Training and Working as a Counsellor and Psychologist: The Last Decade

Marianna Jaross

I started working as a counsellor when I was twenty-three, and became a psychologist years later. I have taken a break from my registration as a psychologist for the last few months and have been thinking about the field, my training, and the direction we are heading in collectively.

Personally, I think one of my best and worst traits is my curiosity: Instead of following a straight and narrow path to complete my training as a psychologist, I deviated several times. Completing a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy. Completing a Master of Psychology (Professional). Additional training in mindfulness and art therapy. Working in pilot programs, and observing systems and the expectations we are to operate within.

A significant experience for me personally and professionally was working in a pilot program following the Royal Commission into Family Violence almost a decade ago. This highlighted the need for feminist approaches within healthcare and community services. I sat with women who had men in their lives who were choosing to use violence and harm, and this shook something deep within me. I saw women who had been labelled by health professionals. I understood that a woman can’t “just leave” in the face of coercive control, and just how men’s choices to use coercive control seeped into all corners of a woman’s life: Sexual violence. Psychological abuse. Financial control. Threats. Isolation from friends, family, and community. Demeaning and belittling. A sense of chronically walking on eggshells. The challenges and increased risk when women wanted or attempted to leave.

I saw women who were made to feel small, insignificant, and terrified; and I saw the labels that this attracted. I also saw, and continue to see, the reports of men choosing to abuse, harm, or kill the women in their lives.

I also worked with men who use violence; a career choice that still prompts questions today. I treaded the uncomfortable space of challenging behaviour, and receiving supervision that challenged me personally and professionally. (Working in Men’s Behaviour Change at twenty-three then at twenty-six is potentially a whole other article).

So, lesson one was the need for a feminist approach, and being mindful of the impacts of abuse; and not relying on labels or diagnostic systems or criteria when ‘symptoms’ may be a reasonable response to the circumstances. This was also not to use mental health diagnoses or trauma as an excuse to use violence or harm another person, and understanding the difference between coercive control vs. a response to this ongoing. It is a shame, from my perspective, that we learn about this retrospectively and often outside of the field of our formal training as therapists.

Regarding my training, completing a Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy was deeply transformative to the clinician I became. This was the first time within my studies that I was exposed to learning about trauma, family and group dynamics, and grief counselling; all of which would be relevant to my work in future. Completing my studies in this arena after studying the traditional path to psychology also exposed me to the rivalry that occurred between helping professions and disciplines. I heard things like: “All psychologists do is diagnose.” “Counsellors and psychotherapists aren’t as qualified.” Later, a hierarchy was highlighted within the psychology profession itself, particularly whether one was endorsed as a Clinical Psychologist or General Psychologist; and the Medicare rebate difference this still creates.

Completing a Master of Psychology (Professional) was also transformative for me. I had travelled to Curtin University in WA to complete this. I completed my placement alongside GPs and nurses, and saw the benefits of multidisciplinary care.

I am also mindful that there is a proposed reform in training for psychologists in Australia to condense training to five years in a single degree. I am interested to see how this plays out because I have completed a lot of training, worked in the field, and worked across pilot programs, different organisations, and multidisciplinary teams.

A lot of my time lately has been spent thinking about my work and life in context of the system in which we operate. This article serves as an overview of where I have been.

More to come.

© Marianna Jaross 2026