In recent years, many disaster response experts and mental health researchers have switched their focus from looking exclusively at at-risk populations in the aftermath of an emergency to asking, “What are the protective factors?” “What situations, experiences, or personal traits help people to come through a traumatic incident with greater resilience?” First, let’s clear what […]
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Emotional Intelligence: Definition and a Brief History
The idea that we human beings have not only a quotient of cognitive intelligence, our so-called “IQ”, but also a level of emotional intelligence, called either “EQ” (for emotional quotient) or “EI” (emotional intelligence) has been emerging for at least 30 years (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2004b). It began to be popularised in the 1990s […]
- August 12, 2016
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Wellness, Workplace Issues
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Relaxation, Meditation and Mindfulness Techniques to Manage Study Stress
Relaxation, meditation and mindfulness stress management techniques involve learning how to control our body’s response to stress. It is about learning to consciously relax the body and still the mind. Like learning a new language, a little bit every day is far better than a mega-session occasionally. Burgeoning research studies support practitioners’ contentions that multiple […]
- August 1, 2016
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Book Review: Cyberbullying: From Theory to Intervention
Völlink, T, Dehue, F & Mc Guckin, C. (2016) Cyberbullying: From theory to intervention (Current Issues in Social Psychology). United Kingdom: Routledge. Information communication technologies (ICT) are becoming a natural and normal part of day to day life for the average child and adolescent (Völlink, Dehue & Mc Guckin 2016). This first line from the […]
- July 29, 2016
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- Book Reviews, Children & Adolescents, Ethics & Legal Issues, Technology & Social Media
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Counselling Dilemma: Gambling Addiction and Social Media
You have been working as a gambling addictions counsellor for Relationships Australia for the past 5 years. You are active in the community and attend regular network meetings in your local area. One evening at a regular meeting you run into a previous client, Kobe. Kobe informs you that he has been in recovery for […]
- July 22, 2016
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- Addictions, Counselling Dilemmas, Ethics & Legal Issues, Group Work
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When It’s All About You: Doing Personality Inventories
Perhaps the cooler months of winter encourage us to look inward. Maybe the sluggish economy is generating job uncertainty and anxiety. Or maybe we are collectively raising our self-awareness. I’m not sure, but I am seeing an explosion of interest in self-assessment measures, so it might be helpful to revisit personality inventories, seeing how to […]
- July 15, 2016
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- Career Development, Counselling Theory & Process, Workplace Issues
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2016 Mental Health Super Summit
Have you ever attended a conference where you decide how much you pay to attend, and all proceeds are donated to charity? What about a conference where 20 hours of cutting-edge learning, presented by experts from all over the world, are accessible from the comfort of your couch? Last year, nearly 2,500 mental health professionals attended […]
- July 6, 2016
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- News & Events
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Stress: Busting Six Myths
Stress can be defined as any pressure, demand, or threat placed on an organism (say, a human being) that causes a need to re-establish balance or “equilibrium”. The Oxford Dictionary online adds that stress is “a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.” The notion of stress has […]
- May 19, 2016
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- Stress Management, Wellness
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Why Bother Setting Goals?
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road can take you there.” (Lewis Carroll) You are here on this planet for the duration. What will you do with the time that is allotted to you? Who will you become? What will you have in your life: which people, things, and experiences? What will […]
- May 4, 2016
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Spirituality & Religion
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Connecting with the Power of Purpose
Suppose someone asked you: “Why are you here? What is the purpose of your existence?” Would you be able to answer that in a meaningful way? Aligned to that question is: “What do you value? What has meaning for you?” In my psychotherapy work, the question of MPV – meaning, purpose, values – often comes […]
- April 21, 2016
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- Personal Effectiveness, Spirituality & Religion, Wellness
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Four Study Strategies to Enhance Your Learning
“The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions.” (Bishop Mandell Creighton, in Academic Tips, 2016) The time of being a student could be one of the most exciting of your life – or it could be just short of torture. Which will it be? Part […]
- April 6, 2016
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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How Colours Impact Us
Colour pervades our physical environment, from the soft colours of dawn to the bright colours of tropical birds. It also affects our emotional environment, as when we “see red”, “have the blues”, “turn crimson” with embarrassment; or when our bank account should be “in the black”. We are told that colour has huge effects on […]
- April 5, 2016
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- Spirituality & Religion, Wellness
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Counselling Dilemma: A Seizure During a Counselling Session
A client has been seeing a therapist for three months when, during one of their sessions, the therapist appears to lose focus. The client feels a little angry that the therapist is not paying attention to them. After talking for a few more minutes, the client notices that the therapist is struggling to string sentences […]
- March 24, 2016
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- Ethics & Legal Issues, Private Practice
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The Best-kept Secret to Motivation
With summer holidays long gone, are you finding it hard to get back into your routines? I once resisted starting a necessary task, only to have my co-worker say “Just get stuck in. You’ll be right.” I now realise how much wisdom was buried in her throwaway line. Volumes have been written about how to […]
- March 7, 2016
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Stress Management
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Get Going with Goal-setting
How are you going on your New Year’s resolutions? If you are like an estimated 93 percent of the population, you have abandoned those fine aspirations generated so earnestly in December. Despair not, however; in this article we look at why you should revive your resolutions, turning them into goals. We identify the areas of […]
- March 1, 2016
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- Career Development, Personal Effectiveness, Private Practice, Stress Management
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