Haha, I could get behind Kanye 2020! At the very least nothing could be worse than what they've got right now! ... View more

@j95 No I didn't work for a 24 hour one, my store closed at 10pm at the latest. But during my years those evening/night shifts were my most frequent times I'd work, and the store normally started to quieten down around 9pm. But a few times every week we would always get that one person rushing into the store like 10 minutes before closing time haha   Like @letitgo's friend said though, the store gets super busy at Christmas! The store I worked at extends hours until midnight during Christmas and it's surprisingly still really busy even after 11 during that season, especially the weekend before!! ... View more

@j95 Great thread! I used to volunteer for a charity in my area which tutored primary and secondary students from disadvantaged backgrounds. It was really great cause all the tutors there were awesome and the kids were absolutely lovely and amazing - despite their backgrounds they were all so keen to learn and do well and just really eager to be there. As someone who loves working with kids, I enjoyed it so much and it was honestly one of the highlights of my week! :) ... View more

As someone who used to work in Kmart for over four years, this thread really brings me back hahaha. I had to quit this year because of full time study, but customers would ALWAYS come up to me and rave about the prices of the products XD I wasn't on registers, I was one of the floor staff and I worked in pretty much every section during my time there, so I got to know all the products very well haha ... View more

@Autumn23 Same here, the US elections have just been so overwhelming this past year almost, and I definitely feel upset and just saddened at how much the world is going to change now because of it... I think my biggest hurdle in all of this was that I just wanted to flat out deny that any of this happened, but now I've kind of moved on accepted that what's happened has happened. And of course I know that there are always people to talk to about it and just rant and let off some steam! :)  ... View more

What an amazing thread, I love all the posts and links here!  ... View more

I think this is a great idea! :) But I definitely agree with the previous suggestions about expanding KHL to the full name since I had to pause for a minute to think what that meant before I figured it out ... View more

@Autumn23 I haven't heard much about any specific events or activities yet, but I assume if there are going to be any details posted it'll be on the official website or on the Australian Psychological Society Facebook page! :) ... View more

First of all, good luck to all the Year 12s about to sit their exams!! It can be hard when you're so focused on studying day after day all building up to your exams, but I think it's definitely important to keep some perspective. Exams are super important, yes, but exams are not the end of the world, in fact once they're over it's just the beginning to all the exciting things afterwards!    I celebrated end of Year 12 by going away for a few nights with some of my closest mates. It was good to finally destress and chill out, but we had this kind of unspoken 'rule' that we did not talk about the exams at all, and that really helped take our minds off it and just focus on having fun! I found that really helpful that I got to have a few days of just not thinking about the end of Year 12 :) ... View more

@missep Awesome, another fellow postgrad psych! ^^  I definitely agree about the thesis topic part! It can be especially hard if you have no idea in the beginning what you even want to do it on, but I was lucky and had a very supportive and guiding supervisor who help me get through it - somehow! ... View more

@roseisnotaplant Ha ha, well I hope you have fun hiking and getting out into the outdoors! ... View more

@JanaG I've never heard of sensory kits before, but it sounds really intersting and a really great idea - thanks for sharing! I can definitely also think of ways this could be used with kids to help them learn to self-soothe or relax  ... View more

@Clockwork Congrats on passing the learners - you're that one step closer to getting your license now!! ^^ And yeah, it can be pretty nerve-wracking going on your first drive, but start off slow and you'll find your confidence starts to build with each time you go out to practice!   @lokifish Congrats on passing your hazards! Good luck for your full test!!  ... View more

@Birdeye It depends on the subject how much I'm going to miss it... Like one of my subjects I've absolutely hated this semester because I don't like the lecturer's teaching style and unfortunately there are some aspects of her personality that I find myself clashing with, but others have been really awesome so I will miss those!   More than anything, I'm going to miss my class! My course has such a great cohort and we all get along really well and support each other too  ... View more

Love reading these quotes! One that I recently came across is from the Dalai Lama: "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible." (^ ^) ... View more

@tomo_13 Personally, at this stage I'm really against the whole movement into AI for counselling and mental health! Having done a counselling course myself, I just cannot see computers being able to understand the complexities of human feelings and emotions and know how to be able to respond to that. I find that so much of what makes counselling work is having that relationship with the counsellor, so I feel like that is going to be totally lost if we leave it to AI... I can see the applications for people in remote areas and stuff, but I've heard of programs reaching people in remote areas through Skype so I don't see why counsellors could begin to use that kind of technology too!   @ivory Do you have any particular podcasts you'd recommend? I've just started driving on my own and would love to find some new podcasts to listen to on my drives  ... View more

Great topic, especially as we are becoming such a technology dependent society, it only makes sense that mental health moves into technology too and can help us with it as well! ^^   The one app which I love and was introduced to this year was Smiling Mind. I really like it because I do work in schools and it has mindfulness and breathing excersies for all ages, so you can use it with little ones as well as up to adults! And the fact that it was developed in Australia is so awesome too!  I'm trying to get in a habit of doing on exercise each night before I go to sleep - not going so well so far >< but I hope to get into a habit soon because I do find that I get to sleep quicker if I do an exercise beforehand! ... View more

@jesseka_grace I agree! As always we just keep going on in life as best we can, and when the time comes it's something that I'll deal with then. But I'm glad that I know now, and know that there are support groups/forums like this where if I something difficult is going to happen, then I'll have support during that time ^^ ... View more

