Abstract
Welcome to the final issue for 2025!
It was lovely to see so many school psychologists and counsellors at the Australia Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools conference in Hobart 19 to 21 October. My heartfelt thanks to Tasmanian School Psychologists Association for organising and delivering a conference programme that was rich, inclusive, and professionally executed. It was also wonderful to speak with practitioners who might be interested in writing a paper. I returned home with a sense of belonging to a network of change-makers!
Original Articles
In this issue, I bring you six original articles. The first article by McMahon et al. examined the experiences of practising Australian school counsellors and psychologists in clinical supervision and supervision training. Findings showed that supervision offers critical professional support, feedback, and debriefing opportunities, with participants emphasising the importance of structured supervision training for both supervisors and supervisees. In the second article, Anderson and colleagues present a framework for enacting the Psychology Board of Australia’s Competency 8 through an Indigenous rights-based approach. Centring Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, and reciprocal partnerships, the paper outlines a transformative model for school psychology that promotes culturally safe, rights-based practice within educational settings. The third, by Yoon et al. explored the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ students of colour in K–12 schools across the southeastern United States. Through focus-group interviews, Yoon identified themes of identity negotiation, institutional neglect, and mistrust of school counsellors, highlighting the urgent need for intersectional and culturally competent school counselling practices. In the fourth article, Yildirim and colleagues investigated how family communication influenced secondary school students’ subjective academic well-being in Türkiye. They found that school belonging and meaningful school experiences mediated this relationship, suggesting that strengthening students’ sense of connection and purpose can enhance both well-being and academic success. The fifth, by Mantey et al. focussed on school-based interventions for students with mental health problems in Ghanaian basic schools. Drawing on interviews with mental health professionals, the study identified strengths, challenges, and needed improvements in current practices, calling for greater investment in evidence-based, sustainable mental health support systems across Ghanaian schools. Finally, Brown examined how Australian school counsellors implement trauma-informed practices and what supports are needed for effective whole-school approaches. Using an ecological framework, the study revealed the importance of principal-counsellor collaboration and the need to move beyond rhetoric to authentic, system-wide trauma-informed implementation. Together, these six articles reflect the journal’s continued commitment to advancing evidence-informed, culturally responsive, and contextually grounded school psychology and counselling practices across diverse educational settings.
Book Review
Finally, I am pleased to include a book review of The SAGE Handbook of Gifted and Talented Education conducted by Situmorang. I hope you find the review interesting and useful.
I hope you enjoy reading this eclectic mix of articles!