It is extremely important that regardless of the pathway you take, your course/s are accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and approved by the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA). At the beginning of the pathway to becoming a psychologist via undergraduate degree entry is:

• A 3-year APAC-accredited undergraduate sequence + 1 year honours = 4 years; OR
• A 4-year APAC-accredited undergraduate sequence that includes the honours year

To gain entry into undergraduate courses that include the 4th year (honours), a higher ATAR is generally required than the 3 year sequence. While Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) students will need to score high enough grades in the first 3 years to proceed to the fourth year, students from 3 year APAC-accredited sequence degrees will need to apply for an honours year. The process of gaining a place in 4th year honours place is competitive.

Graduates of a number of degrees including psychological science, psychology, arts, social science, health sciences, science, and behavioural science must ensure that they complete the required APAC-accredited pre-requisite subjects in their undergraduate course to be eligible to proceed down the postgraduate pathway if their intention is to become a psychologist

Please note that the tables in this article show only single psychology degrees. There are hundreds of double-degree options including APAC-accredited sequences that you can complete with at a wide range of universities throughout Australia.

Undergraduate entry into psychology courses – 3 year undergraduate + 1 year honours pathway

The following tables show the ATARs / Selection Ranks that were required to enter each 3 year APAC-accredited undergraduate course at the beginning of 2022 in the various states and territories throughout Australia. Each state has the 3 year course followed by the 1 year of honours in a separate table. Please note that this is a rough guide only for future years as it changes from year to year depending on the applications each university receives.

Undergraduate entry into psychology courses – 4 year Bachelor (honours) degree

For entry into a 4 year psychology honours course commencing in 2022, the ATAR ranged from 70 to 99 depending on the course and university. Please note that this is a rough guide only for future years as it changes from year to year depending on the applications each university receives, and that some universities will also have additional selection criteria to gain entry.

Graduate entry into psychology courses

Graduate diploma courses are bridging courses where those who have completed an undergraduate degree in an area other than psychology can complete the APAC-accredited 3 year sequence in a shorter time frame. These are predominantly fee-paying places (i.e. not subsidised Commonwealth-supported) places. After completing the graduate diploma, you would then need to complete a 4th year honours (or equivalent) program in order to progress along the pathway to becoming a psychologist.

Pathways to becoming a psychologist in Australia

The Australian Psychological Society has an excellent explanation and pathway infographic available: https://www.psychology.org.au/Training-and-careers/Careers-and-studying-psychology/studying-psychology/Study-pathways. Please note that the 4+2 internship pathway is being phased out, and that no new applications are being accepted for this pathway. Those completing this pathway have until 30th June 2027 to apply for general registration. The 5+1 pathway or the 4 + 2-year masters is the requirement to become a registered general psychologist. Further training would need to be completed to become a psychologist with an area of practice endorsement.

Current list of accredited and approved programs of study to become a psychologist

The information presented in this article was correct at the time of publishing. Please check with the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council for details of accredited courses and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for an up to date list of approved programs of study to become a psychologist in Australia.

More resources on My Health Career

• Videos about a career in psychology
• How to become a psychologist in Australia – by psychologist Dan Martin
• The career progression of a psychologist – many roads lead to Rome – by Dr Rebecca Ray
• What’s the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?
• Transitioning to academia for early career psychologists

Disclaimer

This information is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances. My Health Career accepts no responsibility for ensuring that you enrol in a course that is right for you. Please do your own research to ensure that you enrol in the correct course. This may include speaking with a careers advisor, guidance officer, career development practitioner, representatives of the Australian Psychological Society, and admissions officers from the university or universities you are looking at applying to.

The post ATAR for psychology – Your guide to the ATAR for every psychology course in Australia in 2022 appeared first on My Health Career.

Pre-budget submission

The AAPi pre-budget submission for the 2022-2023 federal budget focused on 4 items:
1. A one-tier Medicare rebate system for the clients of all registered psychologists in Australia, replacing the current two-tier system
2. Raising the Medicare rebate to $150 per 50 minute session
3. Implementing the Productivity Commission recommendation for up to 40 rebated sessions for clients each year
4. Establishing a provisional psychologist Medicare rebate

Post-budget

Following the handing down of the federal budget, AAPi Executive Director Tegan Carrison said it was unfortunate that the budged only allowed for an additional $648 million in spending for mental health.

