In this podcast, I speak with Australia Counselling member Rob Gray about art therapy and how it can help people tap into the unconscious and promote healing.

In this interview, we ask Rob what is art therapy?; what types of issues can art therapy be effective for treating?; yhy do you think art therapy is effective?; is there any research into art therapy and its efficacy as a treatment approach?; what actually happens in an art therapy session?; what do you say to clients that say 'I'm not creative! I can't make art!’?; what are the different types of mediums for art therapy?; what differences do you see in the outcomes of your clients between talk therapy and art therapy?

Did you know that the symptoms of ADHD and Autism can be profoundly affected by diet?

Sydney Dietitian Paula Tazzyman knows because she's been working with children who suffer from these conditions for over 15 years and has helped thousands of children and families suffering from these conditions.

In this podcast, Paula speaks about how nutritional support in children with ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder can be beneficial.

Paula also discusses how her passion for working in this area came about; a working definition of ADD/ADHD and ASD; the role of nutrition in Autism and ADHD- how important is it and why?; what are the main nutritional concerns facing children with Autism and ADHD; the current scientific evidence regarding diet and Autism and ADHD; what nutrients are likely to be deficient in these children and what effect will this have on learning, concentration and behaviour; the argument for supplementation with children; the benefits of nutritional support she has observed over her 15 years of clinical experience; her top 3 recommendations for ADHD diet and Autism.

Do you know that LinkedIn is a powerful professional social media network to market your psychotherapy or counselling services and connect with other professionals who can support the growth of your business?

Many counsellors and therapists are not using LinkedIn effectively. And some are yet to join or if they have joined, have not completed their profile and are missing out on online visibility.

LinkedIn is your professional face to the world, and is a powerful platform to position yourself as an authority in your niche, as well as network with like-minded mental health professionals.

Ken Burgin has been teaching small businesses about marketing and social media for more than 15 years.

In this interview he shares the basics of a compelling LinkedIn profile that helps you be visible to others; how to start to find and connect with others in the mental health industry; the biggest mistakes you see small business owners making on LinkedIn; the business benefits therapists can experience from being visible on LinkedIn; how to make regular updates on your profile; the business benefits of posting updates on a regular basis; how to write recommendations and why to consider them; LinkedIn groups- how to find and join them; how to manage privacy concerns on LinkedIn.

Are you struggling with staying on top of everything you need to do to run your private practice efficiently? Perhaps you know you could be using technology and apps to help make your counselling business more productive but you’re not sure where to start?

There are so many apps and new software on the market today that it can be hard to know what to use or which ones are the best for your business.

Well in this podcast, we speak to technology guru Helen Crozier, who is a technology coach for small business owners.

She’s on the cutting edge of all the latest technology and software developments that can help your therapy business save time and cut costs.

In this interview she shares:

In this podcast we interview Dr. Sue Johnson, who is a leader in the field of relationships and couple therapy and is the primary founder of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, which is used as an approach to working with couples throughout the world. She calls herself an attachment theorist and researcher and she helps people learn how to have relationships that heal.

Dr Johnson has conducted innovative and cutting-edge research with couples and different populations and discovered many interesting things about the science of love and romantic relationships.

In this interview she discusses how she developed her passion for relationships and helping couples, how her new book Love Sense evolved out of her best seller Hold Me Tight, how she was influenced by the work of John Bowlby and his attachment theory, what the research is telling us about love and why and how we love, current thinking on adult bonding and attachment theory and what’s changed in the field of couples therapy in the last 15 years.

In this podcast , Australia Counselling member Gabrielle Gawne-Kelnar discusses how to use blogging to cultivate your own unique voice and spread your message to your community.

Blogging for therapists is a powerful way to broadcast your message, reach new clients, and establish your expertise in your niche.

Blogging uses the power of the internet, social sharing, and engagement to help you build your authority and get known by new audiences 

Gabrielle also discusses how she came to be a writer and blogger on one of the worlds biggest psychology blogs, how to generate ideas and content for your blog, how blogging is different from clinical writing that is peer reviewed or written for other professionals and what conventions need to be challenged in blogging, the results,  outcomes and opportunities that can come about from being a blogger, the relationship between blogging and  clinical work and how they can influence each other, tips for therapists who are considering starting a blog, but are nervous about starting and how to deal with any ethical issues, such as clients-past or present- commenting on your blog or contacting you on social media.

So many therapists have issues with money and don’t take care of their books. What’s more, many often have no idea of their current financial position.

So in this podcast, I cover 7 ways you can cut costs in your business and 7 ways you can increase your therapy business income.

The ways to cut costs include:

7 ways to increase your therapy business income include:

and the bonus tip: Take credit cards.

I also interview Sydney accountant Janice Melville, who is a Sydney accountant who is a Registered Tax Agent with more than 400 clients and a Super Fund Auditor.

In the interview she answers the following questions:

Have you heard of Brainspotting before?

If not, it’s an effective way to gently help clients work through difficult life events and trauma.

In this episode, Dr Roby Abeles shares what Brainspotting is, a brief history of the evolution of Brainspotting, the issues and presentations Brainspotting can be used for, what happens in a Brainspotting session, contra-indications for Brainspotting, how Brainspotting different from other therapies, such as EMDR and EFT, the results Dr Abeles is getting from using Brainspotting, her predictions for the development of Brainspotting.

Have you considered using Facebook to build your online presence, build your authority and build a community around your counselling or therapy services?

Facebook now has well over 1 billion users, and is hard to ignore when it comes to social media.

However, Facebook marketing is not appropriate for everyone, and you need to consider whether it's worthwhile to start marketing your therapy practice on Facebook.

So we interviewed Vancouver-based marketing coach Juliet Austin about Facebook marketing and how to get started if you're not already using it, and how to improve your results if you are using Facebook marketing.

In this interview she shares how to know if Facebook is a marketing tool you should be using, ow to get started setting up your Facebook page, how to get people to like your page, how to find other pages to like, what kinds of things you should post, how often you should post and why you want people to like, comment on and share your posts.

The model of group psychotherapy developed by Irvin Yalom is now considered the 'gold standard' of group therapy approaches throughout the world. Its focus on the interpersonal relationships and the process underlying them allows the group to become a powerful agent of change. 

For many therapists, adding group therapy to your suite of services is a wonderful way to augment your practice, as well as provide valuable growth experiences for your clients. However it's essential that you complete specific training in group therapy as the skills required are different from the skills of individual or couple therapy.

June Lake is the leading teacher in Australia of the Yalom group psychotherapy approach and speaks with Australia Counselling about this powerful and effective type of therapy.

In this 30-minute interview June also shares how her passion for working with groups came about, how the skills we use in the therapy room different from group facilitation skills, a brief overview of the Yalom group psychotherapy approach, the qualities of an effective group facilitator, specific skills group facilitators need to develop to be effective, the most common mistakes new group facilitators tend to make and June also speaks about her 5-day intensive Yalom group therapy facilitation training that she runs every year.