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My First Six Months As Assistant Lecturer of Counselling Psychology

My First Six Months As Assistant Lecturer of Counselling Psychology

There is a fair share of interest around knowing how is the average day of an academic like. So this blog post will be like a brief outline of what does the job entail. Research and Writing While there is the conventional teaching element, the bread and butter of academia is actually producing research publications. Granted not every institution values research output, but its is almost a given…

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Entrance into Academia

I want to tell a little story of how I ended up in academia, hired as a lecturer for the university I was a student in. This is not some inspiring success story of a overprepared hustling student applying for a single vacancy and outperforming all other candidates. It is really one of planned happenstance: slowly preparing myself for years, and jumping on that opportunity when it happened. It is…

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Ask A Counsellor #1: Why Can‘t Therapists Teach Problem Solving Like Math Teachers?

Ask A Counsellor #1: Why Can‘t Therapists Teach Problem Solving Like Math Teachers?

Why can’t therapists teach problem solving like this?Say we’re in a math classroom. The teacher solves an example problem in front of students. The students learn patterns from how the teacher solved the problem and then try to solve problems on their own.I understand this is not being done in therapy today but I don’t understand why it can’t be done for the problems in the therapists…

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You Won't Find It

You Won't Find It

Listen.

You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed.

You won’t find it. You must know that already. Whether you’re on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear.

Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander the darkness for eternity.

Be on the side that…

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Decade's End

I was mostly about to simply ruminate over what it means to have last year end for me. 2019 was an unusually long and rich one, but still it felt abrupt when it was over. It is strange to imagine that tomorrow onwards I will be writing 2020 instead of 2019 on the date sections. Yet, because my semester at Monash is only halfway, it barely feels like an end of anything tangible. I still have to go…

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2019 Christmas Updates: Counsellor's Reflections on Theories

2019 Christmas Updates: Counsellor's Reflections on Theories

I am glad that I have managed to find my footing as a counsellor. While I noticed there are some habits of mine (overly optimistic tone and tendency to use too much words during paraphrasing) are could use some improvement, my style in session has been pretty set.

I have become quite confident in session with any clients, and quite independent from supervision. I can very effectively…

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Ending Internal Counselling Practicum

Ending Internal Counselling Practicum

Being able to write freely as myself about myself again is a strange freedom to reclaim. It might have been a freedom I always had the past few months, but reluctant to tap into out of inexplicable reasons. Most of my writing has been mostly assignments, case notes, performance feedback, transcripts, and formal reflections. My writing voice has in turn become more rigid and stagnant.

Maybe…

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On Becoming a Psychotherapist

On Becoming a Psychotherapist

I cannot be sure since when I decided that becoming a psychotherapist is what I wanted. Unlike most psych-grads turned therapists, there was never that inspiration from CSI forensic psychologists, nor was I that friend or family member that listens particularly well to problems. I don’t exactly have a strong passion for ‘helping people’ either, as I like to think that all professions help others…

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Writing-Blocked State of Mind

Writing-Blocked State of Mind

I am trying to give a more professional and perhaps less personal bend to this page, which is why I almost stopped writing down my fleeting thoughts entirely. I wanted to curate my writings that are more purposeful which is more ideal from a followership standpoint, but at the end of the day I don’t think it is my style to be impersonal and impromptu. Sparing time for some personal journal style…

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My Take On Konmari and Giving Books Away

My Take On Konmari and Giving Books Away

Originally posted on my Medium.

Photo by Kate Ilina on Unsplash

Some personal friends noticed that I have taken up an interest in Marie Kondo’s method of decluttering and organization, while also noting the avid reader in me, and have thus presented me a dangerous question that can rain metaphorical hell and fury if answered wrongly.

(more…)

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Looking Forward: 2019

Originally posted on my Medium.

Photo by Filip Bunkens on Unsplash Resuming My Training In Counselling Psychology

Currently my Master’s training at university is on hiatus as my course has not arranged any classes for me until coming March. Off my mind, I look forward to classes, batchmates, and university life again. I can already feel the degradation of my learning outcomes from my…

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My Top Five Books of 2018

My Top Five Books of 2018

I really like what I have on my ‘Read’ list this year. A lot of my reading choices are usually related to psychology to some degree (maybe all non-fiction turn out to be about psychology, when you use a hammer too much…) and I try to hit a certain reading goal (approximately 20 for this year), but this year in particular I find myself leaning more towards books that talk a lot about human…

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Wrapping Up My First Semester Experience at a MProfCoun

Wrapping Up My First Semester Experience at a MProfCoun

My first semester at a counselling postgraduate program concluded few weeks ago and I took some time to gather thoughts into words.

My most honest thought right now is that I have a break that is far too long. My classes only resume like next year’s March, and after a good twelve weeks spent on coursework, this boredom is killing every fibre of my being. Too short for proper work but too long for…

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Some Snuck-in Reflections

Actually didn’t manage to write much for the past two months. What a familiar experience.

I am actually just one week away from my first ever semester break, so time to sneak in some reflections before I get buried by three major essays (and possibly, some requests for deadline extensions).

On the brighter end of things, I have amazing friends and seniors that support me through this course,…

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Just A Theory About A Theory

Just A Theory About A Theory

This will be the first of my many reflections on the psychology of counselling. I have never written extensively on mental health, but few pages into ‘On Becoming A Person’ allowed me to think about my ideas more clearly. 

One of the major milestones in becoming a counsellor is to decide on your ‘theoretical orientation’. The way I understand the field so far is that counsellors have general…

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A Month In Counselling Graduate School

A Month In Counselling Graduate School

In a blink of the eye, I have worn my newfound identity as a counseling student for a month. Submitted my first assignment too with more to come! (more…)

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Rekindling The Relevance of Expertise

Rekindling The Relevance of Expertise

I recently finished Tom Nichols’s bestseller ‘The Death of Expertise’ and felt the familiar urge to write and think, and attempt to get readers on the same page. While I believe his concerns about the erodation of expertise are over-exaggerated and almost certainly an American phenomenon, there is some wisdom to be shared around if we want our hard-earned knowledge to be relevant. Below are some…