Benchmark Psychology

16/10/2026

📚✨ Ready to elevate your private psychology practice? Creating Impact: The Four Pillars of Private Psychology Practice is your essential guide to success!

Authored by five expert psychologists—Kaye Frankcom, Daryl Chow, RaeLynn Alvarez Wicklein, Nathan Castle, and Aaron Frost—this comprehensive book offers invaluable insights and actionable strategies for thriving in today’s evolving mental health landscape.

Get your hands on the paperback and e-book bundle for just $54, or choose the e-book version for $25. Invest in your practice’s future with this powerful resource! 🌟📖

Buy here: https://www.benchmarksteps.com/creating-impact

09/10/2026

✨ Today is World Mental Health Day.
This is a great reminder that mental health support is not only about providing the right intervention - it’s also about listening well.

✨ This year’s theme, “Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change,” brings attention to the value of lived experience in shaping how mental health care is understood, delivered and improved.

✨ For psychologists, clinicians, practices, organisations and communities, that means creating more space for people to contribute to decisions that affect them, recognising lived experience as meaningful expertise, and continuing to challenge the stigma that can prevent people from speaking openly or seeking support.

✨ Small shifts in how we listen, respond and include people can lead to better, more human-centred systems of care.

08/10/2026

Psychology Training Reform

Not sure how closely people are following this or not, but there’s currently a major reform project going on from the psychology board.

The details are complex, but essentially it’s a 5 year qualification instead of six, with more practical experience earlier on.

On the face of it; sounds awesome. But this will involve moving psychologists to a lower pay point in enterprise bargaining (no longer masters level). The unis have mostly said they don’t think they can make it happen in terms of supervision requirements, and there is no word yet as to how endorsement will be preserved.

A number of it are going to Canberra at the end of the month and meeting with key politicians, but we’ve been told petitions are helpful in this process.

Myself and others have written extensively on this topic on LinkedIn so I won’t revisit this here. I’m also not looking to start a debate, if you like these reforms, that’s awesome - because right now they are locked and loaded

If you don’t, please consider signing the below petition

Dr Aaron Frost
Clinical Psyxhologist
Director Benchmark Psychology

Reject unsafe, untested cuts to psychologist training NOW

06/10/2026

✨ We’re heading to the Australian Association of Psychologists inc.'s 2026 National Conference on 20–21 October and would love to see you there!

✨ If you’re attending, come and say hello to our team, have a chat, and find out more about the practical training, tools and resources we’re developing for psychologists, supervisors, practice owners and organisations.

✨ We’ll also have some exclusive event-only offers available during the conference, so make sure you stop by and ask us what’s on.

✨ We’re looking forward to connecting with colleagues, meeting new people and spending a couple of days immersed in the psychology community.

Hope to see you then!

�✨ Find out more about the conference:�https://www.aapi.org.au/AAPiConference2026/AAPiConference2026/About.aspx

28/09/2026

✨ Early career registrars, are you still planning your 2026 CPD?

🍃 With only a few live PREP Psychology Registrar Endorsement Program CPD opportunities remaining in 2026, now is a good time to plan your professional development for the final months of the year.

Join PREP in October for two practical online workshops:

✨ 7 October: Feedback Informed Therapy with Children and Adolescents with Jesse Diggins.
Explore how feedback can be meaningfully incorporated into therapeutic work with children and adolescents.

✨ 21 October: Schema Therapy with Children and Adolescents with Dr Alison Bocquee.
Deepen your understanding of Schema Therapy and its application in clinical work with children and adolescents.

Looking to expand your clinical toolkit, explore a new therapeutic approach or make the most of your remaining CPD opportunities for 2026? We'd love to have you join us!

🌱 View the sessions and register: https://learning.prep.clinic/live

28/09/2026

✨ Are you building an online course or training business?
At Benchmark Psychology, we use LearnWorlds to host and deliver our online courses and sell digital products.

✨ We’re sharing a limited-time offer for anyone looking for a platform to build and manage their own online learning experience.
For a limited time, new LearnWorlds customers and trial users can receive:
🎓 15% off their first six months on a monthly subscription
The same 15% discount also applies to eligible plan upgrades and mobile add-on upgrades.

