ukjoiner

Hi there,

I recently posted regarding finding out if my quals and experiencing in counselling and sex therapy were transferable over in Oz. I work for Relate here and have done for 6 years.

We are making the move next year in May. It is a massive dilema for me whether to fund a second year at Uni (Post Graduate Psychosexual Therapy) here or move over without it and try to do it there. Also to find out if I can practice privately in Oz and about getting registered etc etc etc.....

I have tried, as suggested to write to Relationships Australia and the AARC (equivalent of our Professional Body) and have also had an email back from them both AND the Educational and Professional Recognition Unit. I have also emailed a school counsellor in Melbourne.

To be blunt, although I have had replies, pretty much none of them have answered my questions that I emailed them. I even tried ringing the AARC to no particular avail. I am at my wits end with trying to find out.

So my question (sorry for the long winded background info) is this:....does anyone work as a counsellor (in Oz) either in the private sector or in an organisation/for a school or as a Sex Therapist OR has a friend who does that might spend 10 minutes of their time either on the phone or Skype so I could pick their brains about this issue?? I know thats a big ask but if I make the wrong decision it will cost us literally thousands. Its stopping us from making any other decisions at the moment.

Hope someone can help......... please.

Broad Shoulders

So, let me get this right. You want to get on Skype and talk about sex to someone?

eddie007

I have a friend who has a lot of sex, I'll ask her.







Sorry... No idea, be better putting this into the immigration bit.... Rathervthan the barbie...

slapphead_otool

I was doing that too. They traced the calls.

Broad Shoulders

I just use Chatroullette

ukjoiner

Yet again - really useful answers - thanks so much (not).

Did you fail to read that this is actually quite an issue for me and I would have appreciated some serious answers/help.

Sensible posts only please.....

eddie007

If you want sensible answers then ... as I already suggested... Post it on the australian immigration bit of the forum....

The barbie is a kick back and have a beer section... And alcohol aint usually known for its positive effect on sensible conversation

Now who's lookin for a fight? Before I grab a kebab and then vomit in a shop doorway...

Pollyana

I honestly don't think that anyone on here is going to be able to help. Its a very specialised question, and of the type where the Mods will usually recommend talking to the professional bodies concerned, which it seems you have already tried to do.
You could also try contacting some of the migration agents such as George Lombard or Alan Collett. While its not strictly a migration question they may be able to ascertain whether your qualifications are transferable etc.

In the meantime I will move the thread to the main forum where its possible that someone new may see it, and I'll amend the title as well - many people tend not to open threads with very generalised titles like this.

Also worth bearing in mind that you posted on a Friday evening, the forum is usually quiet overnight in Australia so you may have to wait a bit longer for someone in the know to respond as its such a narrow question.

Good luck - afraid I can't help any more than that.

ukjoiner

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

Ausdoc

Hi My wife is an aus counsellor convert from UK - I'm sure she'd be happy to chat with you. We are in UK at the mo - going back in a couple of weeks

How do we get in touch 'offline'?

Pollyana

Once you have a total of three posts then you can exchange private messages on here, or you can go to ukjoiner's profile to email them.
Click on their username to get to their profile, that's where you will find private message and email links

HelenTD

Apart from speaking to Ausdoc's wife, you can also look up courses at the universities here, and then email the lecturers of those courses, as it's a specialist subject.

I also found a couple of websites for sexual health counsellors, there's bound to be more out there:
Desiree Spierings, who migrated from Europe, her website says she is "Vice-President and an Accredited Professional Member of ASSERT NSW (Australian Society of Sex Educators, Researchers and Therapists)", so that is another organisation to contact -national office link below. Her website lists all her training, so you could look into that too:
http://www.sexualhealthaustralia.com...t_desiree.html
Marie Rockford http://www.sexcounsellor.com.au/melb.html

University courses (haven't checked all of them; others I found are more in the public health aspects of sexual health rather than counselling):
Brisbane: University of Queensland http://www.uq.edu.au/study/course.ht..._code=PSYC8151
Perth: Curtin University http://publichealth.curtin.edu.au/programs/sexology.cfm
Melbourne: La Trobe University http://www.latrobe.edu.au/arcshs/
Melbourne: University of Melbourne http://www.sph.unimelb.edu.au/future.../sexual_health
Sydney: University of Sydney http://sydney.edu.au/health_sciences...organise.shtml

Australian Society of Sex Educators Researchers and Therapists (ASSERT) http://assertnational.org.au/

Links to various courses (love the website name - Bananas and Melons) http://www.bananasandmelons.com.au/r...education.html

Have you looked into fees? You might have to pay upfront here and it can be very expensive, especially if you are classed as an international student. If you do study here, will you or your OH be the breadwinner? Would your uni timetable allow you to work?

You also have to consider the cost of living in the different cities here and availability of work for you or OH. Plenty of threads on here about that.

If you finished your course after the 1st year, do you end up with a qualification? Another thing to consider - if you wanted to complete the qualification here, how much of your 1st year of study would be recognised as prior learning (RPL, aka Advanced Standing)? Remember too, that the uni year here starts in February for Semester 1, ending in about June, and Semester 2 starts in July/August, ending in November/December. Most courses start in Semester 1, but some start mid-year.

To sum up, DON'T PANIC and take time to look at all the factors!

PS: for those of us at uni here, this is one of those critical times of year, working on final assignments, getting ready for exams, etc, so students and lecturers alike tend to be at the frantic stage and you have to be careful with your timing asking for information and also avoiding the mid-semester break.

toodlepip

Hi, I work as an alcohol & drug counsellor in Australia for an organisation within a Community Health Service, a little different from you as I have a social work background rather than a counselling one, even though I've always done AOD counselling rather than social work if you see what I mean!

If I were you I would finish your course in the UK (is it just a 2 year one). I found when I started looking for work here that Aussies tended to prefer their own qualifications but they do accept British ones. You can get RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) for most courses here but it's quite pricey and a bit of a hassle. You'd probably be able to set up privately. I didn't find it too difficult getting a job as Alcohol & Drug is quite specialised and I have quite a few years experience.

I'm in Melbourne - not for much longer as we're going back to the UK in July - is that where you are heading? Happy for you to PM me if you want to, I have a couple of colleagues who are qualified counsellors/pscyhotherapists and can ask them any specific questions you might have.

quoll

Counsellors arent regulated in Australia, unlike social workers and psychologists who require registration in order to be able to practice. Anyone who has done the Bob Jones weekend course (or equivalent LOL) can put up their shingle and profess to being a counsellor in private practice and there are any number of counselling associations you may choose to join.

If you want a job in government or, increasingly, the larger organizations then you will be expected to be registered psychologist or social worker however there are counsellors by the dozen with a wide range of qualifications working in the NFP/non gov sector. Relationships Australia would be the people to talk to about whether your qualifications would get you a look in for employment with them. Around here, to be in AOD all you need is a cert iv in AOD to be a counsellor (and some people I know are just in the throes of getting their cert iv but still working as counsellors!)

I work with a girl who has a masters in rehab counselling - in our NFP organization that isnt a problem, she is better qualified than her manager in fact, but it becomes a problem when you are interacting with other organizations which expect registered professionals (ie psychs and sws) to be doing the job that she is perfectly capable of doing. Counsellors in the non gov sector are not well paid in comparison with their registered peers and they dont fare that well in private practice as they are generally not registerable as medicare providers and a lot of psychs are making a motza with clients with mental health plans under medicare.

You wont be a school counsellor without being a registered psychologist in most states or a pastoral care teacher in other states. In most states you also have to be a qualified and experienced teacher to boot before they let you loose on kids.

Ausdoc

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