In this series, counsellors share with CA their professional journeys and the things they have learned along the way. Counsellor and behaviour practitioner Sharon Marshall tells CA what she wishes she knew in the prelude to her career. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal Autumn 2023, Volume 24 Number 2.

Sharon Marshall Diploma of Business, Diploma of Counselling (ACA membership), behaviour practitioner, registered counsellor, specialist support coordinator. My company is Boutique Caring and we are located in Brisbane.

Looking back to your final year as a student (before starting your counselling career), what are the top three pieces of advice you would give?

• Be true and honest to yourself
• Follow what you want
• Reach high and hard

Would you change your decision to be a counsellor or psychotherapist? Why or why not?

No. I studied Psychology for three years and regretted wasting HECS on that, so I deferred. I felt it was too orientated around research and statistics and there was not enough emphasis put on the holistic person-centred approach.

How do you describe that work that you do?

My day consists of assisting people to find the best that they are and can be. I show them techniques to assist them to dig deep and delve into their trauma. As hard as it is to confront those demons, I am fortunate to be able to assist people and have an impact on their recovery or journey. To do this, it is necessary for me to have a thorough understanding of the impact of the trauma on the client’s life. Therefore, I spend a lot of time in conversation, or with children in play therapy (I love this). I often say that they are the flower, and I am just watering it and one day it will bloom.

Do you love your work? Why?

About 10 years ago my life took a dramatic turn. Imagine a ball rolling down a hill, gaining momentum and pulling everything into the vortex with me. My brain was on overdrive and I had a complete breakdown. I took a massive overdose with the intent of dying. I had said my goodbyes to my children and husband and then died. But there were other plans for me. After a long rehabilitation in Belmont Private Hospital (my first admission was over 10 months and then two admissions after that), I bounced back and I said, enough is enough, no more of this medication and ECT. I took control of my life and now I am teaching, navigating, encouraging people to take control of their lives. I love my work as I do make a difference in someone’s life. I am very good at what I do because I have lived experience and I can totally relate to people’s mental health and their challenges. I have empathy and I learned at the very beginning that we have two ears and one mouth, therefore listening is often all people require. My company has just started a therapy centre where people – either NDIS or private – can join in activities. They can learn how to cook, make candles, make cheese, do a resin board or restore some furniture. The therapy centre is also a place of sanctuary and safety; they can just sit in the beautiful lounges and have a coffee and read a book.

What is your ACA level?

As a professional counsellor, I focus on upgrading my knowledge by undertaking courses, such as BPD and training, as my passion is understanding them. I am completing my Master of Counselling, which is inspiring and has a steep learning curve.

ACA Member Catherine Chen has agreed to share her journey with all ACA Students Members as she embarks on her first year after graduation. Catherine completed her Masters of Counselling in December 2023 and is now exploring her next phase. Catherine will be sharing her journey monthly with students as she ventures into the world after study.

By Catherine Chen

After dedicating two years of hard work, completing the final unit of the Master of Counselling course was a surreal and rewarding moment. Following a month filled with celebration and travel, I entered a reflective space, intentionally slowing down to acknowledge my tendency to rush into the next chapter without appreciating the present. Taking a moment to genuinely celebrate my achievements, the decision to pivot from a career in finance to embrace the counselling path wasn’t merely a change—it was a courageous leap of faith. It meant stepping into the unknown and reconnecting with the authentic self I’ve always aspired to be. Honestly, it feels like I’m answering a calling—a realisation of who I am meant to be.

Returning from the break in the new year, the reality set in as I received the Level 2 membership card from ACA, signifying the celebration of my achievement. While it symbolises accomplishment, there’s also an honesty in admitting that it stirs a sense of being a bit lost – where do I go from here? Rather than resisting the uncertainty, I found it helpful to acknowledge it. Embracing this uncertainty has given me the strength to view this phase as an opportunity for personal and professional development. I am determined to navigate the unknown with resilience, curiosity, and an open heart.

