Services are provided to youth and adults.

You can expect professional treatment for the following issues:

• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• trauma
• anxiety (including generalised, performance, social anxiety)
• depression
• same sex issues
• parenting issues
• adjustment to new culture
• work and study-related stress at school, TAFE or university
• self-esteem and self-confidence
• managing personal relationships at work, home or school
• harm caused by chronic pain or abuse
• trauma counselling for victims of crime and family violence (VOCAT)
• counselling support and strategies for carers
• meditation and relaxation workshops

Note: My practice does not include TAC, WorkCover, Insurance reports or medico-legal services: nor do I specialize in expert witness testimony for legal proceedings.

Treatment and Therapy Approaches:
Joan has training and qualifications in:

• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
• Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Process Experiential Emotion Focused Therapy (PEEFT)
• Buddhist Psychotherapy

Special Interests:
Joan’s professional interests are related to the use of positive psychological approaches that use people’s own innate strengths. These approaches help people to apply moderate, practical and strength based skills to problems faced.

While trained in cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) preferred by some organisations, generally, I prefer to use positive therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help free people from self-limiting thoughts and painful memories, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to prevent relapse of depression and reduce reactivity or Buddhist Psychotherapy where people swing between two unsatisfactory or unsustainable extremes. These all help to apply moderate, practical and strength based skills to problems faced.

Therapeutic treatment approaches briefly explained :

• Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been used successfully to prevent relapse of depression and to reduce reactivity.
• Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) aims to help people deal better with interpersonal relationships and the depressive symptoms arising from what is currently going on in their lives.
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help to free people from self-limiting thoughts and painful memories.
• Buddhist Psychotherapy is helpful where people swing between two unsatisfactory or unsustainable extremes and is culturally sensitive to the belief system and philosophy of some Asian cultures.