Positive Psychology the Whyalla Way - Albert Ellis and Psychology in Schools

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 been supported by enthusiastic school leaders who put a premium on student personal competency building as part of every day learning. Whilst we all in Whyalla congratulate the South Australian governments initiative to support the work of Dr. Martin Seligman I want to again through this blog acknowledge the work and endeavours of educators from preschool to year 10 who have been promoting our version of 'Positive Psychology' with very positive outcomes to date in Whyalla in very challenging contexts. The article here http://ow.ly/qDRaK recommends the establishment of a 'Well Being Institute' to execute an international agenda. Two and a half years ago we opened the Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre at Stuart High School - DONE! We have continued to provide quality programs under the auspices of the REBT Network, USA (www.rebtnetwork.org). The article also recommends that 'a workforce capable of teaching wellbeing' be developed. Good idea and Whyalla and Eyre and Western Region have about 300 educators, counsellors and para professionals trained (via The Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre) in the application of cognitive therapy based principles in educational and counselling contexts. This too is done and continues to be done through a comprehensive professional learning program.

Whilst it is commendable that the South Australian government supports the great work of Dr. Martin Seligman for whom I have a great deal of respect I would hope that initiatives such as ours in regional South Australia would also attract some support and recognition. Positive psychology development in schools is a positive thing and educators in Whyalla, South Australia are doing their bit through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education to promote positive mental health in schools and beyond.

Whyalla Marina, South Australia

Salute to TC's Impact on Psychology: A tribute to Albert Ellis

Teacher College has been a hot bed of thinking and creativity for more than a century. The brightest luminary (in my opinion) is Dr Albert Ellis whose REBTspawned the cognitive therapy revolution. The REBE School Cluster in Whyalla South Australia wishes to acknowledge the rich legacy of thinking and creativity that Dr Ellis has left us. We continue to apply his ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance in learning and teaching across all year levels (preschool to year 10) so that children can learn to be less disturbable and more able to pursue their goals in life, to be happy and successful. Thanks Dr Ellis from all of us Rational Emotive Behaviour Educators in Whyalla, South Australia. Have a look at this tribute to the life and work of a true legend of psychology, Dr. Albert Ellis.

Don't Give In Mr. Chin!

It’s useful for children to be taught about the value of hanging in there when the going gets tough. The act of doing the hard stuff is driven by the belief that ‘I can hang tough in tough situations.’ This thinking becomes habitual the more the child negotiates difficult situations successfully. Teachers and parents can help their young charges develop this very important capability in a fun way.

Read this story to your students about Mr. Chin. 

Let me introduce Mr. Chin. He is married to Mrs. Chin. They live in a house in a place called ChiniChinChin. They are the Chins from ChiniChinChin and they have a problem. Mr. Chin gives in.

Mr. Chin would start jobs around the house and he would get tired and not finish them.  He would say ‘I give up’ and he would have a rest and fall asleep.

He dug half a hole in the garden and built half a shed. He mowed half the lawn and shaved half of his beard. He did look funny!

Mrs. Chin said, ‘Have you finished your job Mr. Chin?’ But Mr. Chin was fast asleep in his favourite chair.

Mr. Chin went to the doctor and said ‘I give in when I have tough jobs to do.’ He said ‘you have give in disease.’

‘What’s that?’ Mr. Chin asked. He said, ‘when the job gets tricky you think ‘this is too hard and you give up.’ This stops you from being successful. This is Success Stopper thinking!’

'What will I do doctor? I’m not being successful and my jobs are not finished and Mrs. Chin is sad too.'

He said:

If you want to feel much better

And get all your jobs done

This is what you need to do

And you can have some fun!

When you want to stop

And you are about to give in

Instead of resting in your chair

Say ‘DON’T GIVE IN MR. CHIN!’

Mr. Chin went home and told Mrs. Chin what the doctor had said and Mrs. Chin listened carefully.

The next day when Mr. Chin had mowed half the lawn he said to himself, ‘this is too hard. I think I’ll give up.’ Then he remembered what the doctor told him and said, ‘DON’T GIVE IN MR CHIN!’ And guess what? Mr. Chin finished the whole lawn and he felt very good. Mrs. Chin was happy too.

If you drive past the Chins from ChiniChinChin you will notice that everything is finished! Well-done Mr. Chin. You didn’t give in!’

When your child or student is trying hard say:

‘Don’t give in Mr. Chin!’

When your child or student has completed a task say:

‘You didn’t give in Mr. Chin!’

When your child or student is giving up say:

‘Don’t give in Mr. Chin!’