I’m also genuinely thankful for the overwhelming support from those around me. A former colleague, with whom we shared a placement experience in private practice, generously offered to meet weekly on Zoom calls, providing invaluable support throughout this transitional journey. Our conversations delved into crucial aspects like resume writing and supervision. Motivated by this encouragement, I dedicated my spare time to pursuing additional Internal Family Systems (IFS) training through PESI AU, leveraging the ACA member discount, and earning professional development points for the upcoming year.

Under the university career counsellor’s guidance, I developed more detailed plans for the job-hunting process and enhanced my LinkedIn profile. Proactively, I also reached out to reconnect with select academic teaching staff from the Master of Counselling course, seeking their guidance in navigating this transitional period. Their support is precious during this phase of growth and exploration.

Remaining informed about current legislation, especially how counsellors are recognised as mental health practitioners in Victoria with the help of ACA, allows me to be receptive to job opportunities that may not have the title of a counsellor but involve a counselling role. This awareness broadens my horizons and will enable me to identify relevant positions aligned with my expertise and passion.

Lastly, but certainly not least, I sought support from family and friends, drawing strength from their love and encouragement. It’s important to remember that the lack of a response from a ‘perfect job’ doesn’t shape my identity; it merely indicates that it may not be the right fit. Instead, it serves as an opportunity for self-discovery and the courage to explore new possibilities.

In this feature, ACA interviews a counsellor and member about their profession, their journey and what they’ve learned along the way. By Catherine Norwood. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal, Autumn 2023, Volume 24 Number 2.

What prompted you to move into counselling as a profession?

In my first career as an engineer and an accountant, I realised that although I had some technical skills, what I really liked was working with people. I seemed to have a knack for getting people talking, and together we could discover good solutions to engineering problems. In doing that I also realised there are some really troubled people, and I thought I could use my skills in a different way, to help solve problems for people, rather than machines.

I decided to train as a pastor, and during my pastoral training I volunteered with my local State Emergency Services unit, providing support as part of their mental health team. That experience really led me to move into counselling as a profession.

What is the biggest reward in being a counsellor?

For me, the rewards of counselling manifest in three ways. Working with clients, I get to see the immediate effect of insights that people have; they can make some profound differences very quickly in their life, and I have been privileged enough to hear their story, and to be part of a bigger change. In supervision, I love seeing counsellors come alive in their vocation. As Dean of Counselling for the Perth Bible College, I also love the training aspect, facilitating learning and seeing people make new discoveries.

What is the biggest challenge about being a counsellor?

It is the lack of understanding in community about counsellors and our profession. There is a lot of bias, some of good, some bad; some fair, some not, because people just don’t understand the profession in the same way they might understand, in a general way, what a plumber does, or a heart surgeon.

Name a highlight of your Australian Counselling Association (ACA) membership.

My personal highlight is the ACA conferences. But the aspect of my membership that has provided the most value is the professional recognition that comes with being an accredited member of ACA. It gives people the confidence in me as a service provider, as both an employee and in private practice.

How would you like to see the counselling industry change in the future?

Broadly, I think we need greater consensus on what it means to be a registered counsellor, and once we have that, we need to get that out to all sorts of people – to insurers, in workplaces, to clients.

Describe a valuable learning experience that you had as a counsellor.

Because I often work with trauma related cases, and I get an insight into other people’s stories, it gives me an even greater sense of gratitude for my own life; it’s a lesson I keep re-learning.

How many clients do you see each week?

In my private practice I see an average of four clients a week, and I also do group and individual supervision.

What do you love about running your own professional practice?

As I have a mature private practice, I can be very focused and intentional about who I see. I work exclusively with men, usually around emergency services-based trauma or questions of spirituality.

What pearls of wisdom would you offer to a student counsellor or a colleague?

