REBTOZ

I had the pleasure of working with a group of educators at a high school in the northern suburbs of Adelaide recently. The school has set up a well being hub where students can go for support if needed particularly of a social/emotional/behavioural kind. The 'Hub'staff is sourcing ideas to support their students and one staff member who attended several of my workshops last year considered that REBT would value add to the 'Hub'mission to help students better manage themselves in day to day life especially when things go awry. Craigmore High School It is always a challenge when presenting to 'hit the spot' as it were so that people become engaged and interested in the message. Is this stuff useful to my practice as a teacher/counsellor? Will it benefit my students? What will be my strategy, the hook used to get everyone 'in?' To start we looked at the philosophical underpinnings of the ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance. One significant ...

This is a transcript of a series of 3 counselling sessions I had with a year 10 student. I used Albert Ellis' ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance to help him. I am a Rational Emotive Behaviour Counsellor. This student feels anxious over something that has happened. He asked another student if he had a problem (are you OK? Can I help?). This was misinterpreted (what do you mean I have a problem?) and he responded aggressively. The student was taken aback and then began to mull over the response he received. He asked a trusted teacher if the esteem in which other teachers held him was now diminished. The teacher said not in any way but the student remained preoccupied and went to see the counsellor outlining what had happened and how best to deal with the situation. In the counsellors office Student: I am concerned about how a student responded to me. I am caring and I didn’t intend to offend him when I asked him how he felt and if I could help. I am worried that he t...

A group of schools in Whyalla, South Australia has been promoting student personal and academic capability development through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education (REBE) for over two years now. The Albert Ellis Centre Face Book page ( https://www.facebook.com/TheAlbertEllisProfessionalLearningCentre?ref=hl ) has documented the excellent work done by teachers at Stuart High School, Whyalla Stuart Campus R-7, Hincks Avenue Primary and Long Street Primary schools. Based on the work of Albert Ellis' (father of cognitive therapies) Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy professional and personal development programs have been provided through 'The Centre' for more than two years now. That equates to 400 plus educators, carers, counsellors and other allied professionals having been informed and skilled in the delivery of Ellis' ABC Theory of Emotional (and Behavioural) Disturbance in a variety of contexts - education and therapeutic interventions. This endeavor has bee...

What is the Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre? It is a professional learning facility designed to provide quality professional learning to teachers, para professionals, counsellors and community mental health workers. The workshop program is based on the pioneering work of Dr Albert Ellis who created Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. He died in 2007 but his legacy lives on through The Centre. What is Albert Ellis' ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance and how does this help students? A represents what happens, B represents my constructed set of beliefs (philosophy) and C is the emotional and behavioural consequence of A + B. Through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education students learn to understand how their beliefs (B) have a significant influence on behaviour and emotions. This is usefu l for students because many believe that their behaviour and emotional upset is directly related to A i.e. someone or something MADE them angry/depressed/anxious. With this insight s...

The information below is taken from the REBT Network site (http://www.rebtnetwork.org/). This website was set up to provide information and support to those interested in Dr. Albert Ellis' Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. A network of schools is applying REBT across all year levels through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education in Whyalla, South Australia. All teachers have been trained in the understanding and application of Ellis' REBT. They are successfully using Ellis' renowned and tested ABC Theory Theory of Emotional Disturbance to teach students how feelings and behaviours are attached to constructed personal philosophies about ourselves, others and life. The Whyalla REBE School Network appreciates the support given to educators to help students fulfill their potential. Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) The REBT Network was established in 2006 to promote Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and the life and work...

The REBE (Rational Emotive Behaviour Education) brand of psychology says that to negotiate the road ahead requires competencies that will help students build resilience. The Australian Curriculum outlines seven general competencies that are promoted in schools. Personal and Social Competence is promoted through the whole school application of Rational Emotive Behaviour Education. REBE is a psychotherapy-based system of behaviour education based on the ABC Theory of Emotional (and behavioural) Disturbance. It teaches that the events in our lives PLUS our constructed beliefs (personal philosophies about self, others and life) drive our behavioural and emotional responses to situations (A+B=C). It is not the event itself alone that causes emotional and behavioural disturbance. (A=C). This is not a ‘think positive and everything will be OK’ approach, it is not the vacuous ‘there, there all will be OK’ mantra of the ‘warm fuzzy’ movement of the 80’s and 90’s. Each day students ...

What is zest and how do you get it? Bertrand Russell used the term in his book the Conquest of Happiness to describe the qualities of optimism and enthusiasm for life. He scoffed at the idea that we should aspire to be happy and successful all the time as an impossible ideal! The expectation that we could achieve such a state of being was an affliction in itself, an unrealistic goal indeed, causing anxiety and depression. So zest is a quality essential to the enjoyment of life, an energy precipitated by what? The literature talks about the role of our genetic predisposition towards having a particular personality type and the importance of our early learning, our socialisation. It is not clear which plays the bigger role in determining our philosophy on life but I think that our early experience goes a long way to formulating the ideas and beliefs that govern how we go about things. I subscribe to the constructivist view that each of us seeks meaning from the world around us and in mak...

Rational Emotive Behaviour Education (REBE) is the application of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy principles in teaching practice across all curriculum areas. Albert Ellis’ ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance is tailor made to help students understand an event is not the sole determinant of their emotional and behavioural response to it. This is not a new idea, stoic philosopher Epictetus in around 100 AD observed: “Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them.” Educators comment daily on the ‘culture of blame’ in schools where students claim: ‘He made me angry so I hit him.’ ‘The teacher made me angry.’ ‘My mum didn’t set my alarm, that’s why I’m late.’ ‘Maths makes me angry.’ How do you teach the average high school student that ‘nothing or no one’ can make anyone angry? The goal of REBE is to challenge the philosophy that A ( A ctivating event) directly causes C (emotional and behavioural C onsequences) i.e. A=C. Th...