Clinical Services

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a practical, structured and goal-oriented approach to treatment. It’s built on the idea that your thoughts, feelings and behaviours are deeply interconnected – and that by learning to identify and shift unhelpful thought patterns, you can change how you feel and act. A key principle is that situations don’t cause negative feelings directly; it’s your interpretation of a situation that shapes your emotional response.

Rather than focusing on the past, CBT works on present-day challenges and builds tangible, personalised strategies to address them. It’s a collaborative process – you and your therapist work together as a team.

What to expect

• Learning to spot unhelpful thoughts such as catastrophising or black-and-white thinking

• Examining the evidence behind negative thoughts and developing more balanced, realistic perspectives

• Breaking large goals into manageable steps, gradually confronting feared situations, or testing thoughts through real-world experiments

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a form of psychotherapy focused on building psychological flexibility. Rather than trying to eliminate difficult thoughts or emotions, ACT encourages you to accept them without judgment while committing to actions that align with your personal values. It’s built on six core processes: acceptance, cognitive defusion, being present, self-as-context, values and committed action.

ACT is widely used for the treatment of depression, anxiety, stress and chronic pain.

What to expect

• Learning to observe unhelpful thoughts as passing events rather than absolute truths

• Using mindfulness to stay grounded in the present

• Identifying your core values and setting goals that reflect them, even when things are difficult

Compassion Focused Therapy is designed for people who struggle with high levels of shame and self-criticism. It’s built on the idea of treating yourself with the same warmth and understanding you’d offer someone you care about, helping you build emotional resilience and quieten a harsh inner critic. It draws on the understanding that the human brain regulates emotions through three systems – a threat system that scans for danger, a drive system that motivates achievement, and a soothing system that helps us feel safe and connected. Many people dealing with stress or trauma find their threat system is overactive and their soothing system difficult to access. CFT works to rebalance that.

The goal isn’t to eliminate negative emotions, but to change your relationship with them – approaching pain with courage and curiosity rather than judgment.

What to expect

• Understanding why your mind may default to self-criticism as a protective mechanism

• Guided mindfulness, visualisation and breathing techniques to develop a warmer, less judgmental inner voice

• Practical exercises such as compassionate letter writing and kind self-talk

Schema therapy is an integrative approach that draws from cognitive-behavioural, psychodynamic, attachment and emotion-focused therapies. It’s designed for people with long-standing negative patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving – patterns that often form early in life in response to unmet emotional needs. The therapy works across three interconnected areas: the core beliefs you hold about yourself and the world (schemas), the coping behaviours you’ve developed to protect yourself from those beliefs, and the emotional processing needed to heal unmet needs.

What to expect

• Identifying deep-seated beliefs such as feelings of defectiveness, abandonment or failure

• Exploring self-defeating behaviours like people-pleasing or avoidance, and building healthier alternatives

• Experiential techniques such as imagery rescripting and chair-work to process past emotional wounds

Psychodynamic therapy explores how the unconscious mind, unresolved emotions and early experiences shape the way you think, feel and relate to others today. It also looks at defence mechanisms – unconscious strategies such as avoidance or rationalisation that we use to manage anxiety or emotional distress. By bringing suppressed feelings to the surface, you can develop deeper self-awareness, resolve internal conflicts and shift unhelpful patterns.

Psychodynamic therapy is best suited to people who want to understand the root causes of their struggles rather than focus on immediate symptom relief. Sessions are typically unstructured, giving you space to speak freely and follow what feels most pressing.

What to expect

• Open-ended conversation that allows patterns and themes to emerge naturally

• Connecting past experiences to current emotional or relational difficulties

• Building a safe, trusting therapeutic relationship as the foundation for deeper exploration

EMDR is a structured, evidence-based therapy designed to help the brain reprocess traumatic or distressing memories. Rather than working through trauma by talking about it in detail, EMDR uses bilateral stimulation – guided eye movements, hand-tapping or audio cues – to help unblock memories that haven’t been properly processed and stored. As the emotional intensity of a memory reduces, the negative beliefs attached to it can shift toward more adaptive ones.

EMDR follows an eight-phase structure, beginning with history-taking and preparation before moving into active reprocessing. Sessions typically last between 60 to 90 minutes and are usually scheduled weekly at first, with frequency reviewed as you progress. More detail on the process and the underlying research is available through the EMDR Association of Australia.

What to expect

• A preparation phase to ensure you have the coping skills needed before reprocessing begins

• Bilateral stimulation while briefly focusing on a distressing memory, belief or physical sensation

• Gradual reduction in the emotional charge of traumatic memories across sessions

Circle of security is an evidence-based, reflective program designed to help caregivers understand and support their children’s emotional and attachment needs. This program shifts the focus from managing behaviour to understanding what our children’s behaviour communicates. The program is typically delivered by trained facilitators over 8 to 10 weeks, either in small groups or on-on-one sessions and can be integrated into individual treatment approaches.

More detailed information on the program can be found through the Circle of Security website.

What to expect

• Video examples and a visual Circle of Security map to identify your child’s needs

• Addressing personal triggers through self-reflection: identifying the hidden, unconscious emotional triggers from your own past that can disrupt how you respond to your child in stressful moments.

• Embracing “good enough” parenting.  The program normalises the everyday challenges of raising children and emphasises that perfection isn’t the goal.  Instead it focuses on how to repair miscommunications and effectively meet your child’s needs.