Special guest Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis, wife of Dr Albert Ellis creator of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, came from New York to open the Centre.
Centre founder, Senior Leader/counsellor Giulio Bortolozzo had a long association with the late Dr Albert Ellis, the creator of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). Acknowledged as the grandfather of cognitive behaviour therapy and a giant in the field of psychology, his ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance has been used for decades around the world by mental health practitioners to help people with their behavioural and emotional disturbances.
Dr Albert Ellis declared early in his illustrious career that:
‘I think the future of psychotherapy and psychology is in the school system. We need to teach every child how to rarely seriously disturb himself or herself and how to overcome disturbance when it occurs.’
The Albert Ellis Centre is dedicated to providing educators; counsellors and allied professionals REBT based training and development. A particular focus is the application of REBT in the educational context, Rational Emotive Behaviour Education. This is the application of REBT principles and practices across the whole school designed to help students understand how their thinking feeling and behaviour are interconnected. They are taught that events of themselves don’t cause their emotional and behavioural upset but rather it is their constructed view (philosophical beliefs) of themselves, the world and others that do. This insight, taught consistently across all year levels is educative and preventative practice. This supports the counsellor who uses the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance, which has been introduced to the students through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education Curriculum.
Special guest Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis promotes REBT/REBE across the globe and enthuses that this the first Centre of its type in the world and would have the full endorsement of her late husband, Dr Albert Ellis. She said in a recent interview on Southern Cross TV News that she was overjoyed that this facility has been established to help people, especially younger ones to address emotional and behavioural suffering like anxiety, depression and anger.
Stuart High School Principal Veronica Conley has supported this project from its inception and Centre manager Giulio Bortolozzo has valued her strong and determined support. Ms Conley agrees that it is important to share best practice with other schools and educators in the promotion of positive student mental health across all curriculum areas.
The Centre has an Outreach Program for schools which may require on-site support to establish the REBE curriculum at their school.
The Centre is located at Stuart High School in Whyalla, South Australia. Many students present with a range of behavioural and emotional needs and school staff is dedicated to supporting them in achieving personal and academic success. This Centre is yet another innovative way in which our students are supported and which is available as a wider community resource. Anne Beinke, AEU representative (Australian Education Union) comments:
‘The new centre is a really great opportunity for the school to showcase the innovative programs they are using to help their students to reach their potential as well as helping to educate others about Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy.’
Whole day workshops are available to educators, counsellors and allied professionals.
May 21st Rational Emotive Behaviour Education and Bullying – what the research says and what to do about it in schools with Dr Ken Rigby
June 6th Rational Emotive Behaviour Education for Early Childhood Educators and counsellors.
June 20th Rational Emotive Behaviour Education for Primary and Secondary Educators and counsellors.
Interested? Contact Giulio via this blog or on 0412668815
The Albert Ellis Professional Learning Facebook Page
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