Barossa Valley Counselling

31/07/2026

Cancelled appointment today. I should have used this time to catch up on paperwork but.........🚵‍♂️

27/07/2026

Dr. Brad Johnson has written some interesting points here. However, Is it possible he focused too much on the problems of screen time while skipping over his own words of " Just being around other kids without every second being organised by adults "?

Perhaps if we allow kids to be kids and have some freedom to play with their peers in an adult free unstructured environment where they learn to build relationships, cope with failures, and choose their own adventures, they may also choose not to escape into a screen 🤔

22/07/2026

Move forward with confidence.

15/07/2026

Is it possible that your "helping" is actually hindering?

This article sheds some light on how to motivate your stuck adult child.

Stuck and Jobless? 3 Tough-Love Moves for Your Adult Child | Psychology Today Australia

If your grown child refuses to work, you can end up trapped in a maddening cycle—but there is a path to breaking free and helping them step up.

14/07/2026

Rain or shine, we head . I met with a new client yesterday who braved the rain, wind, and cold to get outside and hit some golf balls. Today was all about adventures in the forest while discovering some new spots.

11/07/2026

The fight to limit “screen time” cannot be won, Ian Bogost argued in 2025. To recognize that fact—and to understand how it happened—is a small, important step toward salvation.
https://theatln.tc/9QAo1Eph

“The fact is, you cannot participate fully in contemporary life without devoting a substantial amount of time to the screen,” Bogost writes. “In this context of screen omnipresence, to measure the amount of time you spend looking at a screen is simply to ask how much time you spend awake and cogent, for almost everything you do now requires a screen to do it.”
Tracking screen time won’t help you reduce it for two reasons. “First, because general-purpose computing made screens so widespread that many worthwhile activities take place on them,” Bogost writes. Whether by keeping close to loved ones through text or by reading articles online, “the raw quantity of time one spends in the thrall of screens says almost nothing about the value of the time spent.”

Second, measuring screen time for self-improvement fails because few, if any, activities even exist outside screen time, Bogost continues. “Nature has been conquered by cellular coverage. Bars and restaurants were already riddled with screens before everyone at the table also clutched one in their hand.” Many schools have replaced chalkboards with computer-controlled smartboards or distributed digital tablets to every student.

“Perhaps someday the age of screens will end, at the hand of some unthinkable novelty or civilization-ending calamity,” Bogost continues. “But until that happens, tracking use of screens—let alone trying to curtail it—will have little meaning. For now, at least, you are doomed to live at screen time.”

🎨: Bettmann / Getty

09/07/2026

Always happy to help out the local sporting clubs. The Kangas do so much to get young people outside enjoying a sport that doesn't necessarily fit the norm

07/07/2026

Brilliantly said

Focus on where they're strong, not where they're wrong.

01/07/2026

I don't see any signs of rain just yet. Must be time for a quick hike