exclusive PFA course ($595.00 value)
  • Over 100 specialist courses to choose from
  • Over 50 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
Some upcoming programs:
  • Using CBT with Generalised Anxiety Disorder
  • Using CBT with Social Anxiety Disorder
  • Using CBT with Panic Disorder
  • Counselling the Gender-Diverse Client
  • Treating Depression with Motivational Interviewing
Learn more and join today: www.mentalhealthacademy.com.au/premium
INTOconnection  
 
Have you visited Counselling Connection yet? There are over 650 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 dilemma involving an aggressive partner
 
Kaya and Mark have been in a relationship for a little over a year now and are attending couples counselling. Halfway through the session, the therapist asks for more information about the fights they are having. Kaya reports that Mark recently pushed her into a wall, and that he sometimes viciously pulls things like her phone, the TV remote amongst others out of her hand. Mark admits to this, and responds by accusing Kaya of pushing him once, which Kaya says was in self-defence. When Kaya first met Mark he was extremely charming and always kind to her, if at times a little possessive and jealous (which at the time she found flattering).
 
Click here to access this post and leave a comment.
 
Get new posts delivered by email! Visit our FeedBurner subscription page and click the link on the subscription box.
 
INTOtwitter  
 
Follow us on Twitter and get the latest and greatest in counselling news. To follow, visit https://twitter.com/counsellingnews and click "Follow".
 
Featured Tweets
 
Practising compassion helps create a better world and is just as vital for our wellbeing as exercise and diet: Click to view.
 
How to Quickly Reduce Anxiety Created by Threatening Situations: Click to view.
 
5 warning lights that indicate a conversation is about to go wrong: Click to view.
 
Psychologists’ society survey also reports that 64% of Australians say stress is affecting their mental health: Click to view.
 
Migrants share experiences of mental illness to break down stigma: Click to view.
 
How to Handle Stress in the Moment: Click to view.  
 
Medication and mental illness - issues paper by the Mental Health Commission of NSW: Click to view.
 
Note that you need a Twitter profile to follow us. If you do not have one yet, visit https://twitter.com to create a free profile today!
 
INTOquotes  
 
"That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent."
 
~ Chinese Proverb
INTOseminars  
 
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.
 
Not sure if you need to attend Seminars? Click here for information on Practical Assessments.
 
Below are upcoming seminars available for the remainder of 2014.
 
Click here to view all seminar dates online.
 
To register for a seminar, please contact your Student Support Centre.
 
BRISBANE (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 29-30/11
Communication Skills I: 14/12
Communication Skills II: 15/11
Counselling Therapies I: 29-30/11
Family Therapy: 13/12
Case Management: 22-23/11
 
GOLD COAST (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 05-06/12
Communication Skills I: 15/11
Communication Skills II: 12/12
Counselling Therapies II: 21-22/11
Legal & Ethical Framework: 28/11
 
SUNSHINE COAST (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
Case Management: 22/11
 
MELBOURNE (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 15-16/11, 06-07/12
Communication Skills I: 22/11, 13/12
Communication Skills II: 23/11, 14/12
Counselling Therapies I: 29-30/11
Counselling Therapies II: 06-07/12
Legal & Ethical Framework: 05/12
Family Therapy: 12/12
 
DARWIN (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
Communication Skills I: 06/12
Communication Skills II: 06/12
Counselling Therapies I: 13/12
Legal & Ethical Framework: 29/11
Case Management: 15/11
 
ADELAIDE (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 13-14/12
Counselling Therapies I: 22-23/11
Counselling Therapies II: 06-07/12
Legal & Ethical Framework: 15/11
Family Therapy: 16/11
Case Management: 29-30/11
 
SYDNEY (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 27-28/11, 15-16/12
Communication Skills I: 18/12
Communication Skills II: 19/12
Counselling Therapies I: 11-12/12
Counselling Therapies II: 20-21/11
Legal & Ethical Framework: 03/12
Family Therapy: 04/12
Case Management: 05-06/12
 
LAUNCESTON (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 05/12
Communication Skills I: 21/11
Communication Skills II: 21/11
Counselling Therapies I: 31/10
Counselling Therapies II: 28/11
Case Management: 12/12
 
HOBART (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
Communication Skills I: 07/12
Communication Skills II: 07/12
Counselling Therapies I: 14/12
Legal & Ethical Framework: 30/11
 
PERTH (9.00am – 5.00pm)
 
The Counselling Process: 15-16/12
Communication Skills I: 22/11
Communication Skills II: 23/11
Counselling Therapies I: 06-07/12
Counselling Therapies II: 13-14/12
 
 
Important Note: Advertising of the dates above does not guarantee availability of places in the seminar. Please check availability with the respective Student Support Centre.
 
 
Course information:
 
 
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AIPC
230 Brunswick Street | Locked Bag 15
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006
(07) 3112 2000 (Australia)
1-800-657-667 (Toll Free)
+61-7-3112-2000 (International)