Training & Professional Development
My love of shaping the knowledge and practice of other clinicians extends beyond supervision, to running trainings and workshops, presenting at conferences, guest lecturing, and my involvement in other professional development events. Not only do I find this role tremendously enriching both personally and professionally, but these occasions are also opportunities for the exchange of information and skills that ultimately benefit the people and communities I’m most invested in reaching.
These professional development events have included:
- Running professional development training on a range of LGBTQIAP+ topics, at conferences (eg., AusPATH 2019 conference), for national and state organisations (e.g., Mental Health Professionals Network, AACBT, the APS Clinical College, APS Melbourne Branch), community-based agencies (e.g., QLD Aids Council, Doncare), for faith-based organisations, and at schools. Topics have included:
- Suicide prevention for transgender, gender-diverse, and non-binary (TGDNB) people
- Affirmative therapy for TGDNB people
- Affirmative psychotherapy for LGBTQIAP+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual, and other) people, and
- Helping LGBTQIAP+ people from a culturally or linguistically diverse background.
- Presenting my PhD research (on the psychology of eating behaviours and obesity) at numerous conferences including:
- The APS Health Psychology conference
- The GESA-AGW & WGO International Congress
- The Gold Coast Health and Medical Research conference, and
- The National EAP Association of Australasia’s conference.
- Guest lecturing at USQ, Griffith University, and other universities on diverse topics including:
- LGBTQIAP+ affirmative psychotherapy
- Eating behaviours and disorders, and
- Treating chronic and persistent pain.
Consultancy & Community Advocacy
Another avenue for effecting positive change for the people and groups I see in therapy is to go beyond educating other health professionals that might see them, and reach into their workplaces, schools, places of worship, and other groups and communities with whom they interact. It is a great privilege, and profoundly meaningful to me personally, to carry the voices and stories of my clients into spaces and systems that oftentimes have the power to improve their wellbeing more than I could ever hope to.
As consultant and advocate, I have been engaged to:
- Contribute to policy development at schools
- Educate staff members at a range of workplaces
- Present to Executive Boards, policy working parties, and community agency steering committees on issues such as family violence in same-gender relationships, supporting LGBTQIAP+ health service consumers, and addressing high-BMI community members’ mental health needs
- Present to church congregations and high school cohorts on the importance of inclusion of their LGBTQIAP+ peers, and
- Run mindfulness exercises, self-care workshops, suicide and self-harm information sessions, parenting workshops, and psychology information sessions, in various workplace settings, from small local not-for–profit agencies to multinational corporations.
If you or your organisation are considering me for your professional development or consultancy needs, please read the confidentiality policy and don’t hesitate to contact me with your questions or for a quote.
Feedback?
If you have attended a training or professional development event, please provide anonymous feedback here.
Considering These Services?
If you or your organisation are considering me for your professional development or consultancy needs, please read the confidentiality policy and don’t hesitate to contact me with your questions or for a quote.