The Australia Counselling Podcast

For the 100th and final episode The Australia Counselling Podcast, we invited psychotherapist Bill O'Hanlon back, who had one of the most downloaded episodes of all 100 episodes. Bill's solution-oriented approach is a powerful approach to working with clients that can help discover their own abilities and dissolve their resistance to change. In this interview Bill discusses: how he came to create the Solution-Oriented Approach.  the basic premises of the Solution-Oriented Approach some of the methods used in the Solution-Oriented Approach the difference between Solution-Focused Therapy or Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and the Solution-Oriented Approach how this approach combines with hypnosis. The premises of his solution-oriented approach are: people have resources, strengths, abilities and solutions they may not be aware of what you focus on tends to expand people are more than their diagnosis focus on the present towards the future Get the show notes with all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at http://australiacounselling.com.au/100

The Australia Counselling Podcast has come a long way since I published the first podcast on September 8, 2013. In just over 2 years the podcast has been downloaded over 63,000 times and listened to in 98 countries across the world. So for episode 99 I decided to go back through the archives and check out which of our podcasts were the most downloaded episodes of all time. In this compilation podcast, you can hear highlights from our most popular episodes of all time. The top 10 Australia Counselling Podcasts of all time (based on downloads) are: #10 077: Coming Out: What Therapists Need to Know When Working with LGBTI Clients - an interview with Matt Glover #9 063: What is Narcissism and Why is it Becoming an Epidemic? - an interview with Dr Jean Twenge #8 020: Positive Psychology: Powerful Interventions for Helping Clients Change - an interview with Dr Kate Lemerle #7 004: Gestalt Therapy: A Relational (Re)turn - an interview with Dr Michael Reed #6 080: The Neuroscience of Resilience - an interview with Linda Graham, MFT #5 073: Overcoming Shock: Healing the Traumatised Mind and Heart - an interview with Diane Zimberoff and David Hartman #4 078: The Challenges of Working with High-Conflict Couples - an interview with Jacqueline McDiarmid #3 064: The Lived Experience of Borderline Personality - an interview with Sonia Neale #2 075: The Yalom Interview: Creatures of a Day and Other Tales of Psychotherapy - an interview with Irvin D. Yalom #1 072: Out of the Blue: Six Non-Medication Ways to Relieve Depression - an interview with Bill O'Hanlon Get the show notes with all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at http://australiacounselling.com.au/99

The end of the year and the start of the New Year is the perfect time to reflect on the wins and challenges from the year just passed, as well as your goals for the coming year. As a therapist, one of your goals for the coming year will likely be to earn more income. There are a number of ways you can use your skills and knowledge as a therapist to generate more income. In this episode of the Australia Counselling Podcast I share 5 strategies that will help you make more income from your therapy practice in 2016. The 5 strategies I discuss are: Raise your fees the New Year (or start of your new financial year) is a good time to raise fees raise fees for all clients from January 1 separate out the GST (or your tax) from your main fee in case GST goes up Clients excpect that fees will raise over time - you are a business and you have rising costs, so operate like a business Add new services can you add coaching as a service? eg coaching for singles can you start a therapy group? - funnel existing/ending clients into your therapy group think outside the box and get creative with new services - e.g. offer phone support packages so clients can pre-pay for phone support and use as needed have you learned a new skill/technique such as EFT, hypnosis or EMDR and are you marketing? Don't forget to do marketing of any new techniques and skills Create joint ventures can you form a partnership with someone you know or would like to work with? put together a group/workshop/PD event share the load of the marketing and administration work joint ventures can be fun, reduce the isolation of working in private practice and help you earn more income Get more clients (is your marketing up to scratch) getting more clients is always the quickest way to increase your income is your marketing following best practices? is your website professional with compelling copy on your that speaks to the core issues of your clients? are you following best practices on social media? are you collecting email addresses through your website and sending an email newsletter? are you doing community marketing and networking on a regular basis with other professionals in your local area? Create a product  it’s never been easier to create a product and start to earn a passive income can you sell a meditation series? -  record meditations and guided relaxations and sell them online can you put your intellectual property into an ebook and sell it through your website or the Amazon marketplace? do you want to create a membership site or an online community where you provide ongoing support and content? Get the show notes with all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at http://australiacounselling.com.au

