Frank Smolle is a 33 year old psychology student who is finishing up his degree at Charles Stuart University in Bathurst. A former auctioneer, he took up psychology after witnessing so much family discord over the estates of their deceased loved ones. An avid fan of Shrink Rap Radio, Frank has volunteered to be our correspondent “down under.” He is particularly interested in Psychodrama. Two books that have had a strong impact on him are Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and Rainbow of Desire by Augusto Boal. At the end of the show, there is a bonus podsafe music piece by Jim Fidler titled, “Terra Nova,” which seems fitting inasmuch as Australia was once the “New Land.
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Frank isn’t completely correct in stating that in order to be recognised as a professional psychologist in Australia one has to attain a master’s level degree. That is only one of two pathways to full registration. The other involves 2 years of supervised practice after the completion of an accredited “4th.” There are two 4th year options: 1) Honours 2) Post Graduate Diploma in Psych (not all Universities offer this option)–like the Honour’s degree involves a thesis plus substantial coursework, however, the research component to the thesis work is often conducted in groups rather than individually.
As a current Post Graduate Diploma student who completed a previous 4-year Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree at a public university (with a very good psych program) in USA, I have found the studies to be much more rigorous in Australia.