Phone: 0455 214 648
About SHEOAK Clinical Psychology
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My family has lived on Eyre Peninsula for six generations. I was born in Cleve, attended kindergarten at Cleve, and spent my childhood growing up on a farm between Cowell and Kimba. After 30 years of living away, but still maintaining my links, I have returned home with my family, and to raise our boys outside of the hustle of the city. We are excited to be a part of the Cleve and Eyre Peninsula community, and to connect more closely with family.
I am committed to providing mental health support to people on Eyre Peninsula to ensure that their access to support is not inhibited by their geographical location. I am invested in getting to know the unique needs of the community and I am keen to connect with the various community groups.
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Areas of Interest
Addiction
Anger
Anxiety
Child Centred Play Therapy
Depression
Emotional turmoil
Gender identity &Â sexuality queries
Grief & loss
Insomnia &Â sleep disturbances
Life transitions
Panic attacks
Parenting
Personal Growth
Phobias &Â fears
Post natal depression
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Psychotherapy
Relationship struggles &Â conflict
Stress &Â burnout
Trauma
Worry &Â rumination
Eligible Clients
Age range: Children, adolescents, adults and older adults
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Modality: Individual, couple, family, group therapy. Systemic liaison.
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All genders, ethnicities, religions, relationship types and sexualities are welcome.
Therapeutic Approaches
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Child Centred Play Therapy
Mentalization Based Treatment (MBT)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
Dialectic Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Psychotherapy – Gestalt
Parenting interventions
Family therapy
Mindfulness
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Telehealth &
telephone sessions
Telehealth Sessions via MS Teams or by telephone. You will be provided with all the support you need to navigate Teams.
A face-to-face service is also available in Cleve, Eyre Peninsula.
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Referral Process: Please contact me by phone, email or through a website query
Self-referral: You are welcome to refer yourself. If you need a Mental Health Care plan, you will need to book in with your GP and obtain a GP referral.
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GPs and other agencies: Please use whatever process fits with your business. Referrals can be submitted by email or online. If you would like more information we can talk by phone.
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Mental Health Care Plan by GP: To meet Medicare requirements, please include Date, Patient's name, Patient's symptoms or diagnosis, a specific request for a Clinical Psychologist to see the patient for a certain number of sessions (max. 6 initially), your signature, and your provider number.
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If you are unsure if this is the service for you, please don't hesitate to contact me and we can work out what might best fit your needs.
Vision, Mission & Values
At SHEOAK Clinical Psychology, my vision is to help strengthen rural communities. Rural communities are the backbone of the country – putting food on our tables, providing an alternative to city living, and nurturing many amazing people. Rural communities deserve to be healthy, and not to be neglected. It’s important that we can retain and attract people – GPs to care for our health needs, teachers to educate our children, hairdressers to keep us looking smart, mechanics to keep us mobile, small business owners to run the shops, people to work in the shops…. and the list goes on. Everyone relies on each other. With a depth of skills and services, our communities can be robust and sustainable. When the services are provided locally, they are attuned to the needs of the community. When one link is weak, the community is at risk.
It’s long been recognised that rural communities are experiencing diminishing access to health services, including mental health. Country people are very adaptable and self-sufficient, but poor mental health has a widespread impact on relationships, intergenerational trauma, functioning, earning an income, physical health, drug and alcohol use, domestic violence, etc. If we can look after our mental health, our communities become stronger.
SHEOAK Clinical Psychology endeavours to offer equitable mental health access to rural and remote communities. It provides assessment and therapy for individuals of all ages, couples, families, and consultation to schools and other agencies. Another important aspect is providing education about mental health issues to the community – how to optimise mental health, how to look out for friends and family who might be suffering, and where to go for help. Most mental health difficulties are ‘episodic’. Episodic means that they are not forever and they will come and go; people will recover. Recovery occurs quicker, and relapse is less likely, when people obtain the care they need. We should not put up with suffering psychologically.
SHEOAK Clinical Psychology is driven by the following values:
COMMUNITY: Stronger communities create stronger people, and stronger people create stronger communities. The best services are those that are embedded in the community that they serve – they know the people, the needs, the challenges, the strengths and there is true investment for the people providing the service. For some individuals, particularly young people and older adults, their mental health is strongly linked to their community and their family. Interventions can occur on a systemic level if the client wishes – involving family members, and agencies such as the school or aged care providers.
EVIDENCE-BASED: Clinical Psychology places a strong emphasis on research to guide practice. This means that we try to use interventions that have been shown to have the best outcomes for treating those specific issues. As a client experiencing hardship, you don’t want to pay someone to intervene in ways that are ‘just made up’. Clinical Psychologists are trained to stay up to date with research. As part of our registration we are required to undertake professional development and training, and to receive expert guidance from another Clinical Psychologists for the duration of our careers.
STRENGTH-FOCUSED: People are incredibly resilient and strong. Individuals and families have their own strengths that help them get through the difficult times. In treatment, it’s important to identify what these strengths are, so they can be drawn on in the recovery process. Even when people's mental health is suffering, they still have many strengths. It's important to also focus on what is going well, along with what is difficult.
EMPOWERING: When people suffer with mental health issues, they can feel and be viewed as ‘weak’, ‘useless’ and a ‘burden’. They can be disempowered, with people taking over in an attempt to help them. At SHEOAK Clinical Psychology, I endeavour to empower my clients by engaging them in the process, taking a strength-focused approach, viewing the client as the expert, and respecting their right to choose their own path.
INTEGRITY: SHEOAK Clinical Psychology aims to operate with utmost integrity. Integrity in terms of protecting confidentiality, respect for clients, operating within professional standards, keeping up to date with research and practice, and providing the best service possible to the community.