At The Sydney Psychology Practice, we are focused on translating evidence-based treatment to make sustainable change.

For many, parenting can be variable; there might be days where you feel on top of it and others where the challenges feel overwhelming. We have extensive experience in, and familiarity with, parenting treatment and research evidence and we translate this evidence to support individual families and their particular characteristics.

Although they sometimes differ significantly, women’s and men’s health can also display similarities, particularly in terms of management and treatment. Research clearly indicates that patterns in thinking and behaviour, as well as environmental factors, can influence health just like biological factors do. Support in understanding how best to identify and manage these concerns, particularly where more than one treating profession is involved, can be central to changing health outcomes.

Being diagnosed and living with a chronic illness can be difficult to manage, especially if the illness impacts on other areas of your life. Typically, people report difficulty adjusting to a new reality or needing support making changes they can sustain long-term. Our team has significant experience in assisting people who are managing chronic illness.

Mental health concerns can present for children and adolescents and for some, that trajectory can continue into adulthood. Intervening early to support young people to manage these concerns is important. We have experience using research and treatment evidence to respond to a variety of challenges that young people may experience, and to support parents and carers as the best people to assist in implementing change.

People use substances for many reasons, including to have fun or to manage difficult emotions or situations. Understanding why you drink or use drugs, and whether your use negatively impacts other areas of your life, is important if you want to make changes. Small, manageable steps are the best way to start this process, and evidence suggests targeted support can assist in achieving change.

The LGBTQ+ community has experienced significant stigma and marginalisation and report mental health concerns at higher rates than the general population. Understanding this stress, and ways it develops and is maintained, is imperative for any clinical work with members of the community. Our clinicians not only have experience working with and supporting the community, but our values of inclusion, social justice, and equity guide all our interactions.

Change is hard! Even desirable change can leave people feeling unsettled at times. Adjustment difficulties can occur in multiple contexts, and often present as stress, anxiety or depression. Adjustment to change is usually short-lived – but it can become chronic. Where it does pose difficulty, psychological support can be of benefit where adjustment related stress is present.

Depressive symptoms, like anxiety, are common. Depression can be a response to environmental stressors, or something more chronic, depending on individual circumstances and vulnerabilities. Other mood concerns include Bipolar and premenstrual distress, and while medication is certainly a possibility in the treatment of the symptoms, psychological therapy can be effective at identifying and addressing contributing factors.

Anxiety is exceptionally common; evidence suggests that over 1/3 of Australians will experience anxiety at some point in their lifetime. Because it’s so common, it’s well studied and understood which means psychological therapies are often effective in supporting change. Anxiety presents in many forms: social, performance, generalised, and many more. Whatever the specific presentation, we can assist you to manage your anxiety in a way that alleviates its impact on your life.

Strong emotions happen to us all – both pleasant and unpleasant. Sometimes, they can outweigh our capacity to manage them. Recent research has been particularly helpful in assisting us to develop effective, psychologically based strategies to regulate emotions and these have been demonstrated as effective for adult, child and parent populations.

The word trauma is heard often but is, perhaps, not well understood. Trauma can be acute, in response to a single event, commonly referred to as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It can also represent a more protracted series of traumatic experiences, possibly even when someone was young, often referred to as Complex PTSD (cPTSD). The symptoms can manifest in many ways, and the presentation will be unique to each individual, but there are commonalities – including an often-debilitating impact on everyday functioning. Though it may be overwhelming, there are certainly many ways that psychological treatment can assist responding to individual experiences, symptoms, and functioning.

Anger and frustration are common human emotions and aren’t, in and of themselves, problematic. What becomes difficult, is when anger impacts relationships, parenting, and workplace performance. Learning to identify the risk of anger appearing, learning to intervene early, and learning to regulate emotion and control behaviour commonly associated with anger are central to its treatment.

Grief doesn’t only occur after bereavement – the experience of grief can precede or follow any significant loss:  – loss of a job, a relationship, finances, or even our expectations of the future. Regardless of the cause, responding to this most human emotion can be isolating and debilitating. Assistance in understanding the process of grief and navigating it has potential to offer a path through it.

Most humans are genetically primed to engage in relationships. These may involve parents, families, partners, colleagues or friends. However, when relationships run into difficulties, as they often do, developing strategies for their management with the assistance of an objective lens can assist people to regain, or reframe, their relationships to those who are importance in their lives.

Sexual health is driven by awareness and awareness results from education, adjustment, and safety. Physical and psychological sexual health is threatened where risk is present. Psychological therapies can assist in identifying sexual risk to self or others, and in achieving sexual health for self and others. Sexual health often cooccurs with other factors such as depression, anxiety and substance use; accessing support to manage these risks can help.

Unfortunately, stress is understood to be part of daily life. The busier people get, the more they have to juggle, the harder it can be to manage stress. When it becomes overwhelming, stress can really impact all areas of life. Learning effective strategies to manage stress can have a positive impact on people’s overall well-being and is strongly related to other areas such as general functioning, relational behaviour, sleep, diet and exercise.