Experience
It has been a privilege for me over the last 35 years to offer support to families and individuals, both child and adult, as they face the many challenges and manage the traumas that life presents to us all.
I have specialized in the area of alcohol dependency, providing support to the drinker to help them find recovery and a more fulfilling life. I have also provided counselling to, and run groups for, family members including ‘adult children of alcoholics’.
I have a special interest in providing therapy for people experiencing complex mental health issues and I am happy to consult with anyone who may wish to seek help, or their families.
In the last decade I have focused primarily on working with children with serious problem
behaviors. This has been very rewarding, as I have had the opportunity to develop strong bonds with children who had been expelled from mainstream primary school, and to help them to create a new way forward.
I have held a number of management positions in a couple of the larger charities and have also
held board memberships in the mental health sphere. While I took these roles for the opportunity for advocacy, and to understand how the sector works better, I always return eventually to therapeutic work with individuals and families, as that is my passion, and the area I am more naturally skilled in.
Approach
To describe my approach to therapy, my aim is to listen deeply, to show care and compassion, and to assist people to find their own unique answers in their situation.
Most often people seek therapy because of some kind of personal pain, and they often benefit by being helped to be more aware of exactly what they are feeling, and by exploring where it come from. Everyone is different, though, and therapy is tailored to the needs and wishes of each client.
In assisting clients I draw on many years of experience, and a whole range of therapeutic models depending on what is most helpful to each individual or family.
I believe that every person is important and significant, and I’m keen to support them to be able to recognize their own worth.
Also important is developing the kind of ‘personal power’ in our lives that we all need in order to be emotionally well, happy and able to maintain meaningful connections with others.
I have a faith which is central to my life, since having an encounter with God as a young person. I seek to ‘walk humbly with God’ in my daily life, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to know Him.
I have supported people who are dealing with complex spiritual and emotional problems, and I’m happy for therapy to centre around Christian beliefs and our relationship with God if a client requests that.
Qualifications
I am a trained therapist, a qualified social worker and a registered member of the Australian Association of Social Workers, a membership I have maintained throughout all the years of my professional practice.
Feedback
The following are some client quotes, provided spontaneously:
After just one session, a lady in her 40s stated “I’ve had more help from you in the last hour than I’ve had from the mental health system in the last decade“
After two phone sessions with a single mum with five children, who was very worried about one daughter who was becoming distant and possibly beginning some drug-taking, she wrote: “thank you. I really appreciate it. Maisie is looking forward to meeting you, she said ‘you saved our relationship’.”
A young man now in his early thirties whom I have supported since he was 14 years old, and still catch up with, wrote: “Mandy has always been a bedrock of my life, helping me through a turbulent childhood, she always has allowed a space of non-judgement whenever I am in need of her counsel.
A young mum of two who had an extremely traumatic experience of growing up, and whom I supported during her adolescence wrote to me: ‘I want to let you know, you are the kindest human being I have ever met’. After some chats years later about ways she could resolve some everyday issues in her marriage, she commented ‘Ooh, you should write a book – love the suggestions’.
