Over the past 20 years, I've been using my psychological background in various roles. Much of my early years of practice was focused on families and young people, working with families ‘at risk’, young people experiencing difficulties transitioning from primary to high school and supporting prisoners and their families during their incarceration. From there, I worked as a drug and alcohol counsellor for 4 years and for 7 years, I was a torture and trauma specialist counsellor and Coordinator at ASeTTS, working exclusively with refugees, asylum seekers and newly arrived entrants who had experienced torture and trauma.

Speech Pathology has the ability to help people in so many different ways. I didn’t know this when I started my training, but it has kept me in the field for many years now. Life can be tricky at times. I’ve discovered the key to working through the tricky bits is to surround myself with people who listen, understand what I’m experiencing, and can help me work out a plan with me for how I can grow and improve. This underlies the approach I take in everything I do. I aim to listen to what is going on in your life, and to work with you to identify what parts I can assist with to make your life better. Speech Pathology has given me many rewarding and valuable experiences that I enjoy giving and sharing with others. Some areas I particularly enjoying working in include assisting non/low verbal children to communicate, improving social skills and social interactions, improving speech clarity and articulation, helping children with meal time difficulties and helping families to have more enjoyable and positive interactions with their child. I also really enjoy supporting and nurturing other health professionals to be more confident and successful versions of themselves, The work that I do is heavily relationship based, and finding the right match or fit for each individual I believe is critical for the success everyone is wanting. Part of being true to my beliefs, is to be honest and transparent in all my actions, and if we are not the best fit I will support you to identify what other options are available that may be a better fit for you. Through positive relationships we can tackle some of the more tricky parts of your journey, and through that is where and how we achieve our goals. Sometimes it will be fun and appear easy, but there are also times when it will be tough. What you can always expect of me is to be there, supporting, nurturing, guiding, and celebrating the small achievements with you through that journey. I have a bachelor of science in Speech Pathology from Curtin University. I have worked in the field for over 20 years in Private and Not for Profit settings holding various clinical, management, and executive roles during these times. I am very passionate about supporting people with a disability to flourish in their lives and I have made it the focus of my career. I’ve focused my entire working life to assisting children and their families, supporting children with disabilities and developmental delays. Outside of work I am a father of 2 teenage children and a keen basketball coach. Basketball provides me with another avenue for helping children to develop and grow as healthy and confident members of our community. When not at basketball I find relaxation in working around my home and enjoy getting on the tools to build, construct, or restore things around the home.

I approach therapeutic work in a genuine, warm and non-judgemental manner. I believe that every person I work with is unique, and enjoy forming genuine relationships to support people in reaching their goals, and experience fulfillment in their life and relationships. I appreciate the diversity in providing support to people of all ages and life stages, and have experience in working with children, adolescents, adults, and families within community mental health and private practice settings. I offer support to people experiencing depression and low mood, interpersonal problems and difficulties with relationships, anxiety and stress, challenges related to personality disorders, low self-esteem or self-worth, emotion dysregulation, adjustment and transition issues, and trauma recovery. I am also very passionate about supporting and working with LGBTQIA+ people, and culturally and linguistically diverse clients. I work with a range of client centered therapeutic approaches which are relational and emotion focused, including: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT). I feel that effective therapy involves more than just talking about problems, and adopt a practical and solutions-focused approach to supporting people in reaching treatment goals. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with friends and family, walking in nature, boardgames, cooking, and exploring WA as a relatively new resident. If you feel that I can be of assistance to you or your family, please contact me at the practice on 6381 0071.

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and a bit about my background. My name is Sophia and I am a Clinical Psychologist at PHC. I’m a friendly and approachable person and most people find that I’m pretty straight down the line; what you see is what you get! Across my 15-year career, I’ve worked with all manner and breadth of client challenges. One thing I’ve consistently heard clients and colleagues say about me is that I’m easy to get along with because I’m non-judgemental and relaxed. My primary goal when I first meet a client is to put them at ease. One of my main priorities in the first few therapy sessions is to help my clients feel comfortable talking with me – particularly because I empathize and understand that many clients may initially be apprehensive about seeking support. In private practice I have predominantly worked with, and had an interest in the following clinical areas: personality disorders (mostly emotional unstable personality disorder), gender identity and sexuality issues, and the spectrum of anxiety and depressive disorders, including bipolar disorder. I have also worked with offenders who are before the Courts and with refugees in detention. I am very comfortable working with clients with a range of issues, especially those issues that may be on the more daunting side to confront in therapy. I am very down-the-line and direct in my approach, which seems to work well with clients, both new and long-term. I have worked for the past 15 years in adolescent mental health within the NGO space, predominantly with self-harm/ suicide prevention, and with anxiety and depressive disorders. I also previously worked in rehabilitation management within the Workers Compensation sector as well as for the Department of Human Services (Centrelink/DVA). When not at work, I enjoy outdoors time with my family, mindfulness meditation, and yoga. If you feel that I can be of assistance to you or your family, please contact me at the practice on 6381 0071.