Practitioners FAQs
Psychologists with Provisional Registration
All Psychologists are registered with the Psychology Board of Australia, which ensures they’ve met high standards in education, training, supervised practice, ethical and professional standards, and ongoing professional development.
A Psychologist with provisional registration is someone who has;
a) completed 5 years of tertiary psychology qualifications (study, placements & research) and is undertaking a final year of ‘on the job’ supervised practice, or
b) completed 4 years of tertiary psychology qualifications (study, placements & research) and is undertaking two years of ‘on the job’ supervised practice.
After supervised practice, psychologists with provisional registration who have successfully completed requirements are eligible to apply for their general Psychologist registration. Medicare Rebates
About Our Practitioners
Emma Clarris - Principal Psychologist
Emma Clarris is an endorsed Clinical and Counselling Psychologist with extensive experience in individual and group counselling. She has tertiary qualifications in Law, Masters Degrees in Counselling and Clinical Psychology, Criminology (Forensic Psychology), Taxation and was a practising lawyer for several years before becoming a psychologist. As such, she brings a diverse background to her work. She is also a trained Coach and has written several coaching programs in the areas of leadership and employment services.
Emma’s counselling philosophy is based on offering the individual an alternative approach to common interventions, giving them the opportunity to understand and confront their own self-imposed barriers, build resilience and implement a long-term plan that produces lasting change. Her approach is founded in humanistic and psychodynamic principles but utilises a solution focussed, positive psychology philosophy to bring about results.
With significant experience in the public service, private industry and the larger non-government organisational sphere, Emma has worked with clients from a diverse range of backgrounds and issues including depression, anxiety, relationship breakdown, addiction, complex trauma, grief & loss, workplace stress, as well as career and life transition.
Erica Patrick
Erica Patrick is a registered psychologist with a master’s degree in counselling psychology. She uses a holistic and integrative approach to therapy, including interpersonal therapy (IPT) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Erica is a caring empathic who uses a collaborative approach and makes sure that progress is consistent. She helps her clients achieve better relationships with themselves and other important people in their life. Erica has a special interest in anxiety, depression, relationship issues, life transitions, self-esteem, stress and coping in the workplace, adolescent, and exam preparation.
Erica is also an advocate of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) which incorporates mindfulness/relaxation practices as well as restructuring the negative, self-sabotaging thoughts which control us. Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) is also utilised in her psychological consultations which involves practicing being present in the moment especially with strong emotions one may feel.
Erica will specifically help you achieve better relationships with yourself and other important people in your life. This is possible through accepting yourself and letting go of the past. Specifically healing past insecure attachments, and childhood issues. Erica specialises in anxiety, depression, relationship issues, life transitions, self -esteem, stress and coping in the workplace, adolescence and exam preparation.
Erica can also help with the symptoms with IBS and uses gut -directed hypnotherapy for this. Medicare rebates available with a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP.
Teresa Maiolo
Teresa is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker. She has been dedicated to offering high quality psychological support in the clinical mental health field for over 35 years, both within the public and private sectors. In her various roles as a Social Worker, a Psychotherapist and Family Therapist, Theresa has worked with children, adolescents and adults utilising a broad variety of therapeutic platforms to cater to the individual needs of her clients. Through the extensive experience and knowledge, Teresa has accumulated a practical and theoretical depth of understanding about human behaviour and psychological development. Teresa works with clients experiencing depression, anxiety stress, trauma, conflict and loss. Her specific areas of interest are; boding and attachment, stages of development, trauma, family of origin issues and life transitions. Teresa is a deeply committed to building warm, trusting and collaborative therapeutic relationships with her clients, as they aspire to develop more positive, meaningful and sustainable changed in their lives. She currently works with adults ranging from 18 years old upwards. Teresa also offers counselling in Italian. Medicare rebates available with a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP.
Bernadette Crompton
Bernadette Crompton is a psychologist holding a Master of Professional Psychology. With a varied background, Bernadette has worked as a tertiary Educator, Counsellor, Professional Coach, and Business Manager. Her qualifications include a Master of Social Science (Human Services Counselling), a Master of Business Administration, and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in coaching and mentoring.
Bernadette works with clients experiencing depression, generalised anxiety, social anxiety, and binge eating disorder. She helps clients find alternatives to emotional eating and unhealthy lifestyles. She has worked extensively with clients faced with grief, loss, and bereavement, and those wanting to navigate career change and transition through the life-span to find new meaning and purpose. Bernadette assists clients through stressful situations such as changes in employment, financial pressures, and relationship difficulties.
With a warm and empathic style, Bernadette ensures she understands client’s needs and collaboratively tailors treatment and interventions to help them reach their goals. She utilises a range of approaches including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Mindfulness, and Positive Psychology. Bernadette aims to provide clients with a safe and supportive therapeutic space, and welcomes feedback about their experience of working with her.