Ms Carrison stated that “Some of the positive budget announcements include:

• Funding towards workforce development
• Continuation of item numbers for bushfire victims and the additional funding for mental health care of those impacted by the floods
• Mental health support for vulnerable community members, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, multicultural communities and victims of domestic violence
• Permanent telehealth

“AAPi also welcomes the much-needed investment in suicide prevention, eating disorder treatment and services such as crisis lines, but more is needed to ease the escalation of our mental health crisis and support our existing and future mental health workforce.

“We are happy to see that our calls for more investment and support of provisional psychologists have been noticed – with 75 internships for provisional psychologists announced and support for the safe use of the provisional psychologist workforce to deliver services, and the provision of 150 free Psychology Board of Australia endorsed supervisor training sessions – the question remains as to whether this will lead to more psychologists achieving full registration.

“We have a serious problem in that the measures announced don’t fully address the elephant in the room: a workforce that is smaller than demand, areas of psychology facing extinction, and insufficient rebates for the majority of Australians.

“Too much of this budget is a band-aid solution, and the stakes are too high for that. As a nation, our mental health has been collectively challenged like never before. The frustration of getting help when we really need it is wearing us thin and those providing the help are even more fed up. Our late 2021 Private Practice Survey showed 78% of clients exhibited more distress, anxiety, or depression, with 47% of psychologists unable to take on new clients.

“This Budget did not address AAPi’s key concerns with regards to workforce shortages and chronic underfunding of pivotal services such as Medicare, rural and remote services and school psychologists. Without raising the Medicare rebate to $150 for the clients of all psychologists, access to affordable mental health care remains out of reach for hundreds of thousands of people.

The APS expressed disappointment in the budget, but stated that there were some welcome announcements.

APS President Tamara Cavenett said ““The government is only meeting 35% of their workforce target while one in three psychologists are unable to take on new patients. Before the pandemic, it was 1 in 100.

“Making university funding on par with dentists, GPs, psychiatrists and veterinarians is critical to the future of the psychology in Australia. The government can’t deliver on its promises without the workforce to back it up.

“Despite record demand to see a psychologist and worsening cost of living pressure the budget fails to reduce gap fees for people in crisis and contemplating suicide.
“We needed a budget that lowered gap fees and got psychologists into schools and the regions. Sadly, the opportunity has been missed.

The APS also felt that the following reforms were crucial, and had not been addressed in the budget:

• Funding university places on par with GPs, veterinarians, dentists and psychiatrists
• Committing to the 1:500 psychologist to student ratio at all public, private and independent high schools in line with the government’s Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Inquiry
• Expanding Medicare coverage and lowering the gap fee for patients
• Providing regional relocation incentives to psychologists on par with GPs, and
• Making the additional 10 per annum Medicare-funded psychology sessions a permanent feature of the Better Access program

Pre-federal election

In the lead up to the federal election, the APS called on all parties to commit to ensuring that Australians in regional, rural and remote areas do not have to fend for themselves instead of being able to access mental health support.

The APS quoted a figure of 20% of psychologists being in regional Australia servicing the 28% of the population who live there.

APS President Tamara Cavenett said “Your postcode should never determine your mental health, yet we continue to see 7 million Australians, in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the country, left to fend for themselves.

With some of the highest rates of alcoholism, depression, self-harm and suicide found in regional, rural and remote Australia, how long will the government stand by and continue to think this is good enough?

“These people put food on our plates, clothes on our backs and power our homes but we can’t help them when they’re at their lowest ebb? This national shame must be brought to light.

The APS stated that the Federal Government was meeting only 35% of its psychology workforce target, the largest shortfall of any mental health workforce and, that unlike GPs, there are no incentives for psychologists to relocate to regional areas.

Ms Cavenett said “GPs save lives each day and deserve the support they get, but we have to address the mental health deserts sweeping across regional Australia during the shadow pandemic.

“In regional, rural and remote Australia many people are lucky to simply get onto a wait list, and even then wait times of more than 12-months are common in some areas.

Also in the lead up to the election, the APS developed a 10-point election manifesto:
1. Invest in a surge workforce to ensure effective disaster readiness and response
2. Perinatal mental health for all Australian parents
3. Get psychologists into schools
4. Support child mental health hubs
5. Introduce a youth mental health safety net
6. Ensure COVID-19 mental health recovery through bulk billing and rural incentives
7. Improve digital mental health services
8. Future-proof the psychology workforce
9. Strengthen the psychology workforce
10. Get graduates to clients faster

Post-federal election

AAPi released an association update following on from the federal election. It stated that the association members had reached all election candidates a number of times with their key advocacy items for a more accessible and fair mental health care system.

