My Approach
Who I work with
I provide individual therapy for adults, both face-to-face in Sydney and online via telehealth.
People come to therapy for many different reasons. Some have a very clear problem they want to work on. Others simply know that something isn’t quite right and want some help making sense of it.
I regularly work with people experiencing anxiety, depression, problems with alcohol or other addictive behaviours, relationship difficulties, and longstanding emotional or behavioural patterns.
Whatever brings you to therapy, we’ll begin by trying to understand your particular experience rather than assuming that the same approach works for everyone.
How we’ll work together
I like therapy to have some structure, while still leaving plenty of room for conversation and exploration.
First, we understand what's happening
Often, several things are happening at once.
We'll spend some time getting a clear picture of what you've been experiencing, what has been happening in your life, and what you would most like to change.
Sometimes, simply making sense of the problem is an important part of therapy.
Then we decide what matters most
You may have several things you'd like to work on. We'll decide together where it makes most sense to begin.
This helps therapy stay focused on the things that are most important to you.
We develop a plan together
Once we understand the problem, we can start looking at what might help.
That might involve learning practical skills, changing particular behaviours, examining patterns of thinking, understanding emotional responses, exploring relationships, or looking more deeply at experiences that have shaped the way you respond today.
We understand the patterns
One of the things I find most useful about psychology is that it can help us understand why apparently confusing behaviours actually make sense.
There is usually a reason we've learned to respond in a particular way.
Together, we'll look at the thoughts, emotions, behaviours, relationships and experiences that may be contributing to the problem.
The aim isn't simply to put a label on what you're experiencing. It's to develop an understanding that is useful to you.
We practise doing things differently
Insight is valuable, but ultimately therapy needs to make a difference outside the consulting room.
We'll identify changes that you can begin making in everyday life and pay attention to what happens when you try them.
Some changes happen relatively quickly. Others take time and practice.
We keep checking what's working
Therapy isn't a rigid program.
We'll regularly talk about what's helping, what's not, what has changed, and whether our priorities need to shift.
The plan can evolve as you do.
The psychology behind my approach
My work is grounded in evidence-based psychological therapy.
I draw primarily on behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), as well as schema therapy, motivational interviewing and transactional analysis where appropriate.
Different approaches offer different ways of understanding a problem. Rather than trying to fit every person into one particular model, I draw on the approaches that seem most useful for the person sitting in front of me.
If you’re interested in the psychology behind what we’re doing, I’m always happy to explain it. I find that many people benefit from understanding not just what we’re doing in therapy, but why we’re doing it.