MY COLLEAGUES
For the first time in 2009, the personal, professional profiles of some of Alison’s Melbourne colleagues were included on this website. Click to read the individual profile of Marisa in Ashburton; Judith in Clifton Hill and Fairfield; Ronit in Richmond Sheila in St. Kilda Rd, or Leonie in Carlton or the Yarra Valley. You may then choose to contact any of them directly for an appointment or more information.
All of these colleagues are members of the same association as myself (AASP) and while I cannot take any personal responsibility for their work with you as their client, all are bound by the same professional standards as I am and are bound to adhere to the same ethical code of practice which can be found on the AASP website cited above. All my colleagues are similarly involved in their own path of life- long learning including the supervision and professional development required by PACFA and our association. Each of my colleagues has their own particular location, experience, orientation and way of being. Additionally their individual fees and their terms of working with you may all be different from mine and from each other- but all are therapists I trust and whose devotion to good psychotherapy is paramount. When you come to see Alison or any of her colleagues your confidentiality is ensured. An important part of our ethical code and that of the AASP is that we will not work with anyone who is a relative or close friend of our own or of one of our existing clients. What we can do when someone close to us or to one of our clients seeks help from us, is to refer them to one of our colleagues who, we know, is equally competent to work with them.
The Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapists (AASP) was formed in 1986 by graduates and teachers from the somatic psychotherapy trainings in Sydney and Melbourne Australia. To learn more about the AASP click on http://www.somaticpsych.org.au for their web-site. The Somatic Psychotherapy community in Melbourne and in Australia in general is quite small. However, interest has grown considerably in somatic psychotherapy with the recent upsurge in knowledge of body / mind-brain / emotional and early attachment connections. Serious disruptions to early attachment bonds with the primary care-giver(s) is a predictor of difficulties in later life and working with the consequences of such life stressors is an integral part of the psychotherapeutic work that my colleagues and myself do. Interest in somatic psychotherapy has also burgeoned with the need in Australia, to find therapists who can work with people suffering post traumatic stress disorder and other effects of trauma. This is a particular niche for Somatic Psychotherapists because early trauma often manifests itself in the form of bodily symptoms rather than through words. Of course early trauma can also manifest as depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, addiction or many of the other psychological and mental health problems all of which are amenable to psychotherapy.
Though the terms "Somatic Psychotherapy" and Somatic Psychotherapist" are now used quite widely, they were coined by us here in Sydney and Melbourne Australia in 1986/7 when our Association was first formed. Soma is a Greek word meaning body, body / mind or the living body and Somatic Psychotherapists in Australia are more than "body-workers" and more than "body-psychotherapists". In Australia in particular, Somatic Psychotherapists are dedicated to an integration of somatic and psychodynamic principles. Somatic Psychotherapy allows for the use of touch and direct work with the body as and when appropriate and agreed by the client. Members of the AASP are bound by a strong Code of Ethical Practice the text of which you can find on the AASP web-site cited above.
Alison and her colleagues have all undergone a rigorous training initially over at least three years and continued through additional courses, supervision, personal therapy and sometimes an infant observation. At present, training in Somatic Psychotherapy in Melbourne Australia, is primarily available through Jeff Barlow's Australian College of Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy (ACCSP). To learn more about the college training click on http://www.somaticpsychotherapy.com.au
Alison and all her colleagues are either currently on the PACFA Register of individual practitioners or working toward their inclusion. PACFA is the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia formed as an umbrella body of Counselling and Psychotherapy Associations in Australia. PACFA aims to give counsellors and psychotherapists in Australia the ability to speak with one voice and to establish counselling and psychotherapy as professions in their own right separate from psychology and psychiatry. The AASP was a founding member of PACFA. To learn more about PACFA click on http://www.pacfa.org.au. PACFA has recently united with the Australian Counsellors Association (ACA) to form a national register of psychotherapists and counsellors (ARCAP) so that in the near future, being ARCAP Registered will be the hallmark of a therapist, counsellor or psychotherapist who you will know is required to have a known base line training, standards and ethics. This will provide you, the public with a higher degree of certainty in the credibility of our professions.
Please click here if you wish to make a booking enquiry with Alison in Kew, Marisa in Ashburton, Judith in Clifton Hill and Fairfield, Ronit in Richmond, Sheila in St. Kilda Rd, or Leonie in Carlton or the Yarra Valley
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