Practice Owner and Principal Psychologist
Bachelor of Psychology, BSc. Psych
Availability: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays – evening appointments available
Carmel is a warm, calm and experienced practitioner who frequently uses metaphor and humour in sessions and teaches self-regulation techniques experientially in an immersive style. Clients leave their sessions feeling noticeably calmer and more grounded. Her goal is to support her clients to maximise their wellness and to successfully teach them ways of maintaining psychological well-being.
Who does Carmel work with?
Carmel has been a registered psychologist since 2009, and is experienced in working with young adults, adults and couples in the areas of anxiety and depression, trauma, PTSD, personality disorders , adjustment issues, cross cultural issues, grief and loss and relationship issues including; affairs, communication difficulties, assisted fertility, loss of intimacy and exit counselling.
What therapies does Carmel offer?
She has been trained in the following evidence based therapeutic modalities: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness, Interpersonal Process Therapy (IPT), Eye Movement Desensitisation and Re-Processing (EMDR), Family therapy, Emotion Focused Couple therapy (EFT). Carmel’s work is informed by attachment and systems theory. Carmel is trained to see clients for short, medium and long-term work.
What is it like to be treated by Carmel?
Carmel is a warm, calm and experienced practitioner. She frequently uses metaphor and humour in session, and teaches self-regulation techniques experientially in an immersive style. Carmel has industry knowledge in several professional sectors. This shared knowledge results in you feeling more at ease earlier in the therapeutic process. You will leave sessions feeling noticeably calmer and more grounded. She frequently sets inter-session tasks to orient your thinking and help you to track your behaviour change.
What guides Carmel’s therapeutic interventions?
She aims to treat the whole person and not just the diagnosis. She listens very carefully to her client’s previous therapeutic experiences to obtain a clear understanding of what has and has not worked for them in previous treatment experiences. She is a passionate believer in psycho-education and takes time to teach new clients about the interplay between the brain, nervous system and environmental factors which impact mental health. She builds an intervention strategy together with her client’s goals, mindful of personality structures, learning styles, life experience and life cycle stages. Her goal for each client is to maximise their wellness and successfully teach them ways of maintaining psychological well-being.
Who are Carmel’s clients?
Carmel’s clients include professional men and women in engineering, mining, medicine, the law, education, commerce, government, other allied health professionals, university students, young emerging professionals, FIFO workers, parents of children with disabilities and couples from all sectors. Many of Carmel’s clients were already familiar with the therapeutic process prior to approaching her for treatment.
Carmel’s clinical experience and background
She completed undergraduate psychology training at Murdoch university and gained a place in the clinical psychology doctoral training program at ECU. Her early research explored the experience of couple relationships within the FIFO context. Carmel’s previous workplace and practicum environments have included: private practice, private hospital sector, not for profit agencies and employee assistance providers (EAP). Carmel began couple therapy training in 2004. Eligible as a Australian Centre for Emotionally Focused Therapy (ACEFT) practitioner.