Following the federal election, AAPI Executive Director Tegan Carrison stated that “AAPi has built strong relationships over the years with all sides of politics and will continue these conversations with the incoming ministers, advocating for our shared vision for mental health care in Australia.

“With the new Labor government foreshadowing a focus on Medicare, NDIS and aged care, there has never been a more important time for AAPi to take the lead in advocating for an equitable and diverse psychology profession.”

The APS urged the Albanese government to commit to addressing mental health challenges faced by Australians, and congratulated Ministers Butler and Clare on their appointments (Health and Aged Care, and Education, respectively).

APS President Tamara Cavenett said ““During a time of uncertainty and national crises our mental health system is on the brink. Psychologists on the frontline are telling us the anxiety that people are feeling about climate change and natural disasters is palpable right across the country.

“We are committed to working with the incoming government to create a more sustainable sector that values patients and psychologists alike.

“By increasing university funding we can begin to address the problems facing the community.”

In June, the APS welcomed the federal government’s announcement to an overhaul of the national school chaplaincy program, stating that they saw it as an opportunity to implement the ratio of 1 psychologist to every 500 students.

With the news that schools would be able to choose between hiring a religious or secular pastoral care worker, APS President Tamara Cavenett said “Investment of government funds into placement of qualified mental health experts such as psychologists into schools just makes sense.

“The APS has raised significant concerns over many years about the national school chaplaincy program. We’ve repeatedly stated that while we are not opposed to the presence of chaplains in schools for pastoral care, the investment of scarce government-funded resources should be redirected to professional qualified experts, such as psychologists.

“This is a step in the right direction for evidence-based pastoral and mental health care for Australian school students. It is common sense, and it is entirely appropriate.

“Young Aussies have experienced turmoil, uncertainty, and major disruption to their schooling and major childhood milestones over the past two years. Never has it been more important to ensure they are receiving mental health care from qualified experts.

“Fifty per cent of lifelong mental health issues start before the age of 14 years, so school is the appropriate setting to catch early signs and provide early intervention.
“For many years we have been urging the Federal Government to develop a national benchmark for school-based psychologist to student ratios.

“Evidence shows by aiming for a benchmark of 1 psychologist to every 500 students would benefit the whole school community an provide vital support to teachers, principals and families.

“Psychologists employed in schools work at a whole-of-school level on programs to support children’s’ mental health, development and learning. The benefits of access to a psychologist at the right time, can be seen for years to come. It simply makes good economic sense to look after the mental health of our children.

“Psychologists can assess children for mental health issues, learning difficulties, intellectual disability, and can work with teachers and families to support children with behavioural issues and learning difficulties” said Ms Cavenett.

The post Psychology 2022: The Profession’s Priorities in an Election Year appeared first on My Health Career.

It is extremely important that regardless of the pathway you take, your courses are accredited by the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and approved by the Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA).

While most undergraduate psychology degrees are 3 years, the courses that include a pathway into the 4th year (honours) generally require a higher ATAR for entry. While Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) students will need to score high enough grades in the first 3 years to proceed to the fourth year, and students from the 3 year degree will need to apply for an honours year, the process of gaining an honours place is competitive.

Graduates of a number of degrees including psychological science, psychology, arts, social science, health sciences, science, commerce and behavioural science must ensure that they complete the required APAC-accredited pre-requisite subjects in their undergraduate course to be eligible to proceed down the postgraduate pathway if their intention is to become a psychologist. As well as a high grade point average in the first 4 years of university study, students may also need to be prepared to gain clinical experience by working as a therapy assistant and research experience as a research assistant in order to obtain a place in sought-after Masters Programs that are a pathway to an area of practice endorsement.

Undergraduate entry into psychology courses – 3 year undergraduate + 1 year honours pathway

The following tables shows the ATAR scores that were required to enter each 3 year APAC-accredited undergraduate course at the beginning of 2020 in the various states and territories throughout Australia. Each state has the 3 year course followed by the 1 year of honours in a separate table. Please note that this is a rough guide only for future years as it changes from year to year depending on the applications each university receives.

