Who am I, and what's an accredited mental health social worker?

As the website title suggests, my name is James (he/him). I'm a happy new arrival to the great city of Newcastle, after living in Sydney for most of my life. 

I've worked in community services for 25 years, been a social worker for sixteen years, and I've been practicing as a mental health social worker for five years.  I graduated from Australian Catholic University with a Social Work degree in 2009, and obtained a Graduate Certificate in Social Work from Sydney University in 2011.

Accredited Mental Health Social Workers have been accredited by our professional association and Medicare to provide treatment for mental health in the community. I do this through talking therapy, using a variety of philosophical, ethical and styles, I've listed them below if you're interested.

Many social workers, myself included, use what we call an eclectic approach to our work. We aren't dogmatically following a single approach, but draw on a range of ideas to create a style of engagement that's responsive to what works for the person we are talking to.

When I'm not reflecting on social work theories, I'm probably in a garden somewhere, finding new ways to make vegetarian food or trying to build something with less knowledge or resources than I probably need to do it properly.