Trauma Support Providers

Professional Biography

Background: 19 years experience in Mental Health counselling including:
working with torture/trauma survivors (refugees) with ASETTS in Perth - (1998-2000); Individual and group work with families specifically experiencing postnatal depression (PND) anxiety and transition to parenthood issues - Coordinator ‘Bouncing Back Group Program’ for PND and Anxiety with WA Country Health Service, Albany (2001-2014); Counselling work with clients with a wide range of mental health disorders - Social Worker with Community Mental Health Service, Albany (2001-2011).

Private Practice Therapeutic Counselling (2011- present):
Current Areas of work include: DVA Contract: (working with veterans and their families with mental health issues). Mental health issues - specialising in anxiety and depression and also mental health in the perinatal period (during pregnancy and afterward in the transitioning to parenthood);
Couples counselling, relationships and parenting/attachment work, domestic violence;
Workplace issues such as harassment, discrimination, stress and relationship / communication difficulties;
Clinical supervision for professional and other workers in care based industries.

Therapeutic Framework: My basic premise when counselling is that first and foremost I relate to each client on a level of connecting with another human being from a loving, accepting position, not from a professional expert model which sees the client as different in any way to myself. I am quite task focused in approach when required and give clients practical tools to take away and apply to their situation in between counselling sessions. I use a range of therapeutic interventions depending on the presenting case. In brief some of these commonly include: Attachment theory, such as the Circle of Security intervention and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) for relationships, parent-child attachment, general parenting issues and family trauma. For trauma and mental illness in general I may use affect regulation work, Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), also Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Short Term Solution Focused Therapy. For couples work, where applicable, I may use Imago Relationship Therapy and a range of other tools and therapies around communication and self-esteem work. I use basic Transactional Analysis principles, that clients can understand, for everything.

Client Types

• Adult
• Couple
• Family
• Groups
• LGBTIQ