Amy Shah
Amy is a registered psychologist who holds a Masters in Professional Psychology. She is also a registered counsellor with a Masters in Counselling. Amy uses an Integrative Approach in working with her clients with an aim to build a supportive, non-judgmental, empathetic and safe space for her clients to be comfortable to share and explore their concerns. Amy believes that each individual has the capacity to overcome their difficulties and therapeutic work is a process that can support people recognise and use their capabilities. With a collaborative approach she works with the client to empower them, create clarity, insight, and a lasting change. Amy values openness and encourages her clients to provide feedback regarding the sessions. Amy provides crisis support and therapy to people (CALD backgrounds) going through mental health issues, relationship breakdown, suicide/self-harm prevention, workplace harassment, domestic/family violence and also providing support when people are looking for direction in life, or going through a difficult phase in their lives. Amy uses a wide range of modalities in her therapy work: Existential therapy; Person Centered Therapy; Solution Focused Brief Therapy; Acceptance Commitment Therapy; Mindfulness; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Amy offers counselling in Hindi & Gujarati as well as English.
Areas of focus: Abuse, Alcohol and other drugs addictions (AOD), Anger Management, Anxiety and phobias, Behaviour Problems, Conflict Resolution, Crisis management, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, Employee Assistance Program, General Counselling, General Psychology, Life Coaching, Life Transition and Adjustment Issues, Men's issues, Mental health, Psychotherapy, Self-Esteem and Self-Development, Self-Harm, Shyness & social skills deficits, Suicide, Work Related Issues, Depression, Eating disorders, Couples Therapy
Client focus: Adults, Older adults, Women, Men, People with disabilities, Culturally and linguistically diverse communities, LGBTIQ
Medicare rebates are available with a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP.
Alessiah
Alessia is a registered Psychologist with experience conducting assessments and delivering treatment in both clinical and forensic settings. Alessia utilises an eclectic approach in therapy, drawing on components of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Schema Therapy and Psychodynamic Therapy to work with clients towards building self-awareness to instil meaningful and sustainable change, leading to improved quality of life. Alessia is warm, non-judgemental, empathic, supportive, and curious in her work, ensuring the therapeutic space is safe and nurturing for clients to be able to speak openly and explore their challenges.
Through a strong focus on a client's life story and understanding the experiences that have made us who we are today, Alessia encourages the use of this journey to reflect on clients’ views of themselves, others, and the world around them, allowing for a deeper insight into one’s innermost needs. Alessia is passionate about identifying needs, assumptions, and expectations that derived from early life experiences, and finds value in utilising this knowledge to assist clients in moving forward in a healthy, productive, and values-driven manner.
Areas of focus: Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) addictions, emotion regulation, anxiety and phobias, depression, life transition and adjustment issues, self-esteem and self-development, mood disorders, trauma, grief and loss, and relationship difficulties.
Client focus: Individual sessions for adolescents aged 16+ and adults.
Tim Slingsby
Tim is a registered psychologist with a diverse personal and professional background that allows him to bring an informed, personalised, and compassionate approach to therapy. Alongside drawing from Interpersonal Therapy, Attachment Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Internal Family Systems Therapy, Tim has training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and is an accredited meditation teacher. Tim works collaboratively with his clients to help them understand themselves and the way they view the world. From here clients can develop skills to approach concerns with a new sense of self-kindness and openness. Utilising a non-violent communication based approach, Tim helps clients develop better communication and deeper relationships through understanding and expressing needs and boundaries of themselves and others.
Working from a compassionate, trauma informed angle Tim sees that we often develop behaviours and beliefs as a way of protecting ourselves from stress and overwhelm. Working with clients to understand that while these beliefs and behaviours may serve to protect us, they can also severely limit our ability to feel content, or confident enough to grow, is an important part to helping clients develop a deeper understanding of why they behave the way we do. From this point, clients can cultivate self-compassion, reduce shame and more effectively make change. It is important to Tim that a sense of safety and trust is established between therapist and client so that a stable base and strong working alliance can be built. From there, when the client feels safe to explore and challenge the way they view the world, real change can be made.
Tim has worked with a diverse range of people and welcomes new clients of any gender, age or sexual orientation.
Darren Besansko
Qualifications Diploma Transpersonal Counselling; Grad Diploma of Student Welfare; Diploma of Education; Master of Engineering (Electrical); Cert IV Training and Assessment
Darren is an Australian Counselling Association accredited counsellor with both a diploma in transpersonal counselling and completing a graduate diploma in counselling and psychotherapy. He uses a holistic and person centred approach to therapy including psychodynamic work, mindfulness practice, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Darren has a grounded and supportive approach that allows clients to explore deeply and make decisions that lead toward a more meaningful life. He provides space for emotional, spiritual and physical aspects to help in the process of personal growth so you can release more of your potential. Darren has a strong interest in mens mental health from adolescence onward and significant experience contributing to the personal development of men, including small group settings. In particular Darren has experience with general life issues, anxiety, exam stress, grief, bad habits, relationships, managing change and surviving in the workplace. You will find Darren offers genuine care, holds hope for the future, is very intuitive and possesses a wisdom well beyond his years.