@Fee Haha so long as it's in moderation I don't think you need to feel so bad about eating it! If you space out your chocolate eating I find that I feel less guilty about it and each time I eat some makes me feel even better because of it lol   My guilty pleasure is hot chocolate >< I loveee hot chocolate, especially with marshmallows, and it's just too perfect to have especially on cold winter days! ... View more

@Bay52VU Thanks for posting this! I'm going to have a go and try and make one of my own when I have some free time!  ... View more

@jesseka_grace Thank you for starting this thread, and what a great idea! I was diagnosed with PCOS about two years ago, and as you said there's not a lot of information out there or groups and support, especially for young women.   Personally, PCOS doesn't affect my day to day life that much because my only symptom (as far as I can tell) is that I have very irregular periods where I can go for up to half a year without having one.. But something that's always in the back of my mind is worrying about in the future if I want to have kids how it might affect my chances of getting pregnant. I do dwell on it from time to time, but when that does happen I try to put it out of my mind and tell myself that when the time comes I'll be able to deal with it! But I'm so relieved to know that there are others out there who also going through PCOS and that we can all talk about it here now  ... View more

@May_ That does sound very challenging for you - I hope that you do find some support though, especially because working each day in these areas can be very difficult!   At the moment I've only been observing counselling sessions because I feel like my counselling skills need a bit of work so I'm not ready to run my own at the moment ^^;; But I am really interested in counselling too!   Every time we assess a child we have to write up a report for the school and the parents about what we did and what recommendations we have based on what we found. There's also reports to write for other professionals and applications to other agencies, so there's never an end to the report writing! At the end of each day I also spend time writing in a journal about my reflections on the day - like what went well, what I enjoyed, and what I found challenging. It's not compulsory or anything, but I personally find that it's a really good practice to reflect each day on what happened and writing is also a personal self-care technique of mine because I can get everything off my chest! ... View more

@Bay52VU That is so cool and such a creative idea! You should share a tutorial on it or something so that we can all make our own versions, because I know that'd be something really helpful for me! ^^ ... View more

What areat idea to talk about this now, with exams coming up so soon for everyone! I actually don't have any exams this semster (phew!) but I think one of the best things you can do to prepare for the exam is to know the exam format! It makes a huge difference if you're preparing for a multiple choice exam compared to an exam where you have to write an essay.   Like, if I'm studying for a multiple choice exam I'll focus on making sure I understand the details of what I'm studying really well since most of the time the questions will try to trip you up with two really similar answers which comes down to the detail. If it's an essay I'll focus on understanding the overall themes/content of the subject and the links between different parts so that I can write a coherent and well put-together essay. And of course what everyone else has already said here, prepare well and make sure you take care of yourself while studying!   Good luck everyone!  ... View more

@DruidChild Thank you very much! ^^   @N1ghtW1ng Thanks for your tips! I hadn't thought of putting the water on the paper first and then adding in the colour, so I'll definitely give that a try next time  ... View more

@May_ It's great to hear that you're doing social work and psychology! I've met with a number of social workers through placements and they are all really lovely and inspring people, and the work they do is so valuable and important to the school. I'm sorry to hear you're feeling a bit lost though, do you think it would be helpful if there perhaps was anyone else you could talk to at the school (like a wellbeing coordinator) that would be able to support you there?   Yes, I'm on my first placement at the moment, and I go around with my supervisor to three schools, two primary and one P-12. There's a lot of different work to be done at each school! Most days it's a combination of doing assessments, seeing some kids for counselling, meeting with other staff members and teachers, and report writing - a looooot of report writing - but every day there's always something unexpected that goes on and you have to adjust and adapt to whatever happens at the school! I hope that kind of gives you a (very) brief rundown on what my days at placement are like  Also, I'm very lucky to have an amazing supervisor, so I learn heaps from her each day even just by watching and observing what she's doing.  ... View more

This is an awesome thread, I love seeing everyone's art and how creative everyone is!!   I'd like to share mine here as well, the lighting is a bit bad though ^^;;   I like to draw with all kinds of different materials, but this is the first time that I've done watercolour... I'm not that great at watercolour yet, so if there's anyone with some advice on watercolour painting I'd love to hear from you ^^   ... View more

Thanks @peppermintpeony!    Reading through everyone's replies about their careers/courses is really interesting and it's great to hear about these different areas which I would have otherwise not had a chance to hear about!   I just realised I forgot to write my own answers to the questions earlier haha. I'm currently doing Masters of Educational Psychology which mainly involves working in schools and with students from Prep right up to Year 12, but I really love all areas of psychology to be honest!   What's the best thing about this career/course? Being able to work with kids and with other amazing and hard-working people/professionals in a team to make a difference in these students' lives. Every kid is different from the next and there's so much to learn, and the fact that you can never stop learning is really exciting to me! What's the hardest thing about this career/course? Because psychology is all about dealing with people, there are a lot of difficult subjects and topics that come up and that you experience. It can be difficult to deal with them and not let yourself get overwhelmed by them, so it's important to remember to take care of yourself and know your limits, and know that there are always other people to help and support you and you're never alone. What do you wish you had known before you started this career/course? I think it's really important to realise that psychology is really demanding on your self personally! In a book I had to read for uni there was this line, "You can't take others further than you're willing to take yourself," and I've never forgotten it. If you want to help others as best as you can, you also need to look after yourself! ... View more