Blog
A Collection of Posts from Brisbane ACT Centre's talented psychologists, psychiatrist, therapists and social workers.
Fear of Heights – Taking the Leap
Having a fear of heights (or anything!) can be terrifying. Regardless of your particular fear or anxiety, we all have similar experiences to some extent. In my life it has been heights in particular. For example, if I were standing on a tall and narrow...
Can you do Great Things, Even When you Don’t Feel Great?
Have you ever seen a toddler throw a tantrum? I have. Just last night in fact. And again this morning. Our home is entering "the terrific twos" (a phrase my wife uses).In these last two tantrums, I noticed something pretty awesome. Imagine an exhausted...
Can learning to mindfully notice our thoughts and feelings help us to live our lives with clearer purpose?
I’m an experienced clinical psychologist, but I’m also someone who is naturally impulsive… I’ve spent too much time over the years pulling my foot out of my mouth, or regretting my actions after reacting hastily, rather than responding in a way more true...
Is perfectionism your friend or foe?
Recently I conducted a Facebook Live Seminar with a group called “Empowering Women in Property”. These women identified with being perfectionists and over-achievers, which helped them to accomplish results. However in getting caught up in thoughts about...
How to Bring More Mindfulness into Parenting
Have you ever wondered about what it means to be a mindful parent? You probably have heard that mindfulness means to be fully present in whatever you do, devoting your full attention to the present moment, without worrying about the future or ruminating about the...
ACT skills for peak performance – for our Paralympians, and my own!
Representing my country and being part of a world stage was always a dream of mine, so it was a huge accomplishment when I was selected to be the Performance Psychologist for the Australian Paralympic Swim Team competing in Rio, 2016. Usually when realise our dreams,...
Groups at Brisbane ACT Centre: Bouncing Back from Adversity and Succeeding
From Saturday, May 6, 2017 Nik Kotlarov will be running a group course at the Brisbane ACT Centre, get in touch with our helpful staff to register your interest today. Would you like to use the latest research in Psychology and Human Behavioural Science to reduce your...
The Sleep Paradox – How Working Harder on Your Sleep Makes it Worse
As a psychiatrist sleep problems are one of the most common issues people come to me for help with. It may be the primary problem. More often, it occurs hand in hand with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, major mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or...
Where’s Your Head At? Connecting to the Here and Now to Focus On What’s Important (Video)
Would you like to improve your performance, reduce feelings of stress and increase your satisfaction with life and work? These are the three key benefits offered by mindfulness practice, and are well supported by scientific evidence. Mindfulness practice has exploded...
The YOLO Project
In our last post we congratulated Professor Kenneth Pakenham on his recent national award for outstanding contribution to student learning. Dr Pakenham received this award for creating and implementing a program that teaches Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based...
Congratulations Professor Pakenham
We’re pleased to congratulate friend of the Brisbane ACT Centre, Professor Kenneth Pakenham on receiving one of the 2016 Australian Awards for University Teaching! These national awards recognise outstanding contributions to student learning. Professor Pakenham...
How to Lose Weight with ACT
You may be one in two Australians at any one time trying to lose weight. Whether it’s due to a recent health scare, a hard word from your doctor, or realising you can’t do something that really matters to you. Yet despite shows like “The Biggest Loser”, the evidence...
Home Visiting Service by Brisbane ACT Centre’s Accredited Mental Health Occupational Therapist (MHOT)
The barriers to accessing mental health care are many and varied and the Brisbane ACT Centre Is committed to breaking them down. Sometimes people are restricted from accessing timely and appropriate mental health intervention due to the very reason that they may need...
Can You Improve Your IQ?
We are often interested in assessing how good or bad we are at different things. Intelligence is one of those that runs deep with people. Doing a basic internet search brings up a list of sites offering free testing. Saying someone is 'smart' immediately jolts...
The Power of Self-Compassion
We would never criticise and judge our loved ones or friends as harshly as we do ourselves. Self-compassion is something we can give ourselves when we fail and struggle, when we feel ashamed and disappointed. Self-compassion helps us to become mindful of our...
4 Common Myths About Anxiety and Fear
At Brisbane ACT Centre our expert psychologists, psychiatrists and other therapists use the latest effective mindfulness, values and action oriented strategies to help you better handle anxiety, so as to feel better, and live better, quickly. Many common beliefs about...
How to Become an Emotional Resilience Superhero
Life is full of challenges, some more difficult than others, it’s how we respond to those challenges that matters most. Everyone has the experience of facing a challenge that was just out of their realm of control. Facing tough times like that can make us stronger,...
Managing Anxiety with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness
Modern humans have inherited genetics from their ancestors who learned over thousands of years how to survive in a dangerous world. Our modern world hardy resembles the life of our ancestors; however our minds do not know that. Our minds, similar to our ancestors, are...
Is “Mindful Colouring” Truly Mindfulness?
Seems like the “mindfulness colouring book” craze is getting stronger with every passing month. But is it really practicing mindfulness, to colour in pictures in a book? Well the answer is … it depends. Almost any activity you can think of can be done mindfully … or...
The Purple Vault
A clear blue sky beamed through my window the day I learned that I would never again see purple rain, at least not in the flesh. The flesh of megastars such as Prince, it seemed, was just as susceptible to mortal vulnerabilities as the rest of us. We are all human. We will all suffer the same fate, eventually. My clear blue sky day suddenly seemed a little cloudy.
