I grew up in a small Mallee town in a tradesman family and was a high-school drop out. I discovered a love of philosophy while working in a factory, and found my way to The University of Melbourne where I studied and eventually taught it. That was my first career.
Philosophy for me is about enduring hardship, creating happiness, becoming a good man, and making a success of life. However I am a hands-on person, so I decided to study counselling, as a way of having a trade based on this passion. I have now been a counsellor for a decade, am qualified to masters level, and am registered with the Australian Counselling Association at the most senior level of membership.
I took my first counselling job at 30, working in a suicide prevention program where I spent years talking guys back from bridges, or helping them get their life back on track as the bruises healed around their neck. Many of them had no mental illness, but suffered because life had gone wrong in some big way. In this intense life-and-death context I learned a lot about how we rise from adversity and rebuild our lives. I witnessed the capacity in us to come back stronger and better than before. This was one of a number of counselling jobs I've had - I've also worked with men's counselling services, defense force veteran's services, etc. - but it was there that I developed a passion for our ability to rise up and to build. I started to focus my work on this: on how we find our feet, and then put our best foot forward, becoming our best and creating a good life.
Professionally, I wear two hats. I'm known for my work combining philosophy and psychology, working with both men and women. But I'm also particularly passionate about working with men. I think we tend to be misunderstood and sometimes even maligned in middle-class psychology, whereas I work in a way that fits with typical masculine strengths and ways of being. I like being a man and my style reflects that.
It's worth clarifying that I am different to a clinical psychologist. They are trained to help people with psychological disorders. I am trained to help people with the challenges of living. That includes the darker side of living: separation, loneliness, despondency, fear. And also the positive side: growing in confidence, strength, happiness, purpose, and building a great life outwardly when it comes to relationships, work, and passions.
I enjoy developing my knowledge and skills around themes that involve outward success with inward growth. For example I help men become confident at dating, while growing in qualities like self-knowledge, confidence, and charisma.
I've done a lot of work on my self over the years, and so I've walked a lot of the personal growth paths my clients are facing - although we each do it in our own way - and of course I've gone through plenty of hardship in my own right. All of this shapes how I counsel. So while I work to high professional standards, I take a passionate and personal approach with the men who seek my help. I also mix a lot of coaching into my counselling, because the point is to do what works: while I'm very much about insight, I value action and outcomes most of all: let's roll up our sleeves and actually make life better.
These days I have returned to my rural roots and now live in central Victoria. However I see clients two days a week in Carlton, Melbourne, and work nationally over phone or Skype.
– Matthew Bishop (MAppSocSci(Couns); BA (Hon); Dip. Prof. Couns.).
Philosophy for me is about enduring hardship, creating happiness, becoming a good man, and making a success of life. However I am a hands-on person, so I decided to study counselling, as a way of having a trade based on this passion. I have now been a counsellor for a decade, am qualified to masters level, and am registered with the Australian Counselling Association at the most senior level of membership.
I took my first counselling job at 30, working in a suicide prevention program where I spent years talking guys back from bridges, or helping them get their life back on track as the bruises healed around their neck. Many of them had no mental illness, but suffered because life had gone wrong in some big way. In this intense life-and-death context I learned a lot about how we rise from adversity and rebuild our lives. I witnessed the capacity in us to come back stronger and better than before. This was one of a number of counselling jobs I've had - I've also worked with men's counselling services, defense force veteran's services, etc. - but it was there that I developed a passion for our ability to rise up and to build. I started to focus my work on this: on how we find our feet, and then put our best foot forward, becoming our best and creating a good life.
Professionally, I wear two hats. I'm known for my work combining philosophy and psychology, working with both men and women. But I'm also particularly passionate about working with men. I think we tend to be misunderstood and sometimes even maligned in middle-class psychology, whereas I work in a way that fits with typical masculine strengths and ways of being. I like being a man and my style reflects that.
It's worth clarifying that I am different to a clinical psychologist. They are trained to help people with psychological disorders. I am trained to help people with the challenges of living. That includes the darker side of living: separation, loneliness, despondency, fear. And also the positive side: growing in confidence, strength, happiness, purpose, and building a great life outwardly when it comes to relationships, work, and passions.
I enjoy developing my knowledge and skills around themes that involve outward success with inward growth. For example I help men become confident at dating, while growing in qualities like self-knowledge, confidence, and charisma.
I've done a lot of work on my self over the years, and so I've walked a lot of the personal growth paths my clients are facing - although we each do it in our own way - and of course I've gone through plenty of hardship in my own right. All of this shapes how I counsel. So while I work to high professional standards, I take a passionate and personal approach with the men who seek my help. I also mix a lot of coaching into my counselling, because the point is to do what works: while I'm very much about insight, I value action and outcomes most of all: let's roll up our sleeves and actually make life better.
These days I have returned to my rural roots and now live in central Victoria. However I see clients two days a week in Carlton, Melbourne, and work nationally over phone or Skype.
– Matthew Bishop (MAppSocSci(Couns); BA (Hon); Dip. Prof. Couns.).
