Latest Updates (Part 1)

So many things to update...so many things to recall...and so many things awaiting...:

• Thesis Submission

I am having this mental disease...too occupied with one thing and tend to forget other things... As I was very busy finalising my thesis last year, I had limited time to write my blog. As you know, I aimed for thesis submission latest by August 2011 and guess what? I managed to stick to PLAN B. I submitted by thesis on 18 August 2012....!!!
I knew deep in my heart that I could do it but some instances prior to submission were totally unbearable and those were nerve-wrecking epochs in my life. When I sent the four copies of my thesis for hard-bound covers, the bindery company misplaced one copy and requested one more copy. After numerous phone calls and crying episodes, then the company called back and apologised...it seemed that they had binded two copies of thesis into one hard-bound cover!!!

•  Dealing with new 'occupant' of G.15

This was another nerve-wrecking episode in my PhD journey... As I was struggling to complete my thesis, my peace and quiet moment in my study room was disturbed by a new lady on the block. Fine, this is normal..it's like a cycle in life...Dr Vyonne went out for good, a new occupant will take her place... The previous years, the life in G.15 was fine and enriching. I had two kindred spirit girls as my office-mates: The beautiful Katrina and the Hardworking Yvonne. We enjoyed each other company and we created a conducive environment for work. Unfortunately, this new lady used the room not just for study but for skype with her loved ones in her home country... How could I concentrate on writing my thesis when I could hear this background noises and knowing that the camera was right behind me... Arrrgggghhhhhh!!! The final obstacle at the end of my PhD jounrey.. so, I had done something...accordingly but the results were not pleasant! So, I tripple my efforts to finish what I had to finish: I worked until mid-nite every nite until the day that I submitted my thesis!!!

• Packing...Packing...leaving OZ for good

This was the hardest part because I had to clear my stuff in the office space/room and also cleared our stuff in the rental unit, my Noble Park's house. Sorting out through my HUGE pile of printed journal articles and selecting those that I really wanted for future use was not bad compared to all the packing, scrubbing, and packing some more tasks at home. We stayed in the house for more than three years and we kinda like our household materials... So, it's very difficult for us to carefully select the things that we need to leave behind and those that we need to bring back home... Right now, I still miss some items such as our lesung batu, chopping board, and stainless steel bowls... I hope those items were in good hand and we donated them to Savers and some to Salvos. At the end of our packing activities that lasted for a few months, we shipped three cubic meter of our stuffs in July 2011 and another one cubic meter of our remaining stuff, we used Pack and Send service (Total: 4 cubic meter stuff).

Another hardest thing that we had to do was saying good bye to our friends in Dandenong, Noble Park and Clayton. These friends had become our family members during good times and bad times... So, saying good bye and knowing that we could never have the quality time of  gader-gader again in Malaysia were really tough!!! I miss my Dandy Community folks!!!!

• Departing from Melbourne and heading to KL

We stayed at Abang Hanif and K.Sham's house for the last three days of stay in Melbourne. Then, on 25th August 2012 we said our final good bye to everyone and the city of Melbourne... Till we meet again!

Writing a Discussion Chapter

Last time, I thought that writing the literature review chapter was the hardest task. Now, I think the hardest part of thesis writing is writing the Discussion Chapter. This is the part that I have to be extra careful so that:

• I have the facts that I found right,
• I have my commments to the facts right, and
• I have outlined the theoretical implications of the facts right.

Indeed, this chapter requires very careful thought. But, the question is: How to use my original argument and call on my results in oredr to make the whole meaning of your findings absolutely clear?

Welcome 2011 and I wish you a Happy New Year!

The Year 2011 is a very important year for me. This is the year that I planned to submit my PhD thesis. This is the year that I have to remain objective and keep my sanity intact. I have worked so hard and I have sacrificed a lot of my time, energy, and quality time with family and friends in order to achieve my dream of having a PhD qualification. Now, the journey has come to its ending stage. How am I going to make it work, despite all the upcoming challenges awaiting for me?

Somebody reminded me regarding the reality of life:

Esok adalah masa depan
Semalam adalah sejarah
Bagaimana kita menggunakan pengajaran sebagai menongkah masa hadapan?
Menuding jari ke arah orang lain memang mudah
Tetapi, adakah itu akan menyelesaikan segala masalah???
Semasa ada, kita tidak tahu menghargai
Bila ianya tiada, barulah kita tahu kita kehilangan...