Have you ever considered starting a podcast? If you want to start a podcast, now may be the perfect time to catch the wave of the podcast revolution taking the world by storm. Never before in our history has it been so easy to reach a worldwide audience via podcasting. This is the perfect vehicle to get your message out to new people and raise awareness of you, your ideas, your services and products. Podcast growth has been enormous over the last few years. The Pew Research Centre has found that: podcast listenership has more than doubled since 2008 awareness of podcasts has more than doubled since 2006 podcast creation is rising with more than 22,000 podcasts hosted on Libsyn, one of the most popular hosting companies for podcasters in 2014 over 2.5 billion requests for podcast downloads were processed In this episode of The Australia Counselling Podcast I talk you through how to start your own podcast from scratch. After producing almost 100 episodes with 61,000 downloads to date, I've got some idea of what's involved and some great tips for you as well. Here's what I cover in this episode: Why start a podcast? you can expand your reach of people and expose your ideas and your business to countless people across the world The Australia Counselling Podcast has to date 96 episodes, 61,000 episodes and has been listened to in 98 countries 50% of our listeners are from Australia, 25% from the USA, 10% from the UK and the remaining from other countries podcasting is great for networking and building relationships with other therapists - on this podcast I’ve interviewed world-renowned therapists Michael Yapko, Sue Johnson, Harville Hendrix, Bill O’Hanlon, Rick Hanson and Irvin Yalom, just to name a few You get more attention from the media - I’ve been interviewed for numerous media outlets, magazines and radio stations - plus I’ve secured media interviews for Australia Counselling members you can improve your confidence as a speaker you can build the know, like and trust factor with your listeners it can assist if you want to create products for sales or promote your services to a wider audience What’s involved in podcasting? the most import thing is the commitment - be aware it’s a huge commitment of time and resources if you’re not willing to commit to podcasting on a regular basis, don’t start! securing interviews can be time consuming and challenging with negotiating time zones recording of episodes need to be either batched or done in advance editing episodes takes time, especially if your guest is not a confident speaker you may need to create blog posts for the show notes of each episode after editing you need to upload the audio to your audio hosting once your episode is published it's important to do marketing so new audiences can listen to your episodes this is a slow marketing strategy - results take time How podcasting works every episode is an mp3 audio file you need to tag the file with 'meta data' before uploading to your hosting you need a server to host your audio you need to create a feed - I use Libsyn - which is the gold standard in the industry (I pay USD $20 a month) the feed is what goes into iTunes and every time you upload a new audio, iTunes gets the audio on the feed Questions to ask before you start a podcast what are you going to podcast about? are you going to do interview style or just you speaking? what is the purpose or end goal of your podcast? what is your podcast title? what is your podcast subtitle? what is your podcast description? (this goes in iTunes) what will be on your artwork? - look at other top podcasts in iTunes and what graphics they have (I recommend 99designs for getting your iTunes artwork) do you want a professional intro and outro (try fiverr.com for voice-over artists) is your music royalty free? Podcasting equipment and software needed to start a podcast sound quality is the most important part of recording - invest in a great microphone cost effective solution: Audiotechnica ATR 2100 USB microphone about $60 pop filter and a stand and shock mount my own high end podcasting microphone: Rode podcasting microphone with studio boom and shock mount about $400 Call recorder for Mac (Skype plugin) - for interviews Pamela Call Recorder for Skype (PC) Hindenburg Journalist - for audio editing (about $100) alternatives: Garage Band (Mac), Audacity freeconferencecall.com for free recording on the phone post-production - auphonic.com to even out the sound levels How to record a podcast episode for interviews I use Call Recorder if I'm doing an interview, I record directly into Hindenburg Journalist I drag audios into Hindenburg - then edit then export the file from Hindenburg as a wav file add tags in auphonic upload to auphonic to even out sound levels if not using auphonic, add tags using ID3 editor software upload into Libsyn and add description and schedule or publish immediately once your feed is ready in Libsyn, then create your show in iTunes upload your artwork to iTunes for the first time and add a description once you’re up and running, submit your podcast to free podcast directories Tips for recording a podcast get ahead in your recordings so you're not scrambling to record your episode each week create a system around requesting interviews to save time don’t get obsessive about editing - you don't need to remove every "um" and "ah" work out the structure of your episodes so you can rinse and repeat prepare your interviewees - create an information document to give them before often interviewees are nervous so let them know it’s okay if they make a mistake and you can edit out mistakes listen to the most popular podcasts in iTunes for format/structure and interview style have a call to action in each episode - what do you want your listener to do?    

