Services provided

Appointments are generally for one hour, and you will be seen for about 50-55 minutes. The extra time is devoted to making case notes and other administrative matters. If I should be running late, you will still receive full time.

Psychological services should not be mysterious and it is my aim to reduce any stress you may feel about consulting a Clinical Psychologist. Your initial consultation will begin with getting a description of what is troubling you. I am interested in aspects of your behaviour, thinking, emotions and relationships which are creating difficulties for you now, how these difficulties have developed, and how you have attempted to manage them in the past.

I will discuss with you your understanding of the problem and ways that it may be overcome. I will also try to give you an indication as to how long this might take.

The therapy format I practice will depend upon the concerns that you have. However, I aim for the short-term resolution of problems and I would like to encourage you to make use of “Homework'' between sessions.

This work may involve such things as reading, audio or video tapes, doing structured exercises to identify and change patterns of behaviour, thinking or feeling, keeping a record of events which trigger off the problematic reactions, and the like. This work is a vital part of your therapy program.

One of the aims of therapy is to teach you skills you have not had the chance to learn before, so that you can overcome your problems by using new information and skills in your own life. In a nutshell, the therapeutic contract is that you learn how to solve your problems; my task is to assist you in this endeavour.

I encourage you to take an active role in changing and, if this is something you are not willing to take on, your benefit from therapy may be reduced.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a therapeutic treatment for depression. It focuses upon the social context in which the patient’s depression occurs. With IPT four areas considered are important: 1. Interpersonal Disputes, 2. Role Transitions, 3. Interpersonal Deficits, and 4. Grief.  When someone is treated for depression using this framework, the therapist will ask questions which identify which of these characteristics are impacting on the depression. For example, if someone has experienced significant change in their life, such as recently becoming a single parent, or losing a job, there will be issues concerning the life-changes they have made which are impacting upon their mood.  Typically, the initial consultations assist the client to understand how their depression has developed over time and the important events that have shaped their negative view of their world.

IPT is an empirically validated therapeutic framework which is recognised as one of the accepted treatments for depression, for the purposes of the Better Access program.  I have completed both introductory and advanced training in IPT. It is the dominant psychotherapy format I use for the treatment of depression.  

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy considers that problems develop from the perception of events and how they are processed in thoughts, resulting in the altering of mood.

Therapy is generally short-term and would cover coaching in managing the physical response to anxiety, learning to relax effectively, challenging irrational thought patterns, and dealing with the behaviours that are troubling you.  It often includes homework such as recording thoughts and feelings. 

This type of therapy does not often go into the deep, underlying causes of problems but deals with the ‘here and now’ experiences of your problems. This type of therapy is commonly recommended for problems such anxiety and depression.

Schema Focused Therapy

Schema focused therapy addresses problems which seem to occur in patterns through life, for example, where someone realizes that they keep getting into relationships which end in disaster. Another way to describe schemas is as underlying beliefs that drive our day to day thinking. The therapy looks at how the self-defeating patterns have developed and ways in which you might become aware of and challenge them, when they re-emerge.

This type of therapy is commonly used when problems have existed  since, or developed from, childhood. Examples of problems that this therapy is used for are addiction and relationship problems.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a specialized technique for assisting with traumatic memories. It is based upon the theory that traumatic memories can become stuck, rather than being processed through thought and dreams.  Therefore the process involves focusing upon the troublesome thoughts and images while using replicating rapid eye movement, which occurs during sleep, to facilitate the processing of the memory.  It does not involve hypnosis or any other sort of altered consciousness. 

The underlying mechanism explaining how this works is not well understood. However, there is now a considerable body of research data which support its use under certain circumstances. This type of therapy would be discussed with you in depth before being embarked upon.