Do I need help from a psychologist or psychiatrist?

The fields of psychology and psychiatry are often confused.Psychiatrists are GP’s who have completed extensive training to specialise in medications and can prescribe a wide range of medications, whereas psychologists and counsellors don’t.

Psychiatrists are usually not extensively trained in counselling or psychotherapy. If you are wondering if you should see a psychiatrist, your regular GP is the best place to start for a discussion and referral.

Do you teach coping strategies?

Absolutely. You don’t have to be suffering from a mental health concern to seek counselling. Coping skills learned in therapy can empower you to better manage life challenges, such as:

• Anger management
• Assertiveness, boundaries, communication
• Chronic pain management
• Coping with emotions
• Career counselling
• Disability
• Grief and loss
• Life coaching
• Life and work transition
• Relationship issues
• Self-esteem
• Stress
• Student issues
• Transcultural issues
• Women’s issues
• Workplace-related issues

What issues can your psychologist help with?

Our psychologists are trained to deal with almost every possible mental health issue. From our experience, the most common cases are [in alphabetical order]:

• Addictions
• ADHD
• Adult mental health issues
• Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse
• Alcohol and drug use issues
• Anxiety, OCD, panic attacks and phobias
• Attachment difficulties
• Depression and depressive disorders
• Dissociative disorders
• Domestic violence
• Eating disorders
• Emotional, physical and sexual abuse
• Gambling addictions
• Impulse control difficulties
• Peri and post natal depression
• Personality disorders
• PTSD
• Rape and adult sexual assault
• Schizophrenia
• Self-harm
• Sex addictions
• Sleep disorders
• Suicidality
• Trauma, past and present

What are the therapeutic approaches used in your practice?

The emphasis of our work is client focused.

Our mental health therapy is respectfully, collaboratively and sensitively tailored to each client, whether individual, couple or family.

Your psychologist or counsellor will aim to truly understand your issues, and walk beside you. They seek to inspire hope with the goal of a more meaningful life.

We treat you as a person, not as a diagnosis to be treated.

We draw upon a wide range of evidence-based approaches used in the profession:

• ACT – Acceptance and Commitment therapy
• Attachment Theory
• CBT – Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – including it’s many variations
• DBT – Dialectical behaviour therapy
• EFT – Emotionally Focused Therapy
• EFTC – Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples
• EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing
• Gestalt Therapy
• Gottman Family Therapy
• Internal Family Systems
• IPT – Interpersonal Psychotherapy
• Mindfulness
• Narrative Therapy
• Schema Therapy
• Somatic Therapy
• Systems Theory including Bowen Family Systems Theory
• Trauma-informed Therapy