Tamara Powell
Tamara is an empathic and compassionate therapist who supports people to reach their potential. With a safe and connected relationship, she empowers people to explore and reflect on their experience of their world, and its impact on wellbeing. She believes that clients are experts in their lives and through the cultivation of insight can increase resilience, self-compassion and management of difficult thoughts and emotions.
Tamara’s takes a holistic approach, recognising the complex ways intersectional and structural factors impact mental health and wellbeing. As a result of examining these factors, clients can develop a more comprehensive understanding of themselves, their experiences and relationships. Tamara has extensive experience working with individuals, families and carers across the lifespan including preparation for death. Her work has included roles in community health, education and carer services, providing her with a broad range of skills and knowledge about the human experience. Tamara has worked with people who experience disability, live with chronic illness, have mental health issues, who are ageing and those who are bereaved.
Tamara utilises a number of modalities in her client work, including Compassionate Inquiry, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) strategies, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Mindfulness and Narrative Therapy interventions.
Amanda Beattie
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker
Mandy Beattie is a warm and empathic therapist with experience of supporting clients across the life span, in public health, community health and in private practice. With a background in psychotherapy, Mandy works with clients to develop a therapeutic relationship and to build a secure base for working towards recovery. Work with each person is collaborative and tasks and goals are agreed, whilst recognising and respecting the singularity of each client and the uniqueness of their experiences and issues. Mandy has experience in helping clients with a wide range of symptoms and issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, stress, grief and loss. Mandy’s practice is integrative with knowledge and experience of a wide range of evidence-based tools, strategies and modalities including Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Mentalization-based Therapy (MBT), Compassion Focussed Therapy (CFT), Psychoeducation, a range of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) strategies and Family Therapy. Mandy works with adults, adolescents (twelve and over) and families.
Areas of focus: Addictions, Adoption, Anger Management, Anxiety, Assertiveness Training, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Behaviour Problems, Bullying, Counselling, Critical Incident Stress Debriefing, Depression, Employee Assistance Program, Family Therapy, Grief and Loss, Life Transition and Adjustment Issues, Menopause, Mental Illness, Panic Attacks, Panic Disorders, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), School Issues, Self-Esteem, Self-Esteem and Self-Development, Self-Harm, Shyness & social skills deficits, Sleep Disorders, Stress, Suicide, Supervision, Teenagers, Trauma, Victim of Crime, Workplace Bullying, Workplace Issues
Client focus: Teenagers; Adults; Families; Older adults; Women; Men; People with disabilities; LGBTIQ
As an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, she is able to offer Medicare rebates with a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP.
Claudia Moratto
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker
Claudia is a warm and compassionate counsellor offering a reflective space for people to explore their relationships and the impact of challenging life experiences on their mental health and wellbeing. She supports people to develop their own capacity for healing and recovery through insight, reflection, skill development and self care.
Claudia is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker providing therapeutic counselling, group work, education and training, and clinical supervision. She has 20 years of experience working with individuals, families and carers with mental health concerns within community health, aged, disability and mental health services, family and carer support services, community palliative care and grief and bereavement services. She has specialist training and expertise in grief and bereavement, particularly complex and traumatic grief.
Claudia uses an person-centred and collaborative approach in working with individuals and families. She combines a range of evidence based psychological counselling for mental health, emotional wellbeing, and personal development including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (ITP), Psychoeducation and Mindfulness based practices.
Medicare rebates are available with a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP.
Simone Dixon
Provisional Psychologist
Simone is a provisional psychologist who has completed a Master of Professional Psychology. Simone works with a collaborative approach, fostering a safe and supportive space to allow clients to explore their concerns. Simone aims to enhance the lives of clients through intervention that is tailored to meet each clients unique needs. Simone uses a range of evidence based treatments including CBT, Motivational Interviewing, solution focussed therapy and mindfulness. Simone’s areas of interests include anxiety and depression, social anxiety, grief and loss, relationship issues, self-esteem, stress, and challenging life transitions. Simone encourages an open relationship where client feedback is welcome.
Tom
Psychologist
Tom is a registered psychologist who is passionate about supporting clients to make sense of their experience. His therapeutic experience encompasses addressing mental health problems, neurodevelopmental conditions, life stress, grief, goal setting and providing psychological assessments and diagnosis. Tom is experienced in helping clients from wide variety of cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations and age groups.
Drawing on person centred, contemporary psychoanalytic, and existential therapeutic perspectives, Tom takes a calm, curious, and collaborative approach to therapy. Tom also utilises modalities such cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, and somatic techniques. Competent in helping with presenting problems including depression, anxiety, trauma, life stress, psychosis, addiction, grief, and personal goals, Tom aims to support clients to develop greater self-awareness and move towards meaningful change.
Services offered: individual psychotherapy (16+), psychological assessment (including NDIS).