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What I believe

I believe that you can change your life for the better

  

In life, bumps in the road happen

And sometimes the bump is a huge block in the road

  

It can feel like we will never get better

It can feel like our dreams will never come true

  

Sometimes the bump in the road is caused by other people

Sometimes it's our own stuff that gets in the way

It can be both

  

Together we can explore bumps and road blocks in a safe way

We can be curious about their origins and triggers

And together we can find helpful ways to cope and heal

How it all began

​I never planned to be a psychologist.  It was when I came to my bump in the road, a knee injury in the 1980s, that I started my journey towards becoming a psychologist.  I tried many forms of physical therapy and the knee problem persisted.  I searched for answers.  I persisted until there was a real "aha" moment—I realised my mind and  body are connected.  And the stress of a high presssure job was affecting my knees.

  

After many wrong turns in the road, I found Hakomi and Sensorimotor Psychotherapy in the 1990s.  These approaches were about the whole person—body, mind, emotions and spirit.  Working at all these levels, I have learnt to deal with stress and overcome the problems with my knees.  The occasional niggle reminds me to check in on my stress levels.

    

This is where my lifelong interest in understanding the foundations of healing and wellbeing began and, in 1999, I became a registered psychologist.

   

Much of my 15 years working in NSW Health was providing support to whose who had experienced abuse and/or sexual assault.  It also included working with the impact of childhood experiences involving dysfunctional family patterns.  Patterns which tended to play out in people's current relationships as adults.

  

When it was time to move into private practice, I knew I wanted to continue discovering more about the connection between the body and mind.  This led to further study of the third and final level of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.  Some celebrations are now in order. In July 2016, as part of the first Australian training, I became a Certified Advanced Practitioner of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

My experience

Studying psychology was important to ensure my work had a solid foundation.  While it was important to study evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, I really wanted to further explore what makes therapy effective.  The importance of the therapeutic relationship is consistently found to be a key contributor.  This is about feeling safe, trust, feeling you are being heard, knowing your therapist understands and can help guide you to positive change.  This was why I was attracted to Sensorimotor Psychotherapy because the therapeutic relationship is at the heart of the approach.

                

In 1996, I completed my Psychology Honours and went on to study a combined PhD/Master of Clinical Psychology degree.  My PhD thesis was an analysis of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.  I wanted to see if the existing research database could provide answers about how Sensorimotor Psychotherapy might work.  My thesis received praise for "opening sophisticated reflection on body-mind therapies".

            

The most important thing in my client work is being with the client and working with their experience.  Therapy is not an academic exercise.  It is not just about technique.  It is a space where I am present to help you.  And I bring a wealth of knowledge to back this up.

   

Just a little bit more about me.  When I left school, I had no idea about what I wanted to do.  I ended up falling into an information technology job and I found I enjoyed making programs work.  Then I got promoted and found I had to learn to deal with the problems created by people.  This created my initial interest in understanding what makes people tick.  And those years in the corporate sector made me aware of the kind of issues facing people in the workforce.

  

My home page gives specific details of my qualifications and training.

For an appointment, call me on

0403 136 398

  

If you would like me to call you, SMS me or fill in this form

For those of you looking for a Chinese speaking therapist, English is my first and only language.

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