Services

Rela­tion­ships
It is wide­ly known that mon­ey is the num­ber one stres­sor in any rela­tion­ship.  How­ev­er, mon­ey is not the only rea­son that may cause cou­ples to turn to coun­selling.  From infi­deli­ty, to issues that arise from par­ent­ing chil­dren, to gen­er­al trust issues, rela­tion­ships can have their own unique set of stres­sors.  These stres­sors can affect one’s abil­i­ty to focus at work, how his or her rela­tion­ship with friends is car­ried, and how they behave in the home.  While some rela­tion­ship issues are resolved quick­ly and in a respect­ful man­ner, oth­ers are more inter­twined with what each indi­vid­ual brings to the rela­tion­ship and how it affects it. 

This is where rela­tion­ship coun­selling with SmartLives Psy­chol­o­gy in Bris­bane Aus­tralia can help.
Rela­tion­ship coun­selling helps cou­ples rec­on­cile dif­fer­ences and rec­og­nize, man­age, and iden­ti­fy repeat­ing pat­terns of stress in a rela­tion­ship.  In rela­tion­ship coun­selling, you will explore the issues that are caus­ing con­cern, take prac­ti­cal steps to resolve the issues, and learn how to be aware of when an issue may arise at home to dif­fuse it respect­ful­ly. 

In addi­tion, you can expect to take a look at any past expe­ri­ences or his­to­ry in one or both par­ties’ fam­i­lies that may be affect­ing the rela­tion­ship to build trust and prop­er com­mu­ni­ca­tion.  All of this is done in a safe space where you and your part­ner can talk open­ly with­out fear of ret­ri­bu­tion or judge­ment.  

To learn more about what to expect from rela­tion­ship ther­a­py, vis­it this resource.

Con­tact Annie Barkl to sched­ule your ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion today!

Stress
Stress is a giv­en facet of the human expe­ri­ence.  There are good and bad stres­sors that affect us all.  From a raise at work to work­ing for a tough boss, stress is every­where.  When stress affects us over long peri­ods of time at more intense lev­els, it can become chron­ic. Accord­ing to the Mayo Clin­ic, stress can have the fol­low­ing effects on us.

Com­mon effects of stress on your body

• Headache
• Mus­cle ten­sion or pain
• Chest pain
• Fatigue
• Change in sex dri­ve
• Upset stom­ach
• Sleep prob­lems

Com­mon effects of stress on your mood

• Anx­i­ety
• Rest­less­ness
• Lack of moti­va­tion or focus
• Feel­ing over­whelmed
• Irri­tabil­i­ty or anger
• Sad­ness or depres­sion

Com­mon effects of stress on your behav­iour

• Overeat­ing or under-eat­ing
• Angry out­bursts
• Drug or alco­hol abuse
• Tobac­co use
• Social with­draw­al
• Exer­cis­ing less often

Accord­ing to Way Ahead Men­tal Health Asso­ci­a­tion, num­bers released by the Aus­tralian Bureau of Sta­tis­tics show that Aus­tralians are more stressed than ever.  In addi­tion, the orga­ni­za­tion stat­ed that when dis­cussing how Aus­tralians deal with stress, “86% of us watch TV and movies, close­ly fol­lowed by 81% of us who spend time with our loved ones.

Oth­er cop­ing mech­a­nisms are: Focus­ing on the pos­i­tives, lis­ten­ing to music and read­ing, eat­ing, and adjust­ing our expec­ta­tions.  How­ev­er, when it comes to ask­ing for help, over half of us fail to do so.  Of those who are will­ing to ask, just over a quar­ter will seek help from fam­i­ly mem­bers and friends and anoth­er 19% will con­sult a GP, but few­er than 10% are will­ing to ask a psy­chol­o­gist.” 

When deal­ing with stress, speak­ing with a psy­chol­o­gist is imper­a­tive. 
This is one of the most com­mon under­ly­ing issues for vis­its to SmartLives Psy­chol­o­gy in Bris­bane.  We help you iden­ti­fy the cause of your stress, how to man­age it, and how to rec­og­nize when stress is occur­ring and what to do about it.  Stress knows no gen­der or racial bias.  Thus, we work with peo­ple from all walks of life to help them become aware of what is caus­ing stress in their lives. 

To learn more about how ther­a­py can help you alle­vi­ate and man­age stress, vis­it this resource.

Con­tact Annie Barkl to sched­ule your ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion today!

Anx­i­ety and Pan­ic
Accord­ing to Mind­Frame Nation­al Media Ini­tia­tive, “Approx­i­mate­ly 14% of Aus­tralians will be affect­ed by an anx­i­ety dis­or­der in any 12-month peri­od.”  Addi­tion­al­ly, they state that anx­i­ety dis­or­ders are the most com­mon in Aus­tralia.  And in today’s world of tech­nol­o­gy that allows for an over­whelm­ing access of infor­ma­tion, it is nor­mal that anx­i­ety is so preva­lent. 

