Imy & Gerri review the year that was with mixed results. Imy is unhappy. Gerri is encouraged. Christmas is a time of exhaustion and aspirational Self Reflection. How did we go? Did we cover everything that was and was not - discussed? Was something important missed? The clashing between Counselling and Clinical Psychology reaches an inevitable climax as Imy identifies the contradictions of primary and secondary processes. There are further shocks as Imy reveals her carnivorous compulsion to continue on – is flagging. The necessity of numinosity for a ravenous Psychologist needed to fuel th ..read more

Gerri wants to continue on with GLOP’s investigation of difficult themes and bravely introduces the topic of ‘treatment failures’. This intrepid investigation is introduced with all the crowd pleasing nuance of humility disguised with a confusing double signal pointing to the reassuring presence of a “webinar”. Trouble in the therapeutic relationship complicated by external stresses. Gerri has fronted up to a job interview under lockdown conditions. Results sadly, fell short of what was desired. Leading with complete authenticity can itself create a group process at an inconvenient moment. Imy ..read more

GLOP find themselves staring in to a familiar abyss, the doledrums of long haul practice and its concomitant demands. Gerri wants to mess about with the existential angst Psychologists encounter at different stages of their working life, particularly the later stage. She has not broken with tradition and has constructed a model to try and clear up the gloom. Results are mixed and inconclusive. Gerri spends the first quarter introducing the GLOP Model of Career Progression which promises seat adhesion. Imy describes the much dreaded and at the same time paradoxically anticipated receipt of a cl ..read more

Gerri wants to discuss using that loaded question “RUOK?” She is not happy with the insincere form or the “half arsed check in”. Continuing on with GLOP’s ‘Working Girl’ analogy, Gerri compares the variation of RUOK? Check Ins across ‘Multiple Madams’ and agencies where she “turns tricks”. Shadows of declining coping in response to the Lockdowns and Pandemic lurk everywhere. This rising panic and disturbance to an already ruffled equilibrium throws insincere “Check Ins” in to sharp relief. Imy, on the other hand, has attended an Online Symposium with the tag line ‘Unpacking Trauma’ and throws ..read more

Gerri has been to an ‘Eating Disorders Conference’ and is left wondering if the Conference tag line was sincere. Accreditation confirming the skill set requirement to work with ‘eating disorders’ is discussed and examined in terms of its symbolic meaning as a possible antidote to a wobbly personal identity. The current demand in Australia for mental health support is examined together with a discussion about Provisional Psychologists being able to offer medicare rebated services. Gerri is nervous. Imy is keen. Gerri is concerned about the level of care offered and will it be enough? Gerri ..read more

Gerri’s alter ego Aidan is discussed through the lens of clinical appraisal. No stone is left unturned. Imy wends her way around to piping up about the benefits of person centered care as opposed to problem centered approach. Gerri is left unconvinced and presents a welterweight of evidence on MD, which we understand does not mean Major Depression in this instance. Instead it refers to the practice of ‘maladaptive daydreaming’. The presence of a powerful critic is felt but not placed in the empty chair. The tendence of Clinical Psychologist to generate jargon in pursuit of that elusive perfect ..read more

‘Cliches’ in practice are bothering Gerri and the issue of the sometimes needed and even authentic use of cliché is considered and embedded within the context of safety at work. The much needed but not always considered safety for the practitioner hovers around the edge of the discussion like Banquo’s ghost. Not being exactly on the same page, Imy interprets the business of cliches in a different direction resembling a position of something approximating self reflection. The conversation winds around to resentment, in particular how to deal with resentment in a colleague in a work place. Imy r ..read more

Gerri begins with an impressive middle-of-the-road laundry list of “professional reading”. Or atleast, that is what we are calling it as far as Gerri’s tax accountant is concerned. A visual inspection of the data is suggestive of an immediate fool proof cure for insomnia. However a closer ‘under the hood’ examination revealed, as per usual, deeper more mysterious forces at work. On this occasion, Tiger is cast aside as a transitional object and books are employed instead, substituted as … well Imy and Gerri try to work out exactly what it is they do represent. Themes of certainty, authority, a ..read more

Gerri revisits the delight and self assurance she derives from wearing articles of Uniqlo. Imy insists on a deeper examination of the phenomenon and the issue of group membership as an aspect of identity. Specifically as it relates to the challenges of dealing with colleagues and juggling the role of “Psychologist” with the many other roles vying air time and the opportunity to speak. Imy brushed the dust off the School of Ego Psychology and proposed unstable object relations as the likely causal culprit. Gerri counters this proposal by referencing Schema Therapy. Finding themselves at a thera ..read more

Imy discloses a legacy issue from her distant past that is as yet unresolved. GLOP consider the variety of legitimate and otherwise responses to the dilemma of ‘injustice’ when it arrives in the therapy room. The need for therapeutic support being a close colleague of injustice in all its forms. The phenomenon of the abuse of power by those we are bound to through a relationship of dependence, inferiority, necessity or circumstances are examined. Comfort and familiarity with conflict in close relationships or with agencies of authority are cautiously tippy toed around. The risks of being explo ..read more