I’m Alissa (she/her), thanks for visiting! I’m a registered psychologist in Wollongong NSW and my practice is devoted to working exclusively with adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12-30. I focus on providing individual psychotherapy (medium/longer-term therapy) tailored specifically for youth, parenting/practical support to adults with an important young person in their lives and clinical supervision for helping professionals working in the youth mental health space.
Prior to establishing my private practice in 2019, I worked in various mental health sectors for over a decade – including out-of-home care, residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation but predominantly in youth-specific mental health. See my LinkedIn for info on my experience.
The psychology of young people is my passion, all I do clinically and where I focus my ongoing professional development. I spend everyday growing and fine-tuning my knowledge of how unique and dynamic this age is, and what is required for their therapy to work – emotionally, developmentally, systemically, socially and realistically.
My therapy approach.
I care about providing engaging, attuned and respectful therapy with a healthy dash of humour. My style is conversational, collaborative and down-to-earth. It’s important to me that people feel like I’ve got their back and our time together is real and genuine. In sessions, I don’t write things down in front of people and focus on being fully present with them and our conversation.
I offer ongoing therapeutic relationships that support teens and young adults as they grow through life’s ups and downs. Working over longer periods of time allows us to create a safe space to explore who they are openly, why they feel the way they feel (and do what they do) and how their past experiences influence life in the present. Through this process, we can pinpoint what they truly need to thrive. I’ll be there for support and guidance as this self-knowledge translates into making meaningful real-world choices.
It’s an empowering, honest process that builds emotional intelligence, self-confidence and psychological flexibility from the security of understanding yourself deeply and knowing how to meaningfully listen to your feelings. It goes beyond one-size-fits-all strategies to a tailored approach that will teach people how to self-reflect, thoughtfully develop their own ideas on what is best for them and find the courage to act on it – a psychological skill that lives on well after therapy ends. My hope for my clients is that they can live their lives fully and authentically – self-assured, self-aware, brave and unafraid of the broad spectrum of emotions that come with being human.
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