Constellation work is a powerful way of resolving issues within systems that keep individuals, couples, families and organisations stuck. Constellation work allows people to experience a completely new view of a system so they are aware of the patterns in a system and respond in healthier ways. It’s a powerful way to work in a group setting that involves choosing representatives from the group and setting up the system so it can be understood better. While there is still much we don’t know about constellations because it’s a new field, we do know that they are powerful agents of change that can affect how people can handle their personal and professional lives. In this interview Jan discusses: what is constellation work, how and why it works how constellation work is set up in a group setting what settings can constellation work be used in his work with organisational change the most difficult family dynamics to shift in organisations what is a double bind and why they are so challenging in systems the most powerful impact family/organisational constellations have had on his personal and business life why rituals are important in constellation work case studies of how constellation work has opened up greater possibilities for an organisation Get the show notes at http://australiacounselling.com.au/session96

Have you ever wondered why someone chooses one therapist over another when searching online? Believe it or not, there's a whole psychology behind choosing a therapist online. And when it comes to online counselling directories, visitors often have hundreds of therapists to choose from. So we spoke with Vancouver-based marketing coach and copywriter Juliet Austin about how to create a compelling counselling directory listing that gets you clients. In this interview Juliet shares: What people care about when choosing a therapist online Why it's important to spend some time creating a compelling directory listing What psychological factors influence the decision making process of a website visitor choosing one therapist over another The elements and must-haves of a compelling directory listing The most common mistakes therapists are making on directory listings How to write your copy when you have a limited word count Whether clients care about qualifications, degrees and specialised training Get the show notes at http://australiacounselling.com.au/session95

Have you ever had the experience of doing great work with a client, but then for some reason progress stalls? You've reached a therapeutic impasse and no matter which direction you go, you can't seem to make headway. It's not uncommon for clients to get stuck in therapy, but the key is knowing what to do once the therapy stalls. So I spoke with U.S. therapist Courtney Armstrong who is the author of the book The Therapeutic "Aha!": Strategies for Getting Clients Unstuck. In this interview Courtney discusses: where clients often get stuck in therapy why you need to engage the emotional brain of your clients how you can strengthen the therapeutic alliance when your clients are stuck how to create exciting goals with your clients how to locate the root of emotional conflict her 5-step memory reconsolidation framework to reverse trauma why it's essential to activate experiential change in your clients some of her best tips for helping clients get unstuck   Get the show notes with all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at http://australiacounselling.com.au/session94

In this episode of The Australia Counselling Podcast, listen to founder Clinton Power share his thoughts on why he thinks the Australian psychotherapy industry is in crisis. The seven reasons the Australian psychotherapy industry is in crisis are: Our professional psychotherapy associations have let us down. Psychotherapy training institutions are spreading propaganda about the profession Therapists are not promoting themselves effectively People don’t understand what psychotherapy is  We have taught people to go to a G.P. when they have a mental health issue We have created a culture of quick fixes for mental health issues There is still a lot of stigma for seeking treatment for mental health issues Get the show notes with all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at http://australiacounselling.com.au/session93

Gestalt therapy is an effective and powerful relational therapy that helps clients raise their awareness about how they are in the world so they can self-regulate and move towards health. Gestalt therapy is also synonymous with the 'empty chair' technique made famous by Fritz Perls, the founder of Gestalt therapy. However Gestalt therapy is much more than this technique and has a rich tradition and evolution to become the modern relational psychotherapy it is today. So we spoke with world-renowned Gestalt therapists Drs. Bob and Rita Resnick from Gestalt Therapy Training Associates Los Angeles (GATLA) about what Gestalt therapy is and why it is such an effective therapeutic approach for working with individuals and couples. In this interview Bob and Rita discuss: What Gestalt Therapy is about and how it works Why Gestalt Therapy became synonymous with the empty chair technique What is character and how it is formed How Gestalt Therapy works with interruptions to self-regulation in the present What Gestalt Therapy has that other theories and methodologies lack The relevance of Gestalt Therapy today in a culture of governments and consumers expecting effective outcomes in limited sessions The biggest mistakes people, including therapists, make about understanding Gestalt Therapy Get the show notes at http://australiacounselling.com.au/session92

As a therapist in private practice, you're probably not excited when it comes time to do your bookkeeping and accounting. You came into this field because you love working with clients and changing people's lives and likely don't have a background in finance or economics. However, if you don't stay on top of your numbers, your therapy business is flying blind without clear goals and strategy for increasing your income over time. So we spoke with accountant and financial expert Amanda Fisher, who has recently published a book called Unscramble Your Numbers: Unlock the Secrets to Your Business Cashflow about how therapists can start to manage their finances better and get their business on track for financial success. In this interview Amanda discusses: why the numbers get scrambled for so many therapists what numbers should we be looking at in our business what are the biggest mistakes she see therapists make around their numbers what can happen in business when we are not on top of our numbers why you need to use cloud accounting like Xero.com to streamline your business whether writing down our financial goals really makes a difference what business metrics we should look at on a regular basis whether therapists really need a budget and cashflow forecast the key numbers and reports therapists should be looking at and when the benefits of investing most your profits back into a business that is trying to grow how to interpret the numbers and indicators your business is in trouble Get the show notes at http://australiacounselling.com.au/91