REBTOZ

Para Hills School P-7 in Adelaide South Australia is an anti depression school. It engages an arsenal of principles and practices designed to psychologically immunise students against the ravages of depression, anxiety and anger. As the great BatFink said 'Your bullets cannot harm me for my wings are like a shield of steel which deflect the harm that others may wish to inflict on me.'  Educators help children develop psychological 'wings of steel' to ward off the potential har m of failure and rejection. This article CBT in schools  advocates for  CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) to be taught in schools. Para Hills P-7 has been doing this for several years through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education which is based on REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy). Para Hills School P-7, South Australia REBT is the creation of Dr Albert Ellis who supported this work in schools in South Australia up to his death in 2007 and continues to support us through  The ...

This 14 year old student has had a reasonable week. He has been aware of how his anxiety has ebbed and flowed in his interactions with others and is monitoring his self-talk. He is very careful about what he says and how he says it and is quick to help and encourage others with enthusiasm. Other students have commented that he is ‘overly helpful and encouraging’ at times and would prefer he ‘relax a bit.’ Counsellor : G’day. How’s it going? Student : I’m fine. I’ve been thinking about our last chat and I think it’s true that I worry too much about what others think. Counsellor: You’re not alone, and it’s useful that you have been thinking about your anxiety and what might be causing it. Last time we spoke we talked about ‘needing the approval of others.’ Do you recall? Student: Yeah. I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I do want to be liked by others. Isn’t it OK to want be liked by everyone? Counsellor : Can you be liked by everyone? Do you think this is a ...

REBT Workshop - What is it? What does it do? Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) was developed in the 1950's. It is the original cognitive therapy which has many derivatives e.g. Choice Theory (Glasser) Cognitve Behaviour Therapy (Beck) Positve Psychology (Seligman). This 1 hour workshop looks at REBT, its philosophical underpinnings and the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance, the counselling model used by psychologists and counsellors the world over. ''The future of psychotherapy is in the school system.'' Albert Ellis, creator of REBT Para Hills School P-7 Graduate teachers will say that amongst their main concerns when beginning their career is how to establish and maintain an effective behaviour education program. What models are there to base their practise on? How is their philosophy of learning reflected in their practise? Do they use a punitive approach to behaviour education or an educative one?   Bugs Bunny is self accepting! ...

On the 24 th July eight years ago Albert Ellis died but his work lives on. He would have been encouraged to know that schools have taken up the challenge he set many years ago; teach children how to make themselves less ‘disturbable’. Rational Emotive Behaviour Education is doing this is many South Australian schools with positive outcomes. Teachers have been trained in the understanding and application of Ellis’ ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance and they are helping their students to understand that their habits of thinking are linked to how they act and how they feel. Gone but not forgotten This insight empowers the child to monitor and assess how she is feeling and how she is estimating (thinking about/interpreting) the situation at hand. How am I feeling? Is this situation as bad as I think it is? I can reassess this situation so that I remain in control and make OK choices. Rational Emotive Behaviour Educators (REBE’rs) remind students daily that their ...

According to 'A Way Forward: Equipping Australia’s Mental Health System for the Next Generation : 'Online mental health services can involve cognitive behaviour courses that help people identify unhelpful thoughts and behaviours and learn healthier skills and habits.' Online MH support services the report says are low cost and highly effective. Young people who are struggling with mental health concerns are finding online support useful to them. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) c ourses are available to help young people identify, challenge and change unhelpful thoughts. This is precisely what teachers are doing at Para Hills School P-7 in Adelaide South Australia. Through the Rational Emotive Behaviour Education Program children are taught how to develop healthy habits of thinking about themselves, others and the world. Teachers do this across all curriculum areas at every year level day in and day out. This very important school based approach to MH promoti...

Rational Emotive Behaviour Education is taught at Para Hills School P-7. REBE helps students to develop a strong and healthy sense of self worth i.e. a confidence that is hard to shake especially when others disapprove of them/bully them. This a way to 'psychologically immunise' students against bullying.  Bully for You! Do you think you have nothing to offer Use self-talk which is negative and untrue And you don’t think you amount to much? Then I have just the thing for you! Bully for you, bully for you I have a bully for you! I look for people to victimise My admiring buddies think I’m great I like to see fear in your eyes You deserve to suffer mate! Bully for you, bully for you I’m the bully for you. I will persist, never let up I don’t consider how you feel My life’s work is to see you suffer You don’t matter; you’re no big deal! Bully for you, bully for you I’m the bully for you! We control our thought...

‘You can’t teach young students the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance and it should only be used by a trained psychologist in the counselling setting.’ Albert Ellis railed against this kind of misinformation put forth to preserve the status of the psychologist as ‘expert.’ Ellis of course wanted his ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance to be accessible to all, especially to teachers and students. Far better that young children learn why they feel and act as they do and to develop insights and skills preventatively and educatively in the school setting. Jonas Salk who created the polio vaccine hypothesised that if we could ‘psychologically immunise’ students they would be less prone to mental health issues and would probably be physically better off too. Bat Fink, the cartoon character said to his enemies ‘your bullets cannot harm me, my wings are like shields of steel?’ He would wrap his wings around himself deflecting any harmful bullets from hitting him, thwarting...

Have you been psychologically immunised yet? Better get on to it asap! How do you 'psychologically immunise' students against the ravages of rejection and failure? May I recommend a school or schools that teach REBT/CBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy/Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) across all curriculum areas whose teachers are trained in teaching Unconditional Self Acceptance (USA)? Many students are conditioned to believe that they are only worthwhile if significant others think they are or if they achieve their goals. Whilst it is important that others approve of us and that we do well and achieve our goals and desires our worth is never at question. The belief that others opinion of you define who you are is errant and self defeating. The ‘I’m only OK if you think I am’ philosophy is an irrational one because it causes anxiety, depression and other debilitating conditions that undermine our mental health because the person or persons whose ...

The English lingo is replete with idioms that would pose a problem or two to a student with Aspergers Syndrome. Certain turns of phrase would be as clear as muddy water! She would remain none the wiser if you were to ask her to ‘pull your socks up’ or ‘pull your finger out'or 'take a chair!’ Are you with me? She’d be flat out trying to cop on to the message.    How difficult would it be to get a handle on the meaning of a message if it can only be taken literally. Consider the expressions ‘to get a handle on something’ and ‘turns of phrase’ mentioned above. Somehow we internalise these expressions, which make particular meanings and we draw them out of our linguistic hat and use them in the right place at the right time in the right context (We hope!). But what of the student who has Aspergers Syndrome?    What assumptions can we make about her capacity to understand these culturally specific idioms? I was once asked to observe a student in the classroom...