Kia kaha, Ōtautahi!
Kia kaha, Ōtautahi!
Leaving Christchurch for Darwin Australia
We have had enough of the earthquakes and are moving to Australia!
Work has always been difficult in New Zealand (low pay, few benefits and general pettiness on the part of employers), but we stayed here because we could work for ourselves and enjoy the beauty that New Zealand has to offer. We endured the thousands of shakes since September of last year, but when the new fault line became active on 21 February (meters from our house), my wife and I looked at each other and I said, “Enough!” She responded with “Agreed!” While I will miss the scenic beauty of New Zealand, Australia has its own beauty of a different sort and there will be much better pay and work conditions and hopefully no earthquakes.
We are moving to Darwin, in the Northern Territory. I am currently sorting out work there and we will be in The Territory within a couple of weeks. I will give more details as they come available!
In a few weeks, it will be “G’day, mate!”
[Note to readers: I received the following message from my contact form and have, with Kirsten's permission, posted it below. If you are in Christchurch and have been affected by the earthquake(s), feel free to contact Kirsten.]
Hi
I live in South Taranaki and am trying to find a coordinated effort in providing counselling services to Christchurch people that I can join.
I work for an NGO here I’m hoping will release me for a couple of week long stints over the next few weeks.
I know Christchurch well having lived there in the past. I am prepared to camp out if necessary.
I have at least 20 years experience as a counsellor/psychologist/psychotherapist and am a registered psychologist working as an alcohol and drug counsellor currently.
I would like to help out in a coordinated network in any way that I can.
My phone number here in the meantime for any night phone work is 06 273 8822. I am also available to see any people relocating into this area in the meantime.
My heart goes out to you all…
thank you so much for your initiative.
Kirsten
Cleaning up the debris from ye…
Cleaning up the debris from yesterday’s 6.3 Christchurch earthquake. Thinking of the workers in the city looking for survivors and families.
“I want to suggest, to all of my colleagues in the art of deep listening, that in order to withstand the difficulties of our work and the ups and downs of its valuation in the marketplace, we require a powerful inoculation. And in my experience, the best inoculation is the capacity to envision our work as that of a healer, as part of a long and honorable lineage – to view it as a path of service, a calling as well as a business – and to sincerely offer up this work to the good of all beings.” Mindful Therapy (Bien 2006:5)
Mindful Therapy (Bien 2006)
Mindful Therapy (Bien 2006) – Integrates Buddhist mindfulness with psychotherapy. On Chapter Three and seems a definite recommended reading.
Moodle and Blackboard Comparison
Moodle and Blackboard Comparison http://moodle.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/file.php/1/Feature_Comparison_Moodle-Blackboard.pdf
Moodle
I have used this Course Management System (also known as a Learning Management System) since early 2004 – over seven years! It is extremely robust, being able to host more than 100,000 students in a single instance. It is open source (free to download, use and alter) and I would say that I have never had a significant problem with it, except for the recent upgrade to the substantially altered 2.0 version.
Moodle can be downloaded from http://moodle.org and it is currently used by tens (or hundreds) of thousands of institutions world-wide. It is a free equivalent to Blackboard and WebCT, and much superior, in my experience.
If you are looking for software to host online courses, corporate training, blending learning environments or any other number of online educational uses, then definitely have a look at Moodle.
Online PTSD Resources for Christchurch
After offering free counselling for Christchurch residents following the September earthquake and aftershocks, I began to consider other ways to continue helping other Cantabrians who were dealing with the emotional results of the thousands of shakes that we have experienced.
I have been involved with online education since 2004 and I am well acquainted with the online courseware, Moodle, found at http://moodle.org. This software is excellent for presenting online materials, online courses, online seminars, etc. I sat down and began to consider how this software could be used for online psycho-education and counselling.
The test site for online counselling for Christchurch is found at http://nocturnalworks.net/christchurch/. For those in Christchurch who want to sign up for our online therapy, you can go to the sign-up page at http://nocturnalworks.net/christchurch/login/index.php. There you create a new user account and you will be given notification as new resources become available. Please note that this area is only for Cantabrians (so if you sign up and you aren’t in Canterbury, your account won’t be approved). We will be developing additional resources for internationals, after we have finished rolling out these local resources.
The first seminar that is being developed is for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but there are also plans to create seminars for those suffering from depression and anxiety.
Doing some research into Accep…
Doing some research into Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Would appreciate any recommendations for resources, websites, etc. Cheers! 
