At times all parents feel lost or without a clue about what our child might need from us. Imagine what it might feel like if you were able to make sense of what your child was really asking from you. The Circle of Security Parenting™ program is based on decades of research about how secure parent-child relationships can be supported and strengthened.
Learning Objectives of the Training:
Here are some founding principles that underlie the Circle of Security models of intervention:
Contact us to find out when our next group program will be running or for individual coaching on the COSP model.
One of the most common questions asked is how does a person obtain ‘Balance.’ While gaining balance and a healthy wellbeing can be one of the simplest tasks to achieve being out of balance is also one of the most common issues we all face. Particularly, during stressful times. During these periods of high stress and anxiety if we stick to the basics we will be better equipped to handle the situation.
Simply put we are all emotional beings. As humans, we have a simple set of requirements. We need to eat, sleep and play. We also need to feel a sense of connection which can be a challenge in this technology age.
But back to basics, humans have primal needs and primal instincts. We are here to survive and to survive our bodies have some basic requirements. Without the necessary needs, our bodies start to shut down, become easily fatigued, and often we find ourselves acting more emotional perhaps easily irritated and without understanding why we are feeling this way.
How often after a restless sleep you wake up in the morning feeling cranky this is where the phrase ‘Did you get out of bed the wrong side?’ originates. Or when you have missed lunch, and you are finding yourself irritable also known as ‘hungangry’ – the phenomenon of feeling angry for no reason then realising that you haven’t eaten all day or missed meals.
Regular undisturbed sleep and healthy eating choices help you to keep your body fuelled and energised. There are national sleep recommendations on the minimum hours of sleep each person requires based on their age. Monitoring your sleep patterns, your mood, and energy levels each day for at least a week or two will help you to determine the minimum amount of sleep your body needs.
Your minimum sleep requirements are variable based on your personal and external influences. Having an understanding of this will help you to develop a balanced, healthy sleep pattern. When you are sleep deprived your body is in a sleep deficit, you cannot catch up on this lost sleep, and you go into a negative. Which then creates a cycle of fatigue and over tired feelings which drain your body and mind. This lack of regular sleep impacts your ability to function, make clear choices and slows down your response time and reflexes. Operating machinery such as driving while fatigued is equally as dangerous as drink driving.
Developing a sleep schedule and sleep routine even over the weekends will ensure that your body is well rested and not fatigued. Having a relaxing bedtime ritual will aide this process such as:
Bedtime routines create a pattern for your body to be accustomed to which helps your body to unwind and automatically be ready to sleep at the set time each night and sleep through the evening.
Keeping your room for ‘sleep only’ ensures that your body and mind knows once your head has hit the pillow, it is time for snoozing. Assess your room for sleep readiness:
The bedroom needs to be free from electronic devices including Television, IPad, Mobile, Telephones, etc. the bedroom is for sleeping and relaxing. Most importantly make sure your mattress and pillows are comfortable. Otherwise, you may find yourself waking up with a stiff neck or back.
The body and brain need sleep to recover, develop, strengthen, repair and build new cells. During sleep, the body is at rest, the heart rates slow down, blood pressure dips and the body temperature drops. During sleep is the best time for the body to heal and repair. Healthy sleep patterns increase concentration and allow for clearer decision-making. Sleep deprivation impacts moods and can increase the risk of depression and anxiety.
Regular movement and exercise are vital to maintaining balance and wellbeing. Many studies have proven regular exercise and play helps to boost your mood, decreasing the risk of stress and depression and lowering the risk for mental health distress.
Exercise can be fun, any activity where there is movement is highly beneficial. Such as kicking the football, walking the dog, going for a swim you don’t have to run a marathon. Preferably pick an activity you enjoy and if you have friends who will join in is even better as this will help you to be more motivated to exercise and also helps you to feel socially engaged with people.
When you participate in physical activity, your body produces: feel good happy, positive endorphins. So back to basics, as human beings, our body produces many chemicals that need to be released, and regular exercise helps in this process by giving your emotions a positive outlet.
However, these endorphins can have a reverse impact if they are stored up in our bodies through exposure to stress and no positive outlet they can come out in our emotions such as feeling angry, anxious or unable to function ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze.’
Regular daily exercise and movement have been proved to increase a positive mood, improve self-esteem, reduce anxiety and promote a positive self-image. Above all, after participating in in any activity that increases your heart rate in the evening, it will be easier to fall asleep.
The reality is at times we will feel out of balance whether it is pressure from home, school or work sometimes the stress builds up. Taking yourself back to basics ensuring you exercise daily, maintain a healthy sleep pattern and eat healthy throughout the day. Will help you through this stressful time as you are providing your body with the essential needs, enabling you to function less on emotion and more with a clearer head space.
“As practitioners, we can never know all that we might like to know, nor can we attain all the skills required to effectively intervene with all client populations or all types of problems”.
– Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2007
Professional Supervision is a valued practice that not only helps you to reflect on best practice but more importantly builds your network and increases your resiliency in the industry. When working in helping professions, it is vital that you look after yourself to reduce the impact of burnout and compassion fatigue. It is within the context of supervision that practitioners begin to develop a sense of their professional identity and to examine their beliefs and attitudes regarding clients and therapy.
As in all professions, the counselling practitioner needs to be constantly upgrading their knowledge and skills. Participating in regular ongoing supervision ensures you continue to meet your employment requirements and the continuing professional development requirements of your professional associations. The industry standard is one hour of professional supervision for every ten hours of client contact time.