If they try hard and still don’t quite get there ensure them that sometimes things can be too hard but they kept trying and that’s OK.

Whyalla Foreshore - Whyalla, South Australia

My Wings Are Like A Shield Of Steel!

Unconditional Self Acceptance (USA) protects us from the slings and arrows that life tests us with. It is how we deal with adversity that is key to remaining strong and purposeful in living our lives productively. USA affords us a degree of psychological resilience and hence is a very useful 'habit of believing' to teach our students. How do you teach this? This questions has been addressed in previous posts and here is another idea to think about. 

The cartoon character BatFink could protect himself by deflecting bullets with his 'wing shield.' Psychological resilience is a little like having a protective invisible shield that will allow factual and reasonable information through but will reject those things that are untrue and harmful. Unconditional Self Acceptance helps students understand that whilst they will experience failure and rejection, they themselves can never be failures or rejects. Their positive traits, characteristics and capabilities can't be cancelled out or taken away. They remain worthwhile because as Albert Ellis says 'they exist.' This is helpful to all those students who will argue that they are hopeless and without worth.

You may have other ideas to teach this important insight. All suggestions are most welcome!

Children with poor self worth are more likely to be bullied

This article (starting below the photograph) was written by Adelaide Advertiser journalist Martina Simos which was published on 9th June 2013. The article comments on research done by myself (Giulio Bortolozzo) and Dr. Ken Rigby on student attitudes/beliefs/constructed personal philosophies and how these are linked to bullying (bully-vcitim-bystander behaviours).

The Whyalla REBE (Rational Emotive Behaviour Education) School Cluster is implementing the REBE counselling based student behaviour development program. This involves the explicit teaching of Unconditional Self Acceptance and Unconditional Other Acceptance to students which helsp students understand how the 'habits of thinking' they have formed are linked to how they feel and behave. The research mentioned below suggests that students who develop Unconditional Self Acceptance are less likely to be the victims of bullying. Rational Emotive Behaviour Education is a school wide system of behaviour development and as Rational Emotive Behaviour Educators, Whyalla teachers address bullying as part of daily teaching/learning routines.

Picture courtesy of AdelaideNow. Journalist: Martina Simos

MORE than one-in-10 South Australian students in disadvantaged areas have negative thoughts about themselves which is making them easy targets for bullying, new research has found.


The report, How Schoolchildren's Acceptance Of Self And Others Relate To Their Attitudes To Victims Of Bullying, co-authored by bullying expert Adjunct Research Professor Ken Rigby and Giulio Bortolozzo, has been published in the Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal.

The main findings, which analysed responses to questionnaires sent to 212 primary and secondary students aged between nine and 14 in disadvantaged areas, were:

TWENTY-FOUR per cent of children recorded hostile thoughts towards others.

ELEVEN per cent showed negative attitudes towards themselves.

CHILDREN who were positive about others were more likely to intervene in bullying incidents as bystanders.

The researchers believe children who have negative views about themselves need help - to become more resilient, assertive and safer - and if they have hostile views towards others, they need to learn tolerance to curb bullying behaviour.

Prof Rigby said the findings indicate school initiatives could address bullying by introducing co-operative learning and circle time where students discuss concerns in a supportive environment.

"We believe the best help for these children can be provided by teaching them to think more positively about themselves and others through the use of classroom lessons in rational emotive education," Prof Rigby said.

"Relevant are peer support programs and strategies undertaken to promote positive bystander behaviour."

Prof Rigby said: "It may come as a surprise to learn that so many South Australian schoolchildren harbour extremely negative thoughts about themselves and feel they cannot accept themselves as worthy people."

"These children were far more likely to be bullied than others," he said

by Martina Simos AdelaideNow

The Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre is One Year Old!

Below is a short message of acknowledgement from Dr Debbie Joffe Ellis of the first anniversary of the opening of the Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre in Whyalla, South Australia. More than 200  educators, counsellors, allied professionals and para professionals have attended workshops in that time. The focus is on helping students and people in general work on their emotional and behavioural well being.  Using Dr. Albert Ellis' ABC Theory of Emotional and Behavioural Disturbance students learn how they have constructed their irrational personal philosophies that drive anger, anxiety, shame and depression over their life time. Rational Emotive Behaviour Education provides the means to deconstruct their errant and self defeating habits of believing and develop more healthy and rational ones.

"I send my congratulations to Giulio Bortolozzo, and to all who practice REBE at Stuart High School, for the ongoing excellent contributions they make to students, and to one another, as they continue to apply the caring principles of REBT.

I remember with fondness my time with all there one year ago, at the opening of the Centre, and how the precious students touched my heart. I send each of them my love. I wish Giulio my ongoing best wishes as he continues to contribute to the well-being of many."

