Sophie Burren Psychology

02/08/2023

Our health, allied health, and veterinarian colleagues are human, and they are often working in environments where their high levels of compassion and empathy are required as a fundamental part of their job, these attributes contribute to why they care so very much and give so much for their patients (human and animal alike) but also why we are seeing alarming statistics around their own well-being.

The su***de rates in our Veterinarian colleagues specifically are immensely concerning, and through awareness, advocacy, and reducing the stigma of accessing supports - campaigns like Sophie's Legacy have the opportunity to create real change in an industry and a time where we could not need it more.

👩🏻‍⚕️‼️WE’RE ONLY HUMAN‼️👨🏻‍⚕️

At the Perth Cat Hospital, we are steadfast in our commitment to creating a safe environment for our furry friends and their humans. Our dedicated team provides exceptional care, unwavering support, and boundless compassion to all our clients.

Every worker in the veterinary industry is deeply passionate about animals and resolute in their pursuit of the best possible health outcome for the pets they look after. Driven by an unwavering love for their patients and a fervent dedication to providing top-notch veterinary care, they approach their work with a sense of purpose and responsibility.

As most of you are aware, the veterinary industry demands a level of emotional resilience that few can comprehend. Our staff navigate through heightened emotions on a daily basis, often working overtime and after hours to ensure the well-being of their patients. This level of commitment sometimes comes at the cost of personal time with their own beloved pets and families, as well as focusing on their own well-being.

Subjecting our staff to abuse, harassment, or bullying will not be tolerated under any circumstances. We firmly believe in promoting unwavering kindness and profound respect in every interaction, fostering a positive and supportive environment for everyone involved.

Let us stand together, united, and embrace a culture of profound understanding and empathy, ensuring the best possible care for your furry companions. Thank you for being an essential part of our compassionate community. 🏩

12/05/2023

What's "normal" in grief? Because we don't usually talk about the realities of grief, most people aren't aware of the many forms grief takes. Normal grief covers a lot of territory. If it's in the body or the mind - grief affects it.

This list covers some of the most common expressions of grief, but it's definitely not everything. While your "symptoms" might feel weird to you, whatever you're experiencing, chances are someone else has felt it too.

Even if you've lived through grief at other times in your life, you've never had to live this particular story before. Your grief might show up in interesting or confusing ways. For more on what's normal inside grief, check out our ongoing series.

16/03/2023

**New Client Availability**

New appointment times are now available with immediate capacity for new referrals, with self referrals also very welcome.

Sophie Burren Psychology is a telehealth only practice based in WA, run by Sophie who is a Clinical Psychologist Registrar.
Sophie has experience working across the public health, not-for-profit, and private sectors and welcomes those who are experiencing difficulties associated with the below to reach out and have a chat to see if she may feel like a good fit for you:

1. Health presentations - Specifically inclusive of adjustment difficulties post diagnosis or injury, end-of-life care, trauma responses, grief and loss related distress, chronic illness, anxiety, and depression

2. Health and Allied Health Professionals - Specifically around the challenges faced by early career and acute care medical, nursing, and allied health professionals such as compassion fatigue, burnout, vicarious and or primary trauma, career related stressors and decision making, anxiety, depression, and adjustment difficulties etc.

3. Adjustment - Specifically distress following permanent or temporary injury, illness, diagnosis, traumatic event, grief and loss, divorce or relationship changes, job loss/career change, moving Country/State, University, transition to parenthood, retirement, end of life etc.

4. Mental Health - Specifically those who may be experiencing ongoing difficulties with anxiety disorders (e.g. social, generalised, panic, specific phobias), depression, adjustment disorders, grief and loss, isolation, career stressors, burnout and compassion fatigue, end-of-life changes etc.

For more information please feel free to:
*have a look at my website www.sophieburrenpsychology.com.au
* send me an email [email protected]
* or give me a call 0480 366 766

06/01/2023

**New Year....New Me?**

New years resolutions are likely one of those things you come across on every January of every new year, and often they are sentiments to self improvement, focusing our energy in new or more favourable ways, or simply to try to break some of our habits that are no longer serving us.
..sounds good right? ...and yet they often don't stick.

We know that the start of a new year can be a lovely opportunity to review what is no longer working for us and try to start off on a fresh foot. Yet often, we find that the things we put in place with the absolute best of intentions are really hard to continue with longer term.

So how can we make changes that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of past the first month of the year? Some of my tips around this are:

1. Making small measurable goals - often we change everything all in one month to our idea of ideal, and often we are setting ourselves up to fail. We know if we make small realistic changes they are more likely to stick.

- For e.g., If your goal is to 'stop eating takeaway and eat healthier', that's a large and difficult to measure goal - instead you could try setting yourself the goal of two home cooked dinners a week - small measurable goals are more likely to be obtainable, and lead to a long term change.

2. Setting realistic expectations - it can be enticing to change everything all at once in an all out overhaul of the way we are living; however, we know that the cognitive and physical energy any one of these changes will require to achieve long term change is significant. Therefore, changing everything all at once - is not long term sustainable. Setting a realistic expectation of what your body and brain can achieve at one time, can set you up to succeed in your long term goals.

- For e.g., one I have heard often is people trying to implement daily gym sessions, healthy home cooked meals every day of the week, limiting social media time, scheduling time for connection with loved ones multiple times a week, and starting a new online course all at the same time - sounds exhausting right? That's because it is, and it is also entirely unsustainable and ultimately will not stick long term. Picking one small measurable goal at a time, is going to allow your brain and body the space and energy needed to facilitate that new learning without completely exhausting you.

New years resolutions come from a good place, but often we implement them with the utmost gusto in the first month of the year and we cannot maintain the energy required, by setting small measurable goals with realistic expectations we are more likely to succeed in achieving long term changes for the goals we have set.

- Sophie

16/12/2022

**Findings from the Better Access Review 2022**

The findings from the Better Access Review did find that waitlists grew as the extra 10 sessions a year became available as has been publicly and politically discussed, while existing clients attended further sessions.

However, what has been less politically discussed is the outcomes for those clients who were receiving the extra supports were shown to be largely improved by having access to these extra sessions as well. Which is incredibly encouraging, and in line with what the research tells us, that clients make more reliable long term changes by accessing more sessions and longer support periods.

The decision to cut these extra 10 sessions whilst potentially reducing waitlist times, is disappointing in that it also reduces the potential efficacy of intervention that existing clients may have by keeping them.

Client care and evidence based intervention should always be at the forefront of what we do, and unfortunately cutting access to the extra Medicare rebated sessions is not supported by the research or by this very specific Better Access Review (2022) in terms of outcomes for clients accessing supports.