✨ Whether you're creating your first online course, expanding your training offering or building a more comprehensive learning platform, LearnWorlds provides tools for creating, hosting and delivering online learning.
The offer ends 30 September at 11:59 PM PDT.

👉 If you've been considering LearnWorlds, now is a good time to take a look!

✨ Claim the offer today: https://get.learnworlds.com/twt4iit72x2i

Disclosure: Benchmark Psychology is a LearnWorlds affiliate. We may receive a commission if you sign up through our link, at no additional cost to you.

24/09/2026

✨ Still planning your professional development for 2026?

There are three STAP Masterclasses remaining this year, with all sessions delivered online.

✨ 16 October | Su***de Risk Assessment with Dr Jacinta Hawgood.

A practical exploration of the key considerations for supervisors supporting supervisees with su***de risk assessment, across both early-career and experienced clinicians.

✨ 4 November | Promoting Self-Care in Supervision with Dr James Kirby.

Explore the role of compassion and self-compassion in supporting psychologists’ wellbeing and developing sustainable approaches to self-care through supervision.

✨ 2 December | Coaching Psychologists Using the Science of What Works with Dr Aaron Frost.

Discover how feedback, outcome monitoring and deliberate practice can support supervisee development, strengthen skills and encourage a culture of continuous improvement.

📅 Places are still available for all three sessions.

View the full 2026 calendar and register:
https://stap.au/stap-calendar

23/09/2026

✨ What a weekend in beautiful Tasmania!

The Benchmark Psychology team, Dr Aaron Frost, Dr Rebecca Frost and our PREP Psychology Registrar Endorsement Program Lead, Sarah Scupham, were in Nipaluna, Hobart for the Australian Psychological Society College of Clinical Psychologists Conference across the weekend.

It was a great chance to showcase everything our brands - PREP Psychology Registrar Endorsement Program, STAP, Find a Supervisor and PractAus - have to offer.

We also loved connecting with colleagues and industry friends, old and new!

🎤 Aaron presented twice.
On Day 1 he ran an interactive session on deliberate practice in supervision, and on Day 3 he gave a well-recieved keynote on data privacy in the age of AI.

Aaron has recorded the original keynote and uploaded it to our YouTube channel.
It's just an hour long and well worth watching for anyone interested in how AI is changing and what it means for psychologists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agbOug5Fbb8

🥂 On Saturday night, PREP hosted an Early Career Mixer at the Telegraph Hotel rooftop. It was lovely to see students and early career psychologists connecting with some of our distinguished clinical psychology colleagues over drinks and nibbles.
There were plenty of great conversations about career paths, supervision and finding your feet in the profession.�

🤍 Thank you to the APS and the conference organisers, and to Tassie for the beautiful weather all weekend. We'll see you at the next one!

15/09/2026

✨ The new STAP website is here! ✨

After a few months of hard work, we’re pleased to welcome you to a fresh STAP online experience.

✨ We've recently redesigned the STAP website to make it easier to:

→ Explore our supervisor training and approval program�→ Find upcoming training opportunities�→ Learn more about STAP and our approach�→ Access resources and information for supervisors�→ Find the information you need to plan your next step in achieving or maintaining your supervisor status.

✨ After over 20 years of training and supporting psychology supervisors across Australia, our new website gives STAP a digital home that reflects where we are today while continuing to build on the experience behind us.

✨ Visit the new STAP website and enjoy the new experience: https://stap.au

10/09/2026

💛 Today is R U OK? Day, a vital reminder that a simple conversation can change a life.

You don't need to be an expert to make a difference - you just need to be a good listener.
If you notice a friend, family member, or colleague acting differently, take a moment to check in.

Remember the 4 simple steps to start a conversation:
1️⃣ Ask "Are you OK?"
2️⃣ Listen with an open mind
3️⃣ Encourage action
4️⃣ Check in again
�
Let’s look out for one another today and every day.

✨�If you or someone you know needs support, reliable services are always available:
📞 Lifeline: 13 11 14
📞 Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636