Those who have a men­tal dis­or­der that caus­es anx­i­ety such as OCD, pan­ic dis­or­ders, or PTSD and the gen­er­al pub­lic who are faced with more choic­es from soci­ety feel anx­ious about their own per­son­al lives.

At Smartlives Psy­chol­o­gy, we are well-versed in help­ing indi­vid­u­als over­come gen­er­al anx­i­ety, pan­ic attacks, OCD, and oth­er dis­or­ders that are asso­ci­at­ed with anx­i­ety.  We use both cog­ni­tive and behav­iour­al ther­a­py to help find the ori­gin of the anx­i­ety and dis­cuss ways to both man­age it and rec­og­nize trig­gers that may cause anx­i­ety. 

We also will dis­cuss ways to re frame issues and thoughts caused by anx­i­ety to offer a more help­ful per­spec­tive and help reduce and man­age your stress on a dai­ly basis.

To learn more about how ther­a­py helps with anx­i­ety and pan­ic, vis­it this resource. 

Con­tact Annie Barkl to sched­ule your ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion today!

Work­place Chal­lenges
Work can car­ry many chal­lenges.  From meet­ing dead­lines to work­ing with demand­ing boss­es and col­leagues who we may not get along with, the work­place is a breed­ing ground for work­place prob­lems that may cause stress, anx­i­ety, frus­tra­tion, and more.  In fact, accord­ing to Med­ibank, “Research sug­gests that the impact of job stress will depend on an employee’s per­son­al­i­ty attrib­ut­es, such as the abil­i­ty to cope with pres­sure, as well as job fac­tors and aspects of the work envi­ron­ment.” 

With so many fac­tors to con­sid­er, deal­ing with and man­ag­ing work­place chal­lenges can become com­pli­cat­ed, espe­cial­ly because there are so much pol­i­tics and inter­per­son­al rela­tion­ships at play. Med­ibank offers a rich look at the caus­es of work­place stress, what opti­mal work­place stress looks like, and the finan­cial cost that comes as a result of a poor work­place with many chal­lenges.  You can view this valu­able infor­ma­tion here.

Work­ing with a psy­chol­o­gist from SmartLives in Bris­bane can help you man­age and work through prob­lems that occur in the work­place as well as men­tal issues that result from those prob­lems.  We will iden­ti­fy the prob­lem, dis­cuss what role you play in it and how to man­age it assertive­ly, and oth­er prac­ti­cal steps that may be need­ed to work with the prob­lem. 

In addi­tion, we will dis­cuss and work through any issues that a work­place prob­lem may be hav­ing on your men­tal and phys­i­cal well-being.  We will do this by re-fram­ing thoughts and using behav­iour changes so you can see a notice­able dif­fer­ence in your well-being.  Whether you are a sea­son­al employ­ee, work part time, or are in a full-fledged career, we can help.

To learn more about work­place issues and how ther­a­py can help, vis­it this resource.

Con­tact Annie Barkl to sched­ule your ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion today!

Painful Habits
We all have habits that we do on a dai­ly basis.  From brush­ing our teeth to get­ting dressed for the day, habits are a part of what makes our life move for­ward.  It is only when our habits become painful and self-harm­ing that they can dis­rupt our dai­ly rou­tines.  Habits such as exces­sive exer­cis­ing, sub­stance abuse, eat­ing dis­or­ders, or grind­ing your teeth to the point of severe pain due to stress are just some exam­ples of painful habits. 

Painful habits are com­plex because they can have ori­gins that take some dig­ging to get to and cause side effects that need to be worked through.  Plus, painful habits can take time and dili­gence to work through because of the set­backs that nat­u­ral­ly come with them.  As you can see, painful habits can dis­rupt one’s abil­i­ty to func­tion dai­ly and cause men­tal and phys­i­cal anguish.

At SmartLives Psy­chol­o­gy in Bris­bane, we real­ize the sub­tle care need­ed to break painful habits.  We use a num­ber of ther­a­peu­tic approach­es to help you onto a path toward change.  From cog­ni­tive ther­a­py, in which we dis­cuss and re-frame inter­nal thoughts, to behav­iour­al ther­a­py, where we dis­cuss new ways of approach­ing your painful habits, we work dili­gent­ly to help you find bal­ance and nor­mal­cy in your dai­ly life. 

This includes com­ing up with a plan of action togeth­er and exe­cut­ing it.  We may also sug­gest out­side pro­grams and sup­port groups as well as oth­er resources that can help you on your way to break­ing your painful habit.

To learn more about how ther­a­py can help with painful habits, such as sub­stance abuse, vis­it this resource.

Con­tact Annie Barkl to sched­ule your ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion today!