Undergraduate entry into psychology courses – 4 year Bachelor (honours) degree

For entry into a 4 year psychology honours course commencing in 2020, the ATAR ranged from 70 to 99 depending on the course and university. Please note that this is a rough guide only for future years as it changes from year to year depending on the applications each university receives, and that some universities will also have additional selection criteria to gain entry.

Graduate entry into psychology courses

Graduate diploma courses are bridging courses where those who have completed an undergraduate degree in an area other than psychology can complete the APAC-accredited 3 year sequence in a shorter time frame. These are predominantly fee-paying places (i.e. not subsidised Commonwealth-supported) places. After completing the graduate diploma, you would then need to complete a 4th year honours (or equivalent) program in order to progress along the pathway to becoming a psychologist. Three year bridging graduate diplomas available on the following universities:

Pathways to becoming a psychologist in Australia

The Australian Psychological Society has an excellent explanation and pathway infographic available: https://www.psychology.org.au/Training-and-careers/Careers-and-studying-psychology/studying-psychology/Study-pathways. Please note that the 4+2 internship pathway is being phased out, and that the 5+1 pathway will be the requirement to becoming a psychologist with general registration in the coming years.

Current list of accredited and approved programs of study to become a psychologist

The information presented in this article was correct at the time of publishing. Please check with the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council for details of accredited courses and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for an up to date list of approved programs of study to become a psychologist in Australia.

More resources on My Health Career

• Videos about a career in psychology
• How to become a psychologist in Australia – by psychologist Dan Martin
• The career progression of a psychologist – many roads lead to Rome – by Dr Rebecca Ray
• What’s the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?
• Transitioning to academia for early career psychologists

Disclaimer

This information is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances. My Health Career accepts no responsibility for ensuring that you enrol in a course that is right for you. Please do your own research to ensure that you enrol in the correct course. This may include speaking with a careers advisor, guidance officer, career development practitioner, representatives of the Australian Psychological Society, and admissions officers from the university or universities you are looking at applying to.

The post ATAR for psychology – your guide to the ATAR for every psychology course in Australia in 2020 appeared first on My Health Career.

I regularly share that I believe I have the best job in the world. People ask me, as a Clinical Psychologist, ‘how do I manage it, how do I spend my time listening and talking about the darker side of life’s struggles? When a builder walks into a fixer upper, they can see its potential, the beauty that can be reached with mindful and skilled dedication. So too with Psychology. I get excited when I can see how people’s lives can launch forward in health. What can be more meaningful than helping people heal and watching them become more grounded in confidence and richer in their relationships and a sense of purpose.

Tell us about clients who have turned their lives around.

I could literally think of hundreds of examples of scenarios where people are able to turn their difficult times around. Perhaps it is the couple who are lost at sea. They do not have understanding of one another. They are in their corners with their walls up, they are continually causing more harm to each other. This negative spiral can be turned around when they can learn to listen and study each other. When they can learn to take pride in understanding each other and communicating this understanding (paraphrasing). When they both feel heard and they have a shared understanding then they can experience the amazing rewards from creatively finding win:win outcomes.

Another example may be through the use of EMDR with trauma. A client may have had an acute traumatic incident happen to them, a medical crisis, and car accident, a sexual assault. EMDR is a fascinating specialised treatment where the person can release the hold their trauma has over them and create distancing from their hot emotions and their PTSD symptomatology. They can experience healing that they had never dreamt of.

Perhaps my favourite example of people experiencing a turnaround is when they come into session and develop a genuine understanding of their hot issues, there dysfunctional emotional and thinking patterns. They never knew that they were dragging around this anchor and they are able to choose to release themselves from old dysfunctional habits. Liberation from the inside.

How can quality of life improve for a client?

Clients can learn to have compassion for themselves through having genuine self-understanding. They can learn to work with themselves rather than just being down on themselves. Clients can learn to have self-love and confidence, they become their own caring friend rather than their own bully. Clients can learn to love and be loved, perhaps our ultimate human calling. Clients can learn the personalised formulas that makes them thrive. They can learn to have passion and purpose in their moment to moment functioning. It is often as if client come from being on automatic pilot and living on the mouse wheel, to becoming alive to what matters. True improvement in quality of life.

Tell us about wow people define what happiness is for them and then find it within themselves.