Below is the a news item about the opening on April 30th 2012 courtesy of Southern Cross News.

The Albert Ellis Centre will continue to provide REBT based professional learning programs into the future supporting all schools in the implementation of the Rational Emotive Behaviour Education approach to student emotional and behavioural well being promotion. REBE is a constructivist theory based program that promotes the 7 General Capabilities outlined in the new Australian Curriculum. It helps students develop competencies that will enable them to work toward their personal and learning goals. This is a whole school approach in promoting positive psychological strengths and capabilities in our young people.

Below is the Albert Ellis Professional Learning Centre program for the remainder of the year. This is open to all people - educators, allied professionals, parent groups and para professionals who want to know about REBT and how to apply it in their particular contexts. The Centre is located at Stuart High School in Whyalla, South Australia.

Here's to another successful year! Cheers!

The Enduring Practice of Negative Psychology

If constructivist theory is what all learning and teaching is based upon how well do we know and understand it? How do we help students understand the philosophies they have constructed and how they by and large determine the choices they make and the emotions they experience? If a child has given up on herself and has reasoned that she is hopeless how then can she develop her potential? If she has hit a psychological brick wall and can’t push through it or clamber over it what can be done? This psychological impasse has a negative affect on the student and if schools are not equipped with the means to support her then nothing changes for that student.  Could educators unwittingly be peddling a brand of negative psychology in schools? If educators are addressing behaviours only and applying consequences to them this is not enough as the underlying individually constructed beliefs that give rise to dysfunctional behaviour and emotions aren’t being addressed.  We can ask children to ‘believe in themselves’ and have posters on walls around the school but what philosophy underpins such self-belief?  How do we teach it?

Recently an educator (Ms. Di Namic), a self proclaimed ‘passionate teacher’ and a strident critic of ‘poor’ teaching believes that a ‘good’ teacher (like herself maybe??) can compensate for the psychological barriers that students have developed over a life time. Well-prepared, knowledgeable and passionate teachers can achieve this according to Ms Namic. These students can be ‘inspired’ out of the doldrums by the teacher’s passion and verve! A more enlightened educator commented that ‘I had a great physics teacher at school. Loved him but I didn’t learn a thing.’ The point is that teacher competency; enthusiasm and dedication in themselves are not enough to help disengaged students who are emotionally and behaviourally unwell.

Dr Albert Ellis founded Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in the 1950’s, a philosophy based form of psychotherapy, the forerunner of other cognitive therapies like CBT and Choice Theory amongst others. Martin Seligman acknowledges the influence Ellis’ work had on his Positive Psychology approach. Ellis’ ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance helps people to identify the errant personal philosophies they have constructed, how these affect their moods and behaviours and how they can deconstruct them and replace them with more helpful habits of believing.

This approach is educative and empowering and is used the world over to help people sort out their emotional and behavioural problems and has great potential for students from preschool age upwards. It enables teachers to help students understand why they feel and act as they do. It is not enough to focus solely on the behaviours we observe (behaviour management?) but also on the underlying beliefs students have constructed (behaviour education).

The Whyalla REBE School Cluster in South Australia delivers the REBT mantra to students across all year levels i.e. THINKING FEELING and BEHAVING are all linked. The behaviour we observe and accompanying emotions are the visible (and audible) expressions of individually constructed personal philosophies, which can be rational or irrational (they either help or impede progress towards our goals). Rational Emotive Behaviour Education educators promote positive psychology in schools through Albert Ellis’ ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance. They not only describe behaviours but teach students where their choices of behaviour come from, a very powerful teaching competency!

REBE Educators in Whyalla:

·      Understand constructivist theory

·      Know that we act and feel as we do because we think as we do

·      Teach students how they construct their core philosophical beliefs

·      Help students challenge and change destructive self defeating beliefs

·      Always give behaviour (not person) specific feedback

·      Teach students they are not ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but they are always worthwhile

To do otherwise is not enough as the status quo prevails where students remain in a mire of self-doubt and helplessness (a cycle of negative psychological disturbance) disengaged, alienated and at great emotional and behavioural risk. 

Some ways in which negative psychology is reinforced:

Having a step system (one size fits all) approach to behaviour (behaviour management)

Publicly admonishing students

Saying things like ‘you make me angry’

Using person specific feedback e.g. ‘you are lazy/naughty’

Referring to student as ‘a shit’ in the staffroom

Inflexible, undifferentiated curriculum

Exclusive curriculum

Saying good boy/girl

Any others?

Whyalla Foreshore Friend