Each therapeutic encounter begins with a comprehensive assessment of the problems that have brought you to therapy, the developmental origins, and the factors in your external and internal environment that may be keeping these problems going in your life.

The assessment phase usually consists of four, weekly sessions at which point we will develop a shared understanding of what is happening and what treatment may look like.

We conduct diagnostic assessments, where relevant, and this will be discussed in a supportive way that fosters deeper understanding.

Individual consultations are 50 minutes.

Psychological assessment and therapy for children, adolescents and families

Children and adolescents live in a family context where they are influenced by and influence on other members of the family. As such, we seek to understand child and adolescent psychological, emotional and behavioural difficulties as existing in a developmental and relational context.

Each therapeutic encounter begins with a parent session (or more, as needed) where we invite you as parents to share your understanding of your child, development, and concerns. These sessions provide parents with the opportunity to see whether we are a good fit for your child and family, and for us to provide support for parents in your important role. We may decide together that ongoing parenting sessions would be appropriate, or that a combination of child and parent sessions would more effective. It is our firm belief that children and adolescents need strong, attuned, and well-supported parents more than they need a psychologist, so our focus will be to support parents in their parenting role alongside time spent with the child to develop an understanding of what their behaviour might be communicating.

With an adolescent, we maintain our approach in supporting parents in their parenting role, while also providing your teen a space to work through what might be happening in and around them.

Each consultation is 50 minutes.

Clinical and reflective supervision

We provide clinical and reflective supervision to psychologists, clinical psychology registrars, provisional psychologists, and for practitioners in related fields. Individual and group supervision are conducted by a Psychology-Board Approved supervisor. We are passionate about supporting and developing the mental health workforce.

Training and consultation

We regularly provide training and consultation on child and adolescent development, parenting and family mental health, trauma-informed practice, and interpersonal dynamics in groups and organisations. Dr Mikaela Smee is an experienced presenter and consultant and enjoys working with organisations.