Hey Mental Worker! 😎 Click here to suggest a topic or just say hi!

Therapy Skills Episodes

Nov. 6, 2024

Tips for nailing the first three therapy sessions (with Marie Vakakis)

Want to get your client off to a good start in therapy but feeling lost? Bron and Marie talk about how to nail these crucial sessions. We cover πŸ‘‰πŸ½ Setting expectations πŸ‘‰πŸΏ Creating safety and hope πŸ‘‰ Talking to clients …

Episode page
Oct. 2, 2024

Creating safe therapeutic spaces for clients with complex trauma (wit…

Bron and Dr Catherine Hynes (Clinical Psychologist and EMDR Consultant) cover the essentials of complex trauma. They chat about πŸ‘‰πŸ½ Understanding and formulating complex trauma πŸ‘‰πŸ» The differences between PTSD and complex PTSD ...

Episode page
July 24, 2024

How to not do 'therapy-lite' with partners and friends (with Matthew …

Bron and Matt chat about the challenge of maintaining boundaries when family and friends seek therapeutic advice. We explore: πŸ‘‰πŸ½ differences between professional and personal roles πŸ‘‰πŸ» what to do when you're tempted to give th...

Episode page
July 21, 2024

Mistakes made and lessons learned

In line with Mental Work's aim to shine a light on the important yet under-discussed aspects of being an early-career psychologist, Bron shares the lessons she has learned from a complaint received two years ago. She outlines...

Episode page
June 26, 2024

Working with couples (with Marie Vakakis)

Bron and Marie chat about working well with couples on common issues like sexual desire discrepancies, communication, and conflict. Marie shares her approach to using the Gottman method for assessment and intervention, stress...

Episode page
May 29, 2024

Helping clients find healthy relationships (with Phoebe Rogers)

Bron and Phoebe chat about how to help clients have healthy romantic relationships and develop a secure attachment style. Phoebe tells us about her additional postgrad training in relationship counselling, how therapy has bee...

Episode page
April 17, 2024

Rethinking Borderline Personality Disorder and Dialectical Behaviour …

Bron chats with Matthew about Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and its application for folks diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). We dive into the stigma surrounding BPD and discuss how reframing BPD as a ...

Episode page
March 20, 2024

Trauma-informed therapy for eating disorders (with Sherry-Lee Smith)

Bron and Sherry-Lee explore the application of trauma-informed approaches, particularly Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, to eating disorders. We dive into πŸ‘‰πŸΏ trauma-informed care πŸ‘‰πŸ½ adapting traum...

Episode page
March 13, 2024

How to help clients with an eating disorder (with Harriet Iles)

Eating disorders are complex but don't stress, we're here to help. Bron and Harriet chat about πŸ‘‰πŸΏ The critical roles that body dissatisfaction, shame, and perfectionism play in eating disorders πŸ‘‰πŸΎ Treatment approaches includi...

Episode page
Feb. 14, 2024

Using deliberate practice to improve your therapy skills and confiden…

Bron and Dr Aaron Frost discuss the importance of deliberate practice in the development of psychologists. They highlight that psychologists can reliably improve their skills by collecting client data and working on the areas...

Episode page
Feb. 7, 2024

Disability and working effectively in the NDIS (with Dr Katherine Ell…

Bron and Katherine demystify the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and working effectively with people with a disability. They chat about πŸ‘‰πŸ½ Katherine's insights as a Behaviour Support Practitioner πŸ‘‰πŸ» The importance...

Episode page
Nov. 22, 2023

When the therapist ends therapy

Bron unpacks saying 'goodbye' to clients when the therapist is the one who is ending the relationship. Otherwise known as 'therapist-led termination' or 'unilateral termination', this is something that all therapists will enc...

Episode page
Oct. 25, 2023

Treating anxiety: CBT vs Schema Therapy (with Amanda Moses)

Bron and Amanda unpack treating generalised anxiety disorder by applying two treatment approaches (CBT and Schema Therapy) to the same hypothetical case. They chat about πŸ‘‰πŸ½ The downsides of worry and how it can become problem...

Episode page
Sept. 27, 2023

How to do Behavioural Activation well (with Amanda Moses)

Bron and Amanda get passionate about the deceptively simple CBT technique of behavioural activation. They unpack πŸ‘‰πŸ½ How to maximise outcomes for clients πŸ‘‰πŸ» When and how to introduce behavioural activation πŸ‘‰ Troubleshooting di...

Episode page
Aug. 23, 2023

Recording sessions

Therapists usually experience shock! horror! and despair! when they think about recording a therapy session. So let's talk about it. In this episode, Bron unpacks πŸ‘‰πŸ½ Why you should record therapy sessions πŸ‘‰πŸ» How to ask for cl...

Episode page