All of us want to be happy. Research has found that what people most want in their lives is personal happiness, it tops the list every time. Most of our major decisions we make, from our relationships, to our jobs, and other big life choices are made in the hopes of increasing our happiness. By increasing our happiness in a meaningful way, we can in fact benefit our health, our relationships, our job performance, and our emotional well-being in dramatic and life-altering ways. Furthermore, research shows that happy people live longer, have better marriages, are more creative, and are more altruistic than those who are less happy. In short, happiness doesn’t just feel good; it is good for us.

What is happiness? Most people would define it as a positive mood state, but it really is a sense of contentment, inner calm and peace, and a sense of purpose. Most importantly, I would argue that it is a safe and meaningful connection with others. And with all this comes joy. After all, mental health is playfulness in the moment. What better definition is there for happiness!

Dr Kirsten Hunter
Clinical Psychologist
The Toowoomba Specialist Centre
Suite 5 / 9 Scott St
Toowoomba QLD
AUSTRALIA
Ph: +61 7 4637 9991

Dr Kirsten Hunter is a Clinical Psychologist with 20 years of experience. Through her Private Practice she works with children, adolescence and adults across the breadth of clinical areas. Website: kirstenhunter.com

More articles on My Health Career:

• Doctors weigh in on what they love most about their careers
• Psychologist Tracey McGrath on what she loves about guiding clients to happiness
• Community pharmacists Kenny Lee and Toni Riley love their (very different) careers. Here’s why….

The post The best job in the world – by Clinical Psychologist Dr Kirsten Hunter appeared first on My Health Career.

“In healthcare, I love that every day we go to work we are doing our part to make the world a better place. Whatever we do, we impact lives and most of the time it is for the better, even if sometimes we give bad news. It leads to great job satisfaction and sense of purpose and we can all hope that it leads to good karma!”

Dr Frank Farrelly is a general dentist based in Darlinghurst and Surry Hills, Sydney. He provides all aspects of general dentistry, but takes a general interest in Invisalign Orthodontics, having recently completed a postgraduate diploma in Digital Orthodontics.
https://darlinghurstdental.com.au/dr-frank-farrelly-principal-dentist/

“I love the incredible support we give each other in the healthcare industry, working together for a common cause of helping those in need. As a Psychologist, I love being able to help people reach their goals and discover the potential they have to achieve them. People surprise me every day by how much strength they have to overcome life’s obstacles.”

Phillipa Brown is a registered Psychologist who works across various schools and universities in Melbourne. She utilises a range of psychological approaches in her work with clients, developing a positive therapeutic relationship to assist clients with their unique concerns.

More articles in My Health Career:

• On love for fusing artificial intelligence and physiotherapy – A Q&A with Phebe Liston
• Doctors weigh in on what they love most about their careers
• Psychologist Tracey McGrath on what she loves about guiding clients to happiness

The post What do a dentist and a psychologist love about their careers as a health professionals? appeared first on My Health Career.

Tell us about how psychology can enrich people’s lives.

A simple way of helping people enrich their lives are through goal setting, where changes can be made and applied in a step-by-step process. Having a goal in mind is a great place to start when a client has identified an area they wish to improve on, and breaking these down into smaller steps. Along with the right care and support, and being able to discuss the changes and setbacks along the way, clients have been able to improve their ability to manage tasks and apply the same principals to other aspects of their lives. Motivation and strength building is another great way to helping people enrich their lives. It’s one thing to talk about the issue at hand, but I find that building on people’s strengths and reminding them of the things they are doing well is a great way of empowering clients to regain confidence in their self again.

How can quality of life improve for a client?

Individuals’ quality of life can be improved by increasing their understanding of self and others to discover motives and patterns of behaviour. Improvements can also be found by making changes to certain areas of life or getting motivated to start something new. Other ways people can improve their quality of life can be simply through making healthier and more positive choices, as well as improving their confidence in their decision-making. Everyone holds the tools to improve their own quality of life, and with guidance, can help to draw out and discover the tools they require to move forward positively.

How do you motivate yourself to move forward and keep the passion burning for your chosen career if you experience burnout?

It’s easy to experience burnout in any chosen career, or even in life in general. If you tend to experience burnout regularly, it might be a good time to assess the important aspects of your life and cut down on areas that might not be as important. There are three basic fundamentals that need to be prioritised and are especially key when feeling burnout, which entails; sleep, diet and exercise. Having a good balance of all three can improve your ability to regulate your emotions and reduce your levels of stress, enabling you to take on more when these tanks are full and prospering. Remember that everyone is different and requires a different amount or variety of each factor, so finding what works for you is worth investing time to discover.

