I grew up in a small town in the Mallee 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 finding the wisdom to endure hardship, create happiness, become a good man, and make 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, combining philosophy with psychology. I have now been a counsellor for a decade, I'm qualified to masters level, and I am registered with the Australian Counselling Association at the most senior level of membership.
I took up 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. I learned a lot from them: about how we rise from adversity and rebuild our lives. I witnessed the capacity in people to come back stronger and better than before. This was one of a number of counselling jobs I've had, but it was there that I developed a passion for our ability to rise back up and to build. I started to focus my work on this: I'll help you get back on your feet, or find a surer footing, but I'll help you go further, to become your best and make the world really work for you.
In 2012 I began this private practice. I wear two hats, because 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 mainstream, middle-class psychology, whereas I work in a way that fits with typical masculine strengths. My love of philosophy and my passion for men's work combines here because I value philosophies like Stoicism, and people like Jordan Peterson who emphasis personal responsibility and traditional courage.
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 resilience, strength, purpose - the inward stuff - and building a great life outwardly, when it comes to relationships, work, and passions. My free eBook reflects this orientation. I'd say my greatest skill is helping people to recognise what's really good and powerful in themselves, and helping them to orient their life toward that, making it grow and become bigger than the problems in their life. After all you only live once, and you can concentrate on what's wrong with you and the world, or you turn your effort to making things as good as possible. That's my speciality.
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 to the people who seek my help. I also mix a lot of coaching into my approach, because while I value depth, I'm very practical: the point is to do what works, to make life better.
These days I have returned to my rural roots and now live in central Victoria. However I see men two days a week in Carlton, Melbourne. I also work nationally via phone or Skype.
– Matthew Bishop (MAppSocSci(Couns); BA (Hon); Dip. Prof. Couns.).
Philosophy for me is about finding the wisdom to endure hardship, create happiness, become a good man, and make 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, combining philosophy with psychology. I have now been a counsellor for a decade, I'm qualified to masters level, and I am registered with the Australian Counselling Association at the most senior level of membership.
I took up 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. I learned a lot from them: about how we rise from adversity and rebuild our lives. I witnessed the capacity in people to come back stronger and better than before. This was one of a number of counselling jobs I've had, but it was there that I developed a passion for our ability to rise back up and to build. I started to focus my work on this: I'll help you get back on your feet, or find a surer footing, but I'll help you go further, to become your best and make the world really work for you.
In 2012 I began this private practice. I wear two hats, because 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 mainstream, middle-class psychology, whereas I work in a way that fits with typical masculine strengths. My love of philosophy and my passion for men's work combines here because I value philosophies like Stoicism, and people like Jordan Peterson who emphasis personal responsibility and traditional courage.
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 resilience, strength, purpose - the inward stuff - and building a great life outwardly, when it comes to relationships, work, and passions. My free eBook reflects this orientation. I'd say my greatest skill is helping people to recognise what's really good and powerful in themselves, and helping them to orient their life toward that, making it grow and become bigger than the problems in their life. After all you only live once, and you can concentrate on what's wrong with you and the world, or you turn your effort to making things as good as possible. That's my speciality.
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 to the people who seek my help. I also mix a lot of coaching into my approach, because while I value depth, I'm very practical: the point is to do what works, to make life better.
These days I have returned to my rural roots and now live in central Victoria. However I see men two days a week in Carlton, Melbourne. I also work nationally via phone or Skype.
– Matthew Bishop (MAppSocSci(Couns); BA (Hon); Dip. Prof. Couns.).
