I am registered to practice as a psychologist in Australia. I have qualifications and supervised experience in clinical practice and hold the endorsement of Clinical Psychology (an endorsement means that a psychologist has additional qualifications and supervised experience in an area of practice) with the National Registration Board. I am a Board-approved supervisor, and I am eligible to provide supervision to provisional psychologists and clinical psychologist registrars.
I am an active panel hearing member for misconduct for the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
My tertiary education includes a Bachelor of Science-Minor in Sexology-2001; Bachelor of Science (Psychology)-2002 Honors-Curtin University of Technology. Curtin University for a Master of Psychology - Clinical (2005). My master’s thesis topic was on Aussie Optimism.
I have worked full-time as a clinical psychologist in Youth Justice including the youth detention centre. In this role, I have gained extensive experience in child development, substance abuse, forensic psychology, mental illness, welfare issues, sexual abuse issues and sex offender treatment, suicide, and other specialist areas.
I worked full time for five years in the evidence-based program, multi-systemic therapy (MST). This therapy is a well-established intervention for juvenile delinquents and/or adolescents showing social, emotional, and behavioural problems. This model of therapy focuses on the systems in a child’s life and most interventions are targeted at the caregivers.
I held the position of Principal Psychologist for Youth Justice. In this role, I was responsible for the clinical governance across the psychological teams in both community, regional and detention centres. I have a strong focus on ethical practice.
The appropriate allocation, training and quality of Court reports were under my responsibility with over 300 reports a year being requested by the Children’s Court. These included assessments of youth, adults and their families.
Suicide risk assessment and management of violence was an important part of the justice role. I have extensive experience in the risk assessment of youth and adults. I have particular expertise and training in regard to violence risk assessment, both Family Violence and general violence risk assessment. This includes using evidenced-based assessment tools to assess the risk of violent re-offending(predictive) in adults (Violence Risk Scale-VRS) and in youth an assessment of risk factors that may underpin future offending (Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in youth- SAVRY). I am trained in using the Westerman Aboriginal Symptom Checklist for Adults (WASC-A) and Youth (aged 13-17 Years, WASC-Y) to assess for mental health issues, suicidality and cultural resilience.
I left the public service as a senior clinical psychologist and have been practising as a consultant, trainer and practitioner. I have completed numerous Autism assessments based on the DSM 5 criteria. I have an interest in weight loss and have conducted bariatric assessments to support weight loss surgery.
I joined Mindstate Psychology in August 2021 as a senior psychologist. Previous to this role I have worked in private practice delivering evidenced-based counselling, assessments for the Family Court, workers compensation reports and a supervisor of registrars. I have continued to write pre-sentence reports for the Department of Justice. My skill set is a good fit for Midstate which includes the treatment of regular clients, EMDR, family and couples work and forensic assessments. I have been in part-time private practice since 2011 in addition to my full-time work.
Previously I was a consultant clinical psychologist, for PATCHES Paediatrics across Western Australia and the Northern Territory working across a developmental age of young children to adults. This involved work with Indigenous people across the state and included assessment and advice on foetal alcohol syndrome.
On an occasional basis, I have lectured/training on specialist forensic topics at UWA. I have also delivered specialist training to community agencies such as HOPE across the state and other government departments such as the Department of Child Protective and Family Services.
Through experience and training, I have obtained specialist knowledge in the area of assessment. I have completed a Specialist Certificate in Criminology (adult sex offender management) through the University of Melbourne (2014). In my work with offenders, I have interviewed more than 300 juvenile offenders, completed over 300 comprehensive psychological assessments of juveniles (majority included assessment of their families), and I have completed comprehensive assessments of adults, for the various courts of Western Australia. I have a particular interest in sex offenders, Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), personality disorders and other forms of serious offending. I also have a particular interest in family systems work and couple counselling.
I have conducted assessments of various cognitive factors(identification of neurological disorders such as FASD, personality disorders and differential diagnosis etc.) of children across the developmental ages (2 years and above, adolescents and adults.
I have completed assessments on children, youth and adults for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). I have a working understanding of a range of disabilities including ADHD and ASD.
I have also conducted criminal injuries compensation assessments and immigration assessments. This has involved assessing trauma and PTSD.
As part of my professional development, I have attended numerous training courses and seminars. Among the more significant courses are Eye-Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing-EMDR (2021). I have attended a three-day train the trainer-Person Brain -Hopeful Brain by Dr Paul Baker. This course focused on understanding the changes in the brain with traumatised youth and how to intervene more effectively.
I have completed a two-day Parenting Capacity course by Kirstin Bouse (2019) wherein I learnt how to do care and protection assessments. I am having individual training and supervision in the area of Family Court assessment under the direction of Dr Phil Watts.
I have completed 30 hours of training as a Parent Coordinator (Pacifica Congress) and full day training in Reportable Intensive Family Therapy (Dr Jenni Neoh)
I am current with the Professional Development training requirements of the APHRA which requires that I attend training relevant to my expertise.
I am actively involved in professional training and community education. I have been a part of the Curtin University Course Advisory Committee and the Edith Cowan University Course Advisory Committee for over five years.
I have been involved in conducting training presentations locally, nationally, and internationally. The following is not a complete list but reflect some highlights. These presentations include; presentations to the judiciary on psychological practices when working with youth; A round table presentation on Youth Who Sexually Offend: What do we know? Presentation delivered at the 8th International Conference for FASD- Canada; Presentation delivered at the Inaugural Children's Court Practitioner training on the impact of FASD and the justice -the assessment process; Presentation delivered at the conference for the prevention of child abuse and neglect; Training delivered to Youth Justice team leaders and staff on managing suicide risk in the community and the development of safety plans; Presentation to Parent Support and Child Protection staff on working with youth who sexually offend; WACOSS presentation MST Striving to Achieve Consilience in Collaboration; Co-presented with Dr Carmela Pestell at the 8th Annual Conference for FASD in Vancouver on FASD and the Justice System; delivered training for working with challenging families -1 day workshop.
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