Phillipa Brown is a registered Psychologist who works across various schools and universities in Melbourne. She utilises a range of psychological approaches in her work with clients, developing a positive therapeutic relationship to assist clients with their unique concerns.

More articles in My Health Career:

• Two dietitians, two orthoptists and a microbiologist are asked “what do you love about your job?” Here are their responses…….
• On love for fusing artificial intelligence and physiotherapy – A Q&A with Phebe Liston
• Doctors weigh in on what they love most about their careers

The post Enriching and improving quality of life – psychologist Phillipa Brown on why she loves her job appeared first on My Health Career.

In Australia, mental health workers typically need to obtain formal education. Some mental healthcare positions require at least a bachelor’s degree, and some also require postgraduate study. Others require successful completion of mental health courses or a diploma or certificate.

If you’re interested in pursuing a career in mental healthcare, consider any of the following 6 options:

1. Psychiatrist

Pursuing psychiatry requires an intensive amount of training and dedication. Psychiatrists are formally trained medical doctors who specialise in mental healthcare. Some psychiatrists further specialise in treating geriatric patients, adults, adolescents or children.

There’s also an option to specialise in forensic psychiatry. Forensic psychiatrists diagnose and treat prisoners and criminals who suffer from mental disorders. They may also be responsible for assessing the mental condition of victims of violent crime.

2. Psychologist

A psychologist is a healthcare professional who is specifically trained to determine whether individuals are suffering from various cognitive, psychological or emotional disorders. When a positive diagnosis of a disorder is made, the psychologist is also able to formulate treatment plans that have the best possible chances for beneficial outcomes.

For those aspiring to become psychologists or enhance their qualifications in the mental health field, UTS Online offers a Graduate Diploma in Psychology, a comprehensive program designed to provide the essential skills and knowledge required for a successful career in psychology

3. Mental Health Nurse

A mental health nurse is typically a licensed and trained registered nurse who has chosen to specialise in psychiatric care. Mental health nurses must be adept at coordinating with other mental health and medical professionals including GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health counsellors to follow the treatment plan prescribed for each patient in their care.

4. Mental Health Outreach Worker

Mental health outreach workers act as liaisons between patients, their families and other mental health professionals. They provide support and advocacy for the patients they are tasked with helping. They encourage and empower psychiatric patients to make positive choices, become more resilient and resist social isolation. These workers are an essential part of the mental healthcare system.

5. Mental Health Counsellor

A mental health counsellor’s primary role is to empower patients to talk through their concerns in a safe, confidential and supportive environment. The counsellor is best equipped to help patients cope with immediate issues such as grief or stress. The counsellor tends to focus on helping patients work through issues that are more easily resolved than the complex mental disorders psychologists and psychiatrists are tasked with dealing with.

6. Disabilities Services Officer

Disabilities services officers are responsible for providing care and support to disabled persons who reside in government institutions or adult service units. A high level of empathy is required for this job. The disabilities services officer must be able to empower disabled people to engage with others, live with dignity, and enjoy the highest level of personal freedom their situation allows.

These are 6 excellent options for careers in mental healthcare. Each of these jobs would give you the opportunity to become a valued part of the Australian mental healthcare system. These are all roles that would allow you to truly have a positive and meaningful impact on vulnerable people’s lives.

The post 6 Rewarding Careers in Mental Health to Consider appeared first on My Health Career.

Unfortunately, sleep disorders in Australia are often mis-diagnosed and treated as mental health disorders. This is because sleep disorders can manifest as depression. As a result, a patient’s depression may be treated, but the underlying sleep disorder remains and continues to cause problems.

Fixing this problematic situation would most likely require psychologists to acquire education about various sleep disorders – particularly how to recognize and diagnose them.

If psychology interests you, that is one possible career path you could consider. You could first train as a psychologist. To successfully pursue a career in psychology, you would typically need to either obtain a postgraduate degree in psychology or work under the supervision of a registered psychologist for at least 2 years.

The next step in becoming a psychologist with a sleep specialty would be to seek out additional professional training to better understand various sleep disorders. There are multiple ways you could obtain such training; one possibility would be to join the Australian Sleep Association, and then to sign up for their recommended courses. However, this is a relatively uncommon career path for an Australian medical professional to take.