Benar, yang patah kan tumbuh dan yang hilang kan berganti. Yang pasti, yang tumbuh dan yang jadi pengganti takkan sama dengan yang pernah kita miliki...

I wish all my friends a Happy New Year. May your life be filled with good health, happiness, and joys.
Remember, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

Results from the analyses of interviews (Chapter Six)

The mission at writing my Chapter Six was accomplished at 1pm on 21st December 2010!!! Yeeehaaaa... And, what a chapter it turned out to be. Comprising 97 pages with four major headings, I think it's gonna be OK. The best part of it was the fact that I managed to complete the chapter a week earlier than its deadline. So, I planned to do a thorough self-editing and I hope I can improve its current quality! However, I have made a promise to myself that I will do this self-editing task after I had a really good break during Christmas Holidays... Ho! Ho! Ho! Self-reward is an important strategy to energise myself. So, I will now go to the EzyDVD store and rent some good movies and I will make my shopping list to enjoy the Christmas Sale!!!

Have fun and live life to the fullest. After all, it is only a PhD.

Communicating My Research (Part Two)

Believe it or not, but I have presented six papers in the year 2010 and another two were just completed! With these presentations, I think I have communicated my research to a wide range of audience among the academic community. Below is a list of references based on these publications/presentations:

2010:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, November). Barriers and challenges in the practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the Victorian Counselling College State Conference 2010, The Treacy Centre, Melbourne.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, November). Undertaking a mixed methods research: Issues, challenges, and lessons learnt from a PhD journey. Paper presented at the MERC Collaborative Colloquium, Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, August). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: progress report. Paper presented at the Psychology PhD Student Seminar 2010, Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). A national survey of multicultural counseling competency in Malaysia: preliminary analyses. Paper presented at the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010), Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Australia.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). Professional counsellors' experiences and perceptions of multicultural counselling in Malaysia: A qualitative examination. Paper presented at the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology 2010 (ICAP2010), Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Australia.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., & Simmonds, J. (2010, July). Malaysian counsellors engaging with culture and diversity in counselling culturally different clients. Paper presented at the XXth Congress of the International Association for Cross Cultural Psychology (IACCP), The University of Melbourne, Australia.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2010, July). Journeying towards becoming a multiculturally competent counsellor: From practice to research and vice-versa. Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2010 (A Research Odyssey), Faculty of Education, Monash University Clayton Campus.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., Muhamad, H., Sailin, S. N., Zakaria, N., Ali, M., & Amit, N. (2010, May). Malaysia higher education system: current issues, challenges, and hopes. Paper presented at the MERC Global Education Systems Day 2010 (theme: Higher education; current issues and challenges), Monash University Clayton Campus.

2009:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, November). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counseling in Malaysia: A preliminary analysis. Paper presented at the MERC Emerging Researcher Open Seminar (EROS), Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, July). Respecting diversity: Becoming multiculturally competent counsellors in Malaysia. Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2009, Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R., Muhamad, H., & Ali, M. (2009, June). Malaysia education system: Challenges and hopes. Paper presented at the MERC Global Education Systems Day 2009.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, June). Annual Progress Report: Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the Residential School Psychology Presentation 2009, Krongold centre, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, May). Professional counsellors' understanding and practice of multicultural counselling in Malaysia. Paper presented at the PhD Confirmation Seminar, Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2009, January). PhD Progress Report on Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive in Malaysia. Paper presented at the PhD Psychology Students Seminar 2009, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton.

2008:

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, October). Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive counselling: A mixed methods study. Paper presented at the Malaysian Post Graduate Round Table Forum 2008, Monash University, Caulfield Campus.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, July). Cultural competence in counselling practice and training of counsellors in Malaysia: Are we there yet? Paper presented at the MERC Annual Conference 2008 (Education: New Horizons), Faculty of Education, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008, July). Developing a Malaysian-based model of culture-sensitive counselling: A mixed methods study. Paper presented at the Psychology Residential Presentation 2008, Krongold Centre, Monash University.

Aga Mohd Jaladin, R. (2008). Pendidikan kaunselor di Malaysia: Cabaran dan harapan [Counsellor education in Malaysia: Challenges and hopes]. In N. Idris & Nik Azis Nik Pa (Eds.), Perjuangan memperkasakan pendidikan di Malaysia: Pengalaman 50 tahun merdeka (pp. 466-490). Kuala Lumpur: Utusan Publications & Distributions Sdn Bhd.

The time has come for me to concentrate on writing my thesis and perhaps even try at writing for Publication. Who knows? I may learn something throughout the journey…

Moving forward: The road to become a competent helper!