Professional Supervision is a reflective practice that allows counselling practitioners to debrief with a qualified supervisor in a self-reflective process that focuses on theories in practice, ethical issues, self-care and enhances professional growth. Supervision is a process of ensuring best practice and quality service to our clients. It is widely understood that all counselling practitioners, whether experienced or just starting out, benefit from having regular professional supervision.
Helping Professionals including Counselling Practitioners, Guidance Officers, Social Workers and Psychologists bring their cases and work practices to another person (individual supervision), or to a group (small group or team supervision), and with structured processes analyse the context and approach used while personally developing from the experience.
Discussing cases and processes with a supervisor and receiving non-judgemental constructive feedback enables practising helping professionals to gain an objective insight into their practices. Providing opportunities to enhance professional growth and identify support mechanisms for clients. As critical self-reflection on individual cases is conducted outside of the confines of the counselling session with the client. The aspect of debriefing is an essential element of the supervisory relationship. Thus, enabling the practitioner to look objectively at the issues raised in each session and their response.
People working within helping agencies may have internal supervision included in their employment conditions, but supervision may be overlooked by those working in other organisations or private practice. Often internal supervision is delivered by line managers, and sessions can be bogged down with competing administrative and organisational demands and general discussions not allowing for professional supervision and case review. In these situations, the supervisee may not feel comfortable disclosing vital information during internal supervision out of concern the line manager and employer may judge their practice or not renew their employment contract.
Seeking the services of an external supervisor allows the supervision sessions to be free from workplace politics and restrictions. External supervision allows the supervisee to feel safe and confident providing opportunities for the supervisee to disclose any personal issues and dilemmas as they arise. This mutual relationship of trust and transparency allows the supervisor to identify any potential conflict of interest or ethical concerns before they can develop.
Many organisations see the benefits of external supervision for their staff and often agree to pay for the cost of supervision, allow time-in-lieu, or allow staff to attend appointments during their work hours.
We encourage you to discuss this with your employer, or if you are an organisation seeking this support for your staff, please give us a call to discuss your specific supervision requirements.
The reality is everyone has their quirks and ways of doing things and while not everyone is always going to like you and nor are you going to like them. Conflict is a normal process; it is part of people it is human nature, it is a way of learning how to live and work in close collaboration with all types of individuals. Conflict forms the process of developing ideas when working in groups. This is the norming, storming and forming process, teams go through and can go through this cycle several times before developing and implementing their ideas.
Most of the time we learn how to deal with people and conflict from what we learnt within our family and school environments. The trick is learning how not to take it personally and developing the skills to cope with working with other personalities types. However, at times this conflict within the workplace can be overwhelming and hard to cope with and navigate. It may even leave you feeling like you should be looking for a different job and changing your workplace. When placed in this position it is very difficult, many feelings, and emotions can arise especially if you are not ready to move on.
Unfortunately, these situations can be very stressful on people, and they can feel isolated and be placed at risk of depression, potentially leading to increased sick leave and work dissatisfaction. It is vital to speak with a Transitional Support Careers Practitioner if you are experiencing dissatisfaction within the workplace before making any hasty changes. Together we can explore avenues and help you to transition yourself, career or direction into one that you feel comfortable with, in control of and in charge. Such a positioning should make you the master of you career journey and leave you feeling more confident.
School refusal differs from truancy in that parents are aware that their child is staying home from school over a prolonged period. In most cases, this is because the prospect of going to school causes the child or young person emotional distress. Truancy or wagging is an anti-social behaviour where the young person skips school … Continued
Sandplay therapy is a recognised therapeutic modality for both children and adults, based on the psychology of C.G. Jung and developed by the Swiss psychotherapist and teacher Dora Kalff. It is particularly useful for identifying and reconciling internal conflicts that manifest as anxiety and depression, as well as penetrating the depths of personality to experience … Continued
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy) Therapy works with an individual who is experiencing distressing memories which can lead to symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks and depression. EMDR is a remarkable treatment method used to heal the symptoms of trauma, as well as other emotional conditions. EMDR is the most efficient and rapid … Continued
Why your school has asked you to seek external support: When schools talk about seeking support from external services, they are talking about services outside what is provided by the school. Schools’ core business is education, and many schools have a ratio of one guidance officer/school counsellor for up to 1200 students. As you … Continued
Working in schools with an average clientele of 1400 students and their families has afforded me a unique perspective of the complexities and challenges young people and their families are faced with. The daily school, university and working life, ongoing demands of exams, assessments and personal expectation, as well as perceived external expectations, can take … Continued
Year 12 Get Me Out of Here For the past 12 years every Monday to Friday you have been getting up ready for school, playing sport every weekend, and gaming. Each day you have been working hard for your school results. For the most part, you have enjoyed school or maybe you are ready … Continued
Transitional Support would like to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s First People and Traditional Custodians. We value their cultures, identities, and continuing connection to country, waters, kin and community. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and are committed to making a positive contribution to the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, by providing services that are welcoming, safe, culturally appropriate and inclusive.
Transitional Support is committed to embracing diversity and eliminating all forms of discrimination in the provision of health services. Transitional Support welcomes all people irrespective of ethnicity, lifestyle choice, faith, sexual orientation and gender identity.
