Therapy Services

The Bowen Hills Psychology team draw on a number of different frameworks to suit the needs of our clients. These include Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Mindfulness, Emotion-Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), Family Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Motivational Interviewing approaches.

Conditions Treated

Therapy begins with an initial intake assessment, where you meet with your therapist for the first time to discuss the issues that are bringing you in. This intake assessment involves gathering background information and developing treatment goals. Following the intake assessment, your psychologist will provide you with a treatment plan, including timeframes and suggested interventions. The intake assessment also gives you a chance to get to know your psychologist’s particular way of working, to see if it will meet your needs.

Therapy can be short term (10-20 sessions) or long term (30+ sessions) depending on the nature of the difficulty. Short term therapy usually provides symptom relief (e.g. less anxiety, better mood). While longer-term therapy is aimed at a personality change or trauma processing.

All our psychologists complete a minimum of 6 years of training before practising and are registered with the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Therapy Frameworks

We provide psychological services for children, adolescents, adults and couples; drawing on a range of evidence-based frameworks including Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Mindfulness, Schema Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy and Family Therapy. 

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) focuses on how our thinking patterns (cognitions) and our behaviour can influence how we feel and shape our experiences. It uses an explorative approach to elicit unhelpful thoughts and behaviours that contribute to a person’s difficulties and works to find more adaptive ways of thinking, coping, or interacting with others. It is usually a short-term approach that focuses on symptom relief.

CBT is suitable for a range of problems including:

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Psychodynamic psychotherapy encompasses a range of different therapy approaches where the focus is on understanding and becoming aware of thoughts and feelings that were previously outside the person’s conscious, to provide relief from emotional pain. Much of the work is focused on how childhood experiences affect us as adults, in particular the development of self-esteem, coping skills and patterns of interpersonal relating. It is generally a longer-term therapy approach, which focuses on character and personality change as well as symptom relief. 

Psychodynamic psychotherapy may provide clients with:

Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy is an integrative approach that seeks to identify and change groups of beliefs and patterns of interpersonal relating, called schemas, that are causing difficulties in a person’s life. These patterns usually originate in childhood and are often reinforced by negative life experiences. Schema therapy uses cognitive, behavioural and experiential techniques to elicit and shift these schemas into more adaptive ways of relating to oneself or others. It is suitable for those who have been through complex trauma, who wish to change aspects of their personality, or who find themselves in toxic relationship patterns. 

Schema Therapy is suitable for many different difficulties, in particular:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on developing psychological flexibility by using a range of experiential techniques to challenge the power of unhelpful thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.  With a focus on developing present-moment awareness and identification of personal values, ACT aims to improve a person’s quality of life by helping to clarify what is truly important and meaningful to them to promote a rich and meaningful life.

ACT is suitable for a range of problems including:

Emotion-Focused Therapy

Emotion-Focused Therapy is a type of therapy aimed at promoting healthy emotion regulation. Emotions are a valuable information system, however with traumatic experiences this system can become altered. Many people who enter therapy experience either heightened emotions (e.g., excessive anxiety, guilt, or shame) and/or suppression of others (e.g., healthy assertion, joy).
Emotion-focused therapy is based on emotion theory and attachment theory, and can help clients to:

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is an intervention that was originally used to alleviate the distress associated with traumatic memories. It is common for individuals to experiences disruptions or ‘blocks’ to processing traumatic events in the brain, which can make people feel they are ‘reliving’ these events on a daily basis; months or years after the original trauma occurred. EMDR works to remove those blocks, by helping the brain establish new neural pathways when the memories are activated. This is called ‘bilateral stimulation’ and can be achieved with eye movements, audio cues, or sensory stimulation. Your therapist will help you with this in a safe and controlled process when you feel ready. New research is also emerging for the use of EMDR with anxiety disorders, impulse control disorders, and substance misuse.