Use supervision as a valuable resource to help you develop personally and professionally. It can help you on so many levels, from difficult clients and ethical dilemmas to marketing a business and juggling your own family responsibilities. Your client is always more than their problems. However messed up things seem, your client never stops being a spiritual person who is worthy of love. Never stop learning. Our profession needs more and more people with high-level qualifications to improve our practice and influence change.

So You Want To Be A Counsellor is a multi-part advice series where counsellors share with ACA their professional journeys and the things they have learnt along the way. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal Summer 2023, Volume 23 Number 4.

In  part 4, Nutritionist and counsellor Melinda Overall tells us what she wishes she knew in the prelude to her career.

Looking back to your final year as a student (before starting your counselling career), what are the top three pieces of advice you would give?

1. Find a supervisor who you trust and who can help you grow in your practice – and start looking for them early.

2. Remember that you won’t be the right fit for every client, they might go elsewhere, and that’s totally ok. They need the right person to do their work.

3. Know that you have to keep doing your own work to grow as a person and practitioner.

Would you change your decision to become a counsellor? Why or why not?

Absolutely not. I love this work and really appreciate the privilege that it is to work with clients. My understanding of working with my nutrition clients and students has deepened in my 5.5 years of counselling practice. I had a 25-year career in human resources prior to studying nutrition (I’ve been a nutritionist for 10 years) and counselling, and I wish that I had studied counselling earlier. I’m currently planning on heading back to university to complete a Master of Counselling.

How do you describe the work that you do?

As I have the three different aspects to my work, describing it depends on which part I’m discussing. I describe my nutrition work as working with clients to improve their health and wellbeing through increasing their understanding about food and its impact on their health. This can include development of meal plans or general recommendations around diet. Information provided to clients might also include lifestyle recommendations. My work also includes analysis of diets and blood test results to determine any suboptimal micronutrient levels, and assisting to correct them with nutritional supplementation.

As a lecturer in clinical nutrition, I teach fundamentals of the above to students and supervise nutrition students in the student clinic. As a counsellor, I think I best describe my work as developing therapeutic and healing relationships with clients so that they feel safe to work through, contemplate and develop strategies to manage life’s stressors and difficulties. I view myself as a humanistic strengths-based practitioner who aims to assist people develop resilience and to improve their self-view.

Do you love your work? Why?

I do love my work. Mainly because I have three work streams and this ensures variety, different learning and exposure to different people and work settings. I also really appreciate the synergy between my work as a nutritionist and counsellor. My nutrition clients and counselling clients never shift to the other part of my practice. It is fabulous to recognise how the skills of each practice support the other, and improve outcomes for clients. This is especially so in the context of the gut–brain axis and recognising the significant role that food plays in mood. In all of my work streams, it is such a gift to be able to support people and to witness their growth.

How do nutrition and counselling combine and what is their importance to each other?

I am a university-qualified nutritionist and qualified counsellor working in private practice in Sydney’s inner west, and I am a lecturer in Nutritional Medicine at Torrens University. My career mission is to help people obtain optimal health through diet and lifestyle coaching with minimal supplementation.

I am passionate about food as medicine and am a firm believer in the concept of ‘food first’ wherever possible. The choices we make around food can significantly impact our health and wellbeing, for better or worse. With a busy lifestyle, it is easy to get lost in those food choices, but with a nutritional guide, you can make better decisions, get back on track and enjoy a healthier you.

So You Want To Be A Counsellor is a multi-part advice series where counsellors share with ACA their professional journeys and the things they have learnt along the way. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal Spring 2022, Volume 23 Number 3.

Michelle Sparkes, Supervising Counsellor at the Butterfly Foundation, shares her professional journey and tips for new professionals.

Tell us about your work.

