So a lot has happened in the year or so since I’ve last (personally) blogged. Here it is in short form:

- Exited from Murdoch’s Master’s class

- Graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling (Murdoch)

- Declined invitation to attend 3rd (boring) graduation ceremony; received my $14,000 piece of paper in the mail instead

- Got accepted into the Master’s program at Monash University

- Currently collecting university student cards: already have 3 and counting – University of Western Australia; Murdoch University and now Monash University

- Currently working my way (slowly and progressively) through the Master’s in Counselling Course at Monash… via distance education! That’s a lot of postage stamps!

- Resigned from my job of 4 years with lots of tears and good bye’s

- Got offered a job working with a NGO (Non-government organisation) company Communicare as a programs facilitator.

- Realised I would have to give up wearing skirts as I’d be facilitating group therapy and counselling with men of domestic violence in prisons.

- Resigned from my new job after a week of training

- Got offered a new-new job working with the department of corrective services as a senior programs facilitator

- Will be earning twice as much as when I was a medical receptionist last month. Whooopeeee!

- Declined 4 job offers in a month and wrote two resignation letters in the space of 2 weeks

So after all the whinging and crying and lots more crying over the years about not getting a job, being a useless psychology student for so long I have finally (almost) made it into  the “real” world.

It’s a great step forward career-wise and financial-wise. The only small teensy thing wrong about it (not that I’m not thankful) is that I’ll be delivering cognitive behavioural therapy. Which I actually have not given much time or thought to. Now I know as a starting psychologist I am probably more eclectic school of thought than anything else but something I know that I AM NOT is a cognitive behavioural therapist/psychologist. I AM NOT.

I’d rather be a yoga teacher.

Not that I am saying cognitive behavioural therapy is ineffective and useless. It’s not. But I do think there is more to a person’s problems than the physical symptoms and thoughts and behvaiours that they display. There is a person and a history behind all of that. And each of it individual and thought provoking and intensely interesting.

Until then I will be facilitating CBT via a programs manual day in and day out until I get to private practice and be able to make more difference in the world.

Until then…..

i have doubts about my profession.

so, i admit it’s been awhile. ok, ok. a looong while. but it appears my long lost friend of yesterday is still here and is still welcoming me back with open arms LOL

started my second semester of postgrad studies a couple of days ago. i made sure i slept enough and as i am going through a healthy regime i’ve been exercising heaps and eating a full hearty breakfast. so surprisingly (or not so surprisingly) i actually got the opportunity to PAY ATTENTION and understand what the lecturers and tutors were talking about. i truly hope this lasts longer than the first week haha. » Read more: hello long lost friend

So before the official letter of offer could be sent to me I had to have a police clearance and working with children certificate. These forms can be found at the Australia Post Office. You will need to bring along 100 points of ID. I brought my driivers license and my passport which sufficed. They also needed to take a passport photo of me for identification. The School (or workplace) will need to complete a section in the form before it can be handed in. The police clearance will be a certificate stating all public offences and crimes committed by that person. The working with children clears that particular person to work with young children. The police clearance will usually take about 2-3 days and the working with children about 2-3weeks to be sent to your postal address. Thats a REALLY long time!! Both these forms cost me a total of $70AUD! Thats pretty pricey don’t you think?? But both certificates can be used for my counselling volunteering and also with other jobs which will be immensely helpful.
Afterwhich both certificates will need to be sighted by the school and then the letters of offer and enrolment procedures can then proceed.

But in other news -
It’s my birthday! A new year, A better year =)

God gave me relief.
And this is my year to shine.

Honestly, technology can be the bane of all human life at times! I write out this pretty wordy blog yesterday only for it to be eaten by this thing called “the web” !!!! ARGH! I was frustrated to say the least. Still… Here I am to try again.

Looking for a job since Nov08 has not been fun to say the least. Not only have I looked far and wide in Perth, I’ve also expanded my search to the eastern states – Melb, Sydney, Brisbane etc. I’ve even gone as far as Tamworth, Darwin which are pretty much in the country!!! Still, to no avail. So I looked even further to New York, London, Singapore, Hong Kong. One of the sites I definetly recommend for searching for international jobs is www.monster.com. It has a comprehensive search engine for jobs in North America as well as around the world. Personally when looking for jobs within Australia I use » Read more: Jobs…Where?