ABOUT THERAPY WITH HAYLEY
Please see below for the services I offer.
MY THERAPY STYLE
The connection you feel with your therapist is paramount to how meaningful and effective your therapy experience will be.
Therapy with me is informal and collaborative.
My style would be described as open, energetic, casual, warm and accepting.
What I am big on:
Collaboration: I bring clinical knowledge, experience and training; you bring a life lived in your own shoes. We work together. We set goals as a team.
Compassion: I help clients develop compassion towards themselves (past, present and future) and others.
Flexibility: I create space to focus on what is currently happening for clients, while also holding our long term therapy goals in mind.
Inclusion: I value working with humans, and all the diversity that comes with being human.
Insight: I focus a lot of my clinical practice on helping clients understand their experience. It is hard to make changes or apply strategies without an understanding first about how and why something is happening.
Learning: I encourage clients to learn new ways of communicating, regulating and responding.
Safety: I aim for clients to feel safe, accepted and supported in each and every one of our sessions.
Tailoring: While I focus on suggesting evidence based strategies, modifying these to each and every client helps them feel doable and relevant, as well as effective.
Technology: I prefer to use electronic or digital options for resources, rather than pen and paper.
Values: By clarifying your values, we create long term goals for therapy that are specific and meaningful.
AREAS OF FOCUS IN MY PRACTICE
I have a particular interest in supporting people with the following:
+ Identity challenges
+ Boundary setting
+ Life transitions
+ Relationship difficulties (individuals, couples and poly)
+ Attachment trauma (such as family of origin or partner based)
+ Emotion regulation
+ Sexual functioning
+ Gender identity and affirmation
+ Anxiety (particularly generalised and social)
+ Depression and mood concerns
YOUNG ADULTS
I really enjoy working with young adults (18-30 years old).
Young adulthood is a time marked with significant change. The guidance and structure afforded in childhood and adolescence dissolves and young adults must create their own path for independence, financial stability, work or school achievement, and interpersonal relationships.
It is a time of trying to find your place in the world, and the world likes to throw curveballs. Therapy during this time can assist with developing new or different life trajectories. It can be a place to explore struggles in the present, fears about the future and sadness about the past. Working with young adults, I often use a Schema Therapy informed approach. Read more about Schema Therapy on the Therapy Frameworks page.
ATTACHMENT AND RELATIONSHIPS
Our relationships matter.
The quality of our relationships with others influences our long term physical and mental health. Repeated studies have shown that feeling connected to others around us results in fewer physical health problems, fewer mental health difficulties and even a longer life.
I support couples to improve their connection, communication and closeness through Emotion Focused Therapy (please see Therapy Frameworks for more information).
I also support individuals with their relationship health more broadly. This assistance may focus on romantic partners, friendships, family relationship or colleagues, or all of the above. We may use Schema Therapy, or an individual version of Emotion Focused Therapy to identify how we see ourselves and others, and how our behaviours may be helping or hindering our connections with others.
BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER
I have experience supporting people, but particularly young women, with Borderline Personality Disorder. I use an attachment informed Dialetical Behaviour Therapy Process. This facilitates key skill development in a safe and supportive working relationship.
Due to the part time nature of my practice, I am unable to provide intensive or crisis support. Therefore, I only have capacity to support individuals who are not at acute risk and also have other supports engaged (e.g. regular GP, psychiatrist). Please read further information on the Therapy Frameworks page about what I can offer regarding DBT.
WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR VISIT
Before you attend your first appointment, my lovely admin team will send you an information sheet and consent form to sign electronically. Please read the consent form carefully, as it has very important information about confidentiality and information sharing, as well as my fees and cancellation policy.
Our first session will go for 50-55 minutes, or 80-85 minutes, depending on what you have booked. The session will open with 1) Talking through confidentiality and answering any questions that may have arisen from the consent form; and 2) Clarifying the process for today’s appointment. I check in about how you are feeling about being at the appointment today, and explore any potential concerns or worries before we get started.
The first session involves me asking questions to help us have a shared understanding of the reasons and context for seeking therapy at this time. I will also ask for some brief background information (such as living situation, family relationships, work/study), although we often run out of time to explore all these areas in full. Generally, in our additional sessions, we will circle back to these areas where they are relevant.
I will also encourage a discussion about your goals for therapy and your expectations of the process, as well as the initial pacing and scheduling of therapy (e.g. how often we would have appointments to start with). We may not set these things in concrete, but we will have a discussion to ensure you have a sense of what the process entails initially.
I will encourage you to reflect after our first meeting about how the session felt for you, focusing on if you felt we had a good “therapy fit”. I would ask you (in our own time) to consider if you felt comfortable and heard in our session, if my personality and therapy style feels like a good match for you, and if you felt confident in my capacity to assist you with your current needs. Sometimes it is understandable that clients need time to answer these questions (e.g. more than one session). However as the working relationship between the psychologist and client is a key component of effective therapy, I encourage each client to reflect on this from our very first meeting.
I will encourage you to have, if possible, a slow remainder of the day, as initial psychology appointments can be particularly draining (both cognitive and emotionally) due to a lot of information sharing.
We will then confirm the day and time of our next meeting and answer any final questions.
I hope this information assists with entering our first session with a sense of the experience and process.
ADOLESCENT THERAPY
The majority of my training and clinical practice has focused on supporting adolescents (12yo+) and young adults. Prior to setting up my private practice I worked for 6 years at headspace, the national not for profit for supporting young Australians. My PhD research focused on understanding how technology and sex intersect in the lives of young people in the form of ‘sexting’.
I currently work part time in a school psychologist role, so I am experienced at liasing with schools, completing school related supporting paperwork (e.g. ARAA) and supporting school engagement.
When working with adolescents over the age of 16, I recognise and value their capacity to consent to participate in therapy as a mature young person.
When supporting an adolescent, if they would like their family to be present in a session, I encourage families to book a longer appointment time (80-85 minutes) to ensure sufficient time is available for all parties to participate.
In my practice with adolescents, I use Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (Adolescent Version).
COUPLES THERAPY
I use Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) to help couples improve their connection and communication. Additional information about EFT is provided on the Therapy Frameworks page.
Couples therapy generally involves weekly or fortnightly sessions. Couples may require a minimum of 8 sessions, or may require 20+ sessions, depending on the nature of their difficulties.
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
I support adults across the life span, and support individuals of all genders, sexualities and cultures.
Please refer to the Therapy with Hayley page for information about the different types of therapy frameworks I use. The most common therapy frameworks I use are Schema Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy.
ONLINE THERAPY
I offer all forms of therapy in an online format. Please refer to the Online Therapy page for further information.