I work with individuals, 16 years and older (and their families, carers and partners, as appropriate), to help them recover from the grip of disordered eating and body image concerns. Ultimately, these issues reflect a way of coping with challenging self and life experiences. I love this work and have been helping individuals recover from disordered eating for over 25 years. I take a holistic, whole-person approach to these challenging health and life-consuming problems, drawing on my professional experience as a physical and mental health clinician, and my lived experience of anorexia, eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) (now called OSFED – other specified feeding and eating disorders) and binge eating in my teen and early adult years. I also work as a supervising counsellor for the Butterfly National Helpline (Australia’s national charity for  eating disorders), providing oversight, training and supervision to helpline counsellors and working directly with consumers to provide information, support, guidance and referrals.

Do you love your work? Why?

My work at Butterfly gives me the opportunity to provide in the moment support to consumers and to invest in the training, upskilling and supervising of new/ er counsellors. My private work gives me the opportunity to work with individuals in a deeper, more substantial way and to witness their transformation over time. It is a pleasure and a privilege to do this work.

Looking back to your final year as a student (before you started your counselling career), what are the top three pieces of advice you give?

1. There are no stupid questions. Glean as much as you can from the practitioners you are learning from – your questions and their answers will help everyone.

2. Value the relationships and the different perspectives and life experience of your teachers and colleagues. You are members of the counselling body, and we are all richer for our diversity of insight, understanding and experience.

3. Volunteer for role-plays – these are rich opportunities for learning. Hearing and feeling yourself respond to a counsellor’s presence, tone, attitude and questions are incredibly valuable and you may never have a better opportunity to do this.

Imagine yourself entering your first counselling session as a qualified counsellor. What is the knowledge or advice you wish you had had?

Relax, you don’t need to know everything. Put your training and expectations to one side and focus on the person in front of you. Your capacity to connect with this person, to understand their needs and concerns and their hopes and desires is the most important thing for you to focus on right now. Be present, be warm, be relaxed, listen, listen, listen, never assume, observe, reflect, respond and let this process gently unfold and guide you.

Would you change your decision to be a counsellor or psychotherapist? Why?

I love being a counsellor in the eating disorder space – it’s a bit of an umbrella term, but it allows me the opportunity to provide the support that is right for the person I’m working with. A frustration for me is that, despite being registered as a counsellor since 2006 and amassing a huge amount of clinical experience and further training, I can’t offer my clients the benefit of a Medicare rebate under the Eating Disorder Plan, while a psychologist with the eating disorder credential can. Nor can I (based on my current ACA level) offer my clients much in the way of health fund rebates. It’s a frustration for me and a disadvantage for my clients. I am a credentialed eating disorder clinician, I‘ve worked in the eating disorder recovery space for over 25 years, I’ve authored books and developed eating disorder recovery programs and training, I’ve supervised counsellors on the Butterfly Helpline for the past three years and I’ve helped hundreds of people recover from disordered eating in private practice. This Medicare rebate regulation doesn’t feel like a match or true reflection of my accumulated training, knowledge, skills and experience.

What is your definition of counselling?

I like this definition: Professional counselling is a safe and confidential collaboration between qualified counsellors and clients to promote mental health and wellbeing, enhance self-understanding and resolve identified concerns. Clients are active participants in the counselling process at every stage. ■

So You Want To Be A Counsellor is a multi-part advice series where counsellors share with ACA their professional journeys and the things they have learnt along the way. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal Spring 2022, Volume 23 Number 3.

Marc de Bruin, Counsellor and life coach shares his advice and top tips to job hunting.

How do you describe the work that you do?

As an ‘elevator pitch’, I tell people that I assist businesses and individuals in working through and finding solutions for topics that affect people’s mental health.

More to the point, I have been working as a life coach, counsellor and educator in private practice since 2005 (after first forging a career as barrister and solicitor in the Netherlands for nearly 10 years). To me, in contrast to practising law, counselling and mental health work only contains win-win scenarios. No-one ever ‘loses’ anything by talking to a counsellor (other than ineffective behavioural and thinking habits!). Most of my work on a day-to-day basis revolves around seeing clients (anywhere between 25 and 35 per week) in my office and via telephone or video sessions.

