My favourite resources: July – September 2023
My favourite resources: July – September 2023
It’s most definitely spring here in Melbourne and the season-change is a great external reminder to take a moment to reflect on the previous three months (hurray, we made it through winter!) and wrap up some of the resources that I’ve been utilising and consuming. I love this week every quarter because it’s a great practice that I’ve adopted to pay attention to what I’ve actually been up to!
This is central to the purpose of this blog: I really want it to be a useful space where people can find all sorts of therapeutically relevant information, mixed up with a good dollop of personal reflections and ramblings with a sprinkling of humour for good measure. I also want it to be a place where you can find links to all the resources that I share with clients, things that I think have strong therapeutic merit or that are innovative and really want people to see. It also gives you an insight into me, what I believe in, how I practice, and I hope it helps to provide some tangible illustrations of my core values: authenticity, curiosity, integrity, openness, and respect.
Therapy isn’t just about what happens in session. I’m all about being creative with therapy – that’s what the whole ‘therapy. done differently’ is about. I believe that therapy can also come in the form of blogs, podcasts, books and conversations with other people who are important to your healing.
So here are some of my favourite blogs, websites, books, apps etc. that I’ve been devouring – would love to hear what you think of them, and hear what you’ve been busy enjoying as I’m always on the lookout for inspiration!
Podcasts / YouTube interviews:
I’m still obsessed with The Imperfects podcast. If you’ve never heard of this podcast it is hosted by three chaps (Hugh van Cuylenburg from The Resilience Project, Ryan Shelton from his Mum and Josh van Cuylenburg from Hugh’s Mum) who vulnerably and openly talk about all sorts of mental health-related topics, with an appropriately big dollop of humour. They are all quite fabulous, but these are few of my personal fave’s:
- Season 5, episode 24: Dr Emily on triggers https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/season-5-episode-24-dr-emily-when-are-you-triggered/
- Season 5, episode 21: James van Cuylenburg https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/season-5-episode-21-james-van-cuylenburg/
- Season 5 episode 7: Dilruk Jayasinha – When drinking stopped being funny https://theresilienceproject.com.au/at-home/podcasts/s5-ep7-dilruk-jayasinha/
I’ve also been dabbling in some episodes from podcast ‘The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett’, which sounds way more business orientated than it really is. Steven is a young British entrepreneur who is on Dragon’s Den (Shark’s Tank) over in the UK, but he stands out not only because of his age, but because of his heart. It’s a great listen though he’s prolific with tons of episodes to choose from so I’d suggest you have a look at some of the topics / people he chats with and go from there!
Books:
Whilst there’s still been a lot of academic research reading happening, I have picked these ones up:
- The Joy Thief by Penny Moodie
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson
- Was it even abuse by Emma Byham
- Foggy, Faint, Fatigued and Adrenaline: It’s not in your head by Dr Chris O’Callaghan
Apps:
- One Sec – in an attempt to lower my screen time this app loads when you click on your social media app and gets you to take a breath before asking if you still want to open the app. That one second pause is often enough to remind me that I actually don’t want / need to doom-scroll. So far, I have noticed a positive difference in my screen time and I’m not finding it annoying so I’ll be keeping it!
Here’s a reminder of the support services that are available 24/7 because therapy isn’t for everyone, it’s not available 24/7 and our challenges don’t always fit neatly into our therapy sessions (if we do therapy):
- Beyond Blue – 1300 22 46 36
- Lifeline – 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline – 1800 55 18 00
- Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
- MensLine – 1300 78 99 78
- QLife – 1800 184 527
- Find your local CAT Team (Crisis Assessment and Treatment Team) https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/crisis-management
If you’d like a space to talk about how you’re feeling, please get in touch with us: www.theabaker.com.au / hello@theabaker.com.au / 03 9077 8194