More commonly in Australia, sleep specialists are trained respiratory physicians. It is respiratory physicians who are tasked with treating life-threatening sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea and similar breathing-related sleep disorders.

In Australia, a respiratory physician is considered to be a specialist physician. To become a practicing specialist physician in Australia, you would need to earn a bachelor’s degree in medicine. You would then need to satisfy some requirements for on-the-job training. Postgraduate studies would also be helpful; for example, some sleep specialists hold a PhD in sleep medicine.

Physiotherapists sometimes have involvement in treating insomnia. This can happen because, in some cases, a bad mattress or pillow is the culprit in keeping the insomniac patient awake at night. A physiotherapist can sometimes recognize when bad bedding is causing improper alignment of the head and spine, and recommend a solution.

Ideally, a sleep specialist would have at least some knowledge about how specialists from each of these disciplines can help patients who suffer with sleep disorders. It would be likely for a sleep specialist to need to refer some patients to other practitioners for better coordinated treatment.

Whichever approach you decide to pursue, there is one additional area of clinical research you need to know about if your goal is to become a sleep specialist in Australia. You need to be aware of the body of research regarding the effects of thermal environment on sleep. This is a crucial field of understanding for the Australian sleep specialist, because excessively hot weather often causes or contributes to insomnia problems down under.

The research is clear: Excessively hot temperatures can and do adversely affect sleep. There are times when a simple recommendation to turn on the air conditioning at night can solve an insomnia problem.

When it isn’t possible or practical for the patient to use air conditioning, the sleep specialist can recommend removing all blankets from the bed and sleeping on bamboo sheets. This is because bamboo fiber stays cool in hot weather and warm in cold weather. Some textile experts believe bamboo retains even less heat than cotton does.

In any case, insomniacs should avoid sleeping on synthetic sheets or synthetic fiber blends during the hottest months of the year. Polyester blend sheets, in particular, should be avoided. This is because polyester is hydrophobic, which is the opposite of absorbent. Polyester will trap heat and moisture, and can make for uncomfortable bedding that contributes to insomnia during heat waves.

There are many facets of life that can interfere with proper sleep — so sleep medicine is, of necessity, an interdisciplinary field of medicine. If you’re interested in helping others to solve their problems sleeping, these are all important considerations to understand. If you want to become a sleep specialist, it’s beneficial to choose the specialisation that’s most relevant to your interests, but to understand as much as possible about all the others.

The post Becoming a sleep specialist appeared first on My Health Career.

Diet affects every aspect of a person’s health, which is why it is so important to make sure that patients have the information and ability to feed themselves properly. Apart from being a healthier weight, it is also important to make sure that a chosen diet focuses on the right nutrients to keep the body running smoothly – and this can impact everything from energy levels and muscle recovery to mental health.

Getting started on a healthier diet

If you are a health professional and have a patient who eats takeaway food every night, you can’t just tell them to eat more healthily and expect it to happen. They will not suddenly be able to break the habit of eating unhealthy food with zero effort involved and suddenly spend an hour cooking every night.

What you need to do is give them some strategies to eat healthier. This can be achieved through some easy and fast recipes, like these healthy Mexican nachos. Cooking at home can be a hassle, so subscribing to a meal kit service is a great option for those wanting to cut down on cooking time.

It’s important to remember that perfection isn’t the immediate goal – or even a long-term goal, given how difficult it is for any person to sustain a perfect diet forever. If you can get your client to cut down from 7 takeaways a week to 3, that’s a big win. If they are still eating burgers most nights but are making them at home with fresh ingredients rather than buying fast food, that’s still an improvement.

Diet is something that needs to be sustained for a lifetime, and you have plenty of time to get your patient to gradually improve. If it gets too hard to keep a diet up, then a slide back into bad habits will occur. The overall goal of diet improvements should be to get your patient into the healthiest dietary habits that they will be able to sustain for the rest of their life – and you need to know them well in order to work out where that point is, because every person will be different.

Dietary advice from exercise professionals

A an exercise professional, the benefits of a health diet for people who come to you should be obvious. However, you may not realise the degree to with you can influence your clients – and, in some cases, you might overestimate it.

Psychological benefits of eating healthily

The psychological benefits of eating nutritious meals are well known. Helping a patient to improve their diet can be of huge benefit in improving their lifestyle and mental health generally, as adequate nutrition helps to improve mood, energy levels and general wellness.