I also teach at the University of the Sunshine Coast and other vocational and tertiary education institutions. I have been running workshops and seminars, and I also write articles for online magazines and my blog. The clients I see have either sourced me privately or came to me via Employee Assistance Program (EAP) providers. I am registered with about eight of them and, between them and my private practice, they keep my calendar filled! Because I have been in the profession long enough, I now also practice as a counselling supervisor for registered counsellors and psychotherapists.

Do you love your work? Why?

I absolutely love what I do. It’s an amazing ongoing realisation that I can work with fellow human beings and help them with their mental health questions so they can improve their situation. It is the most fulfilling work I have done so far in my career. I often say to clients – and I mean it – that is a great honour to have them share their personal stories with me and have them put their trust in our working relationship. It is also very humbling to hear people speak about their life, to ask me for help and assistance, and to realise that we all have a story to tell. Strangely enough, I often end my day feeling more energetic than when I started it in the morning. That to me means I must be doing something right. My simple life philosophy tells me, if the work I do gives me energy, I’m onto something good.

Looking back to your final year as a student (before starting your counselling career), what are the top three pieces of advice you would give?

Well, this depends on whether we take my law career or counselling career as a starting point. If we go with counselling, I would have to say:

1. Be proud to wear your ‘counsellor’ badge. No, we’re not psychologists, and no, we’re not social workers. We are counsellors, with a very specific skillset that is very much needed in our society. Counsellors are trained communicators and ‘professional listeners’, on top of being therapists – skills not everyone possesses.

2. Don’t trip yourself up by thinking that there are no jobs for counsellors. This may have been the case many, many years ago (when psychologists and social workers were the preferred choice), but this has very much changed. Adequately trained counsellors are wanted more and more in the workforce because of their specific skillset. And my hunch is that this will only continue.

3. Be bold enough to profile yourself wherever you think a work opportunity exists, even if it initially seems beyond your reach or where a psychologist or social worker seems to be preferred. As a counselling supervisor, I always challenge my supervisees to keep knocking on the door. Many organisations are unaware of what counsellors can offer, and would happily hire one, if they were educated on this. There is a fair bit of ignorance in the field, still, and a good way to reduce that ignorance is to get out there and get noticed! As a Dutch saying goes: ‘no’ you have, ‘yes’ you can get (along the lines of: nothing ventured is nothing gained); the more you try, the more ‘yeses’ you will most likely attract.

If you’re looking for a counselling job, I suggest doing the following:

■ Go for any ‘counsellor’ position you think would suit you. Explain that you are a qualified professional, and that you are willing to learn and upskill on the job. Obviously, do this within reason; don’t go for a role where a minimum of 10 years’ experience is required, or a specific degree that you don’t have. Many positions advertised as ‘counsellor’ require a psychology or social work degree and membership of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency or the Australian Association of Social Workers. On the other hand, I have applied for roles where initially psychologists were wanted, but – after some psycho-education from me – the employer was willing to hire a counsellor instead. I have never let a job description stop me from applying (unless it was totally out of my reach). You will get a few more ‘no, sorry’ replies if you work this way, but your chances of landing that first paid job go up quite dramatically.

■ Have a great resume and LinkedIn profile! These are your business card to the potential employer. Maximise your transferrable skills. Even if you have experience in a totally unrelated field (lawyer, in my case), you will have picked up many, many skills that you can use in counselling. Highlight those! Interpersonal communication, critical thinking, sound administration and compliance skills, problem solving, working with challenging personalities, eye for detail, good communication skills, etc., etc. And if counselling is the first job you’ve sought, highlight the fact that your knowledge is up to date with the latest developments, that you are still fresh and unbiased, that you’re eager to learn, and that you have stacks of energy to apply to the role.

■ Network, and network some more. Write to GPs; contact local community organisations; volunteer in mental health-related fields; become a member of your local Chamber of Commerce or other local networking groups (Business Network International, privately run business network groups); contact and form relationships with Allied Health professionals for mutual referrals, etc.

