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What is ACT?
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is commonly referred to as ACT, which is said as one word “Act” rather than the individual letters. It is an evidence-based cognitive and behavioural intervention. ACT is designed to create greater psychological flexibility, which...
What is EFT?
Emotion focused therapy (EFT) in its most simplistic form is a type of therapy that is focused on emotions. It is sometimes called “Process Experiential Therapy”. The core tenet of EFT is that our emotions are the key in helping us understand what is important to us...
What is CBT?
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is based on the principles that our emotions and behaviours are influenced by our thoughts. Often these are unhelpful automatic thoughts, meaning that they occur in our mind without consciousness, leading us to feel overwhelmed,...
Understanding the process of therapy
When people commence working with a psychologists, whether for the first time or if you have engaged with a psychologist before, it can be a daunting prospect; What’s it going to be like? What are they going to ask me? Will I like it? These are all nature and...
5 ways to be more self compassionate
In most cases we are not taught to be kind to ourselves. In fact, quite the opposite. Our society often expects that we chastised ourselves, put ourselves down and beat ourselves up for our mistakes. But as research shows us, this can have a big impact on our mental...
Why is being kind to yourself important?
Many people are good are caring for others but not themselves. But caring for ourselves (Self-compassion) is an essential part of maintaining health and wellbeing. We have described self-compassion elsewhere in greater detail but as a reminder, self-compassion is a...
How self compassionate are you?
Whilst it is perhaps not possible to be too kind to ourselves, there are certainly those out there that could benefit from an injection of self-compassion. Perhaps you are wondering if you are kind enough to yourself. Or perhaps you are thinking that you do not need...
Pain in children
Unfortunately children also experience pain. As adults, we often want to do what we can to help them avoid pain, but this is not always possible. As psychologists there are may things we can do to help children cope with pain. To find out more watch this video from...
What Strategies Work Best to Manage Pain?
Pain is a subjective and deeply personal issue. There is no one-size-fit-all approach to pain, and therein lies the greatest benefit of having a psychologist as part of your pain management team - a personalised therapeutic approach to managing your...
Self Care Tips from a Psychologist
In this video Jenna Trainor discusses how self care should be a package deal. We need to think about self care holistically across all aspects of our life and not focus on one area. She also encourages us to think about self compassion and kindness towards ourselves....
Tips for Self Care from a Psychologist
In this video Psychologist Darren West offers up his tips on the SEEDS of self care. Watch his video to find out more and put these ideas into practice to nourish your mental health.
Understanding OCD
Do you know what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is? Watch this video to find out more.
OCD treatment for children
Helping children understand what OCD actually is, is a very important part of treatment itself. OCD can lead to a lot of distress and confusion for the young person and their family. A child can easily blame themselves and begin to think there is something seriously...
OCD in children
For children and young people with OCD can be debilitating and distressing experience. What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)? OCD is characterised by obsessions and compulsions. OCD can typically develop gradually, and you may start to notice your child becoming...
What to do with OCD in kids
What to do when your brain gets stuck by Dawn Huebner is a fantastic self-help book for children who are suffering with OCD. It uses cognitive behavioural techniques to map out OCD and help kids to overcome it. The book is an interactive and fun way for children to...
No, you are not ‘a little bit OCD’
If you were ever to suffer from OCD you would understand how offensive it is to say – ‘I’m a bit OCD’ when you like to line up your clothes neatly in a draw or keep your house exceptionally clean. OCD is much more than liking things being just so or being obsessively...
Helping children respond to trauma
Whether your child has been through a traumatic incident, witnessed one, or heard about it, they may be affected by an array of difficult emotions. Trauma could be school bullying, changes in lifestyle as a result of COVID-19, witnessing the death of a loved one,...
What is OCD?
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder that affects two to three percent of the population (more than 500,000 Australians). It usually begins in late childhood or early adolescence. People with OCD experience recurrent and persistent thoughts,...