Australia’s mental health sector stands at a crossroads. The recent draft of the National Standards for Counsellors and Psychotherapists has sparked widespread concern among practitioners, educators, and community advocates. At the heart of the issue is a move that threatens to sideline vocationally trained counsellors—those who have dedicated their careers…

For counselling to be successful, it requires the client to share their experiences and behaviour honestly. Ideally, the counselling relationship is a close and trusting one that allows this to happen. However, many clients are used to concealing and avoiding the things that need to be discussed. And of course,…

Clients go to counsellors often because they feel stuck in some way and need help to resolve or get past something. But sometimes a counsellor will come across a client that makes them feel stuck. There are some people that prove difficult to help, you can reach a point with…

Loneliness is a very common human experience and different people experience different levels of it, with differing causes and effects. Loneliness can eventually lead to anxiety and depression and cause low self-esteem, lowered self-confidence, stress, and social issues. But it does not have to be a permanent negative state and…

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a national scheme that provides funding to eligible people with disabilities and connects them to services in their community, including counselling. The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) is responsible for implementing the NDIS and delivering it to Australians who have significant and permanent…

The difficulty in addressing shame is that it can be so heavily concealed. Shame is not necessarily always traumatic or terrible for us. Feeling shame can help us towards development and maturity, but internalising it continuously is not positive for anyone. People can carry deep shame for a long period…