How I became a psychologist

My first career was in finance. Over several years, I worked my way up through various roles and finally became part of the business development team in a large Australian financial services company.

At the age of 30 I left finance and went back to university to study Psychology. I studied at Sydney University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) (Hons) in 2012.

How I Work

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

I was trained in CBT at university, and I have been working with it ever since. This modality has arguably the most research supporting it. It has been demonstrated to be beneficial in a huge array of psychological disorders.

Many structured treatment plans have been built using CBT to treat many different problems. These are structured, step-by-step treatment methodologies. This is important because it ensures that each client will be getting the same treatment that was validated by the research. Thus the client has a proper foundation to build their treatment plan on.

However, while CBT is structured, it is not constrained by these methodologies. One of the hallmarks of CBT is its ability to work with other tools and modalities, depending on the problem to be treated. CBT is a helpful foundation on which to build a treatment plan that is unique to the client and their unique problem. Other tools can be added if and when the client so desires.

Dialectical Bahaviour Therapy (DBT)

I have been facilitating DBT skills training groups since 2016, and in 2018 I completed the DBT Foundational Training for mental health professionals. This is the gold-standard training in DBT provided by Marsha Linehan’s team. Marsha Linehan is the person who created DBT.

For those who are unfamiliar with DBT, it was founded in 1984. Since that time, it has been shown to be highly effective for a number of different disorders. The most famous is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

The reason why I like DBT, is its practical focus. In particular, a focus on skills training. In DBT the therapy is delivered in three ways: group skills training, individual therapy, and phone coaching. Proper DBT requires all three. By approaching the problem from so many angles, and in such a practical way, I believe we are increasing the odds of success.