Diet is also something that a mental health patient is likely to feel that they can control, while giving the person a concrete goal to work towards and achieve. This alone can help some people improve their general health.

A psychological professional is also very likely to be trusted by their patients, so they are in a good position to give dietary advice – and be listened to. Because there is often an ongoing clinical relationship, they can also check how the patient is going with their healthy eating and assist them to gradually improve.

All kinds of health professionals need to be able to offer dietary advice to their patients, because different people will be more likely to listen to different professionals. If any patient is asking a health professional how to improve their diet, it is because they trust that person and want to live a healthier life – and they deserve to hear the right advice.

The post Why health professionals need to help patients with their diets appeared first on My Health Career.

1. Understanding what you already bring to the table

Considering the 4 key blueprint principles are the perfect approach to getting underway, as they will encourage you to look at your starting point.

Firstly, the principle of value. In what ways do you add value to the organisation you are currently working in? If you really look, could you tease out a greater appreciation for what competencies you already have at your disposal? Is your greatest value in being efficient, do you have excellent communication skills, or are there additional proficiencies you have picked up along the way?

Secondly, the principle of building. What opportunities can you identify that will assist you in building on the skills you have to set the bar even higher?

Thirdly, the principle of progress. In the time that you have been in your profession, what has changed? How has progress taken place? How do you see yourself as part of the future progress in health care, potentially even at the cutting edge?

Fourthly, the principle of impact. How have you leveraged your skills in your current role, and where have you had the greatest impact? Have you improved the delivery of services, increased profits, been the catalyst for building a more cohesive team within your organisation, or had a significant impact outside your organisation?

2. Identifying your stream

The blueprint has identified 5 core work streams that health professionals may engage in when they are looking at the overall direction in which they would like to take in terms of career development. These are practice, education, research, management and strategy.

Practice involves being a clinician delivering patient care directly.

Education could take a number of forms ranging from providing instruction and education to patients and communities to health practitioners and students in clinical or academic environments.

Research could be at the level of systematic investigation to increase knowledge and establish an evidence base, or could be via translating research into practice.

Management could be in diverse ways such as leading and managing departments, service delivery, human resources or project funding.

Strategy might include leading change, developing and leading policy, implementing innovations, or transforming processes for an industry, sector or organisation.

3. Defining your future growth

The 4 levels of growth defined in the blueprint are gaining experience, further skills and knowledge, becoming an expert and being an acknowledged leader.
Gaining experience is the initial phase of acquiring your qualification and consolidating your skills.

Further skills and knowledge is the next phase where as a practitioner you develop a deeper breadth of experience and understanding within your profession.
Becoming an expert is where you deepen your knowledge and skill in a particular area.

Being an acknowledged leader is where you are recognised by your peers as someone able to guide and influence others.

4. Transitioning from where you are to a leadership role

Now that you understand what you bring to the table, have identified your stream and have defined the level of growth you wish to attain in the future, it’s important to consider how you are going to make this transition. Now is the time to step out of the model of the blueprint and use the principles to transform your career in a tangible way.

If you are currently a clinician and know that the predominantly academic areas of education or research aren’t the best fit for you, management or strategy would be excellent areas to look at. If you were to go down that path, you would need to develop further skills and knowledge on the way to becoming an expert or acknowledged leader.

The knowledge you would need to gain in order to make this transition might include health economics, health law, systems and policy, management, developing health systems and the application of strategies which advance managing patient care processes.

A postgraduate qualification could be an excellent investment in your career development and aspirations. The Monash Online Master of Health Administration has been developed with aspiring health care managers in mind with the course focusing on leadership, marketing, economics and management of the patient care process. This master’s qualification will also boost your health-specific knowledge with areas such as epidemiology and biostatistics being included.

The Master of Health Administration has been purposely designed to build upon your ability to lead and manage effectively in a health care environment. The fusion of the course units from The Faculty of Business and Economics with those from The School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine means that you will gain knowledge of both business and health care practices.

On completion of the course, opportunities that would be open to you as an expert or acknowledged leader would be in health care organisations including government and non-government organisations. You might find yourself in high-level roles in private or health and welfare service management, practice management or in the management of teams of health professionals.

Now you have access to the ultimate blueprint and means to develop your career in health. Now is the time to put your aspirations into action.

The post The ultimate guide to career development for health professionals in just 4 simple steps appeared first on My Health Career.