■ Keep adding new knowledge and practice to your skillset, even at your own expense (if you don’t have a job yet). The more knowledgeable and experienced you are, the more employable you will become.

■ I often jokingly say that the older and greyer you get, the more valuable you become in this industry. Add experience and knowledge on top of this, and I am very hopeful that you will ultimately carve out a great counsellor position for yourself, which will last you as long as choose to remain involved in the industry.

In this new series, counsellors share with ACA their professional journeys and the things they have learnt along the way. As featured in the Counselling Australia Journal Spring 2022, Volume 23 Number 3.

Janina King, counsellor, clinical transport officer and crisis support worker, tells ACA what she wishes she knew in the prelude to her career.

Tell us about your work. Do you love your work? Why? How do you describe the work that you do?

I have multiple roles across several platforms. They all are about uplifting others. I get a kick out of caring for, and supporting, people in crisis. I bring my healing presence to the situation, along with extensive life experience, and I listen and provide. I look at things from a broad perspective, knowing that by the time a crisis has arrived, there are many components at play that led a person to that point.

I am trauma-informed. Most people seeking support are traumatised somehow, and I believe in always ‘being there’ for a person. So many people have been left to feel abandoned and that no one is listening. Listening deeply is profoundly important and such a gift. Trauma training allows me to function as a catalyst to reduce another’s distress. I aim to ensure every person feels I am ‘there’ for them and will not abandon them. This is more important than knowing things. I operate from the belief that all people have their own answers for themselves. I am simply the catalyst for exploration, discovery and change.

In my ambulance role, even though it is a ‘physical’ response to medical events, heart rates can lower with just comfort and care. I have seen cardiac arrests caused by a stressful, scary event. I believe that really caring about another can cause huge positive change. Humans can feel if you care. As I am trained in the medical sphere, as well as exercise physiology, I bring this knowledge into the space when I am counselling someone. It allows me to view a person’s presentation from a holistic perspective.

I have ended up – purely by default – becoming something of a specialist in the WorkCover space. I have had to design my own processes for this, and to combine my counselling skills and my knowledge of the WorkCover system and health issues with an expert caring legal team for great outcomes for clients. I am still carving out my place in this space as it is unchartered territory.

Looking back to your final year as a student (before starting your counselling career), what are the top three pieces of advice you would give?

I would say: always keep learning, forever. Every person you will ever meet is an opportunity to learn about how people are unique, different and mysterious. Be kind, be gentle – including to yourself. Approach everyone with curiosity and interest. If you care, and engage authentically, you are off to a great start.

We may have an idea in our mind of where we are going, but life may offer you other opportunities of which you had never thought. It turns out I am effective in the medico-legal space, and that was never on my radar as something of interest.

Work on yourself always. Apply what you learn to yourself. See what you discover. Get to know yourself and keep growing. Find supports who believe in you.

Imagine yourself entering your first counselling session as a qualified counsellor. What is the knowledge or advice you wish you had had?

Have a basic structure of what you would like to explore. For example, in my couples counselling I follow the Gottman template for gathering a baseline of information to get an overview. In my individual counselling, I collect mental, physical, medical and social information to gain as complete a picture as I can to work from. Be curious, interested and always care for you first – you can’t provide diligent care if you are not caring for you. Check in with yourself before and after work, every time.

Would you change your decision to become a counsellor or psychotherapist? Why?

I have taken many years and a journey to get to this point. For me, it’s a natural progression to be here. I follow what I find intriguing and engaging, and I go where what I bring is wanted. There is endless scope in this field, so the sky is the limit.

What is your definition of counselling?

Well, I don’t like to define things too definitively as I find it limiting. But, if I had to, I might say something like, it is about bringing oneself as a healing presence to a conversation with a person, caring about them, and exploring what’s going on. It is about listening deeply, exploring difficulties and the human experience, and being a catalyst for peace and insight. Ultimately, we all want to feel good.