About Our Services
Child and Adult Therapy Service
Our adult and child therapy programs are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which has been shown to be effective for many psychological problems. In CBT you develop an understanding of the role your thoughts and behaviours play in creating and maintaining emotional distress and a range of skills is taught to help you challenge and modify unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, and produce different emotional responses.
Before we decide on a program of treatment for you, psychological assessments are conducted in order to clearly understand your individual presenting problems. A full assessment often covers 2-4 appointments and a range of strategies are employed, including clinical interview, structured interviews, and client self-report measures. A picture emerges of the factors responsible for the development and maintenance of your psychological problems, and a treatment plan is derived from this formulation.
For child therapy clients, behavioural assessments may also be conducted. These gather information from parents and care givers, teachers and the child about possible cognitive and psychological problems that may be impacting on the child’s behaviour.
Following the initial assessment, problem formulation and treatment recommendations, should we believe that your needs are better met by an alternative service, contact details for that service will be provided to you and we will help facilitate your introduction to that service.
We also offer specialised services in the following areas:
Anxiety Disorders
Specialised individual treatment programs for the major anxiety disorders are offered by our provisional psychologists.
The treatment modality for anxiety disorders is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which is an evidence based treatment of choice.
Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia
Individuals with Panic Disorder experience intense overwhelming attacks of anxiety commonly referred to as panic attacks. During these attacks the person often experiences a wide range of frightening physical symptoms such as breathlessness, dizziness, palpitations or pounding heart, sweating, shaking, and nausea. The main feature of both Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia is a fear of these attacks, and a belief that during these attacks you may die, have a heart attack or stroke, collapse, lose control, or go crazy. Agoraphobia is also characterised by an avoidance of places and situations where panic attacks might occur, or help might not be available in the event of having a panic attack.
Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)
Social Phobia is not just about shyness. Individuals with Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder) experience anxiety in a range of social situations, including talking to people in groups, talking to people in authority, meeting new people, eating or drinking in public, and public speaking. The person with Social Phobia worries excessively about appearing anxious, looking incompetent, or being seen to be inadequate in some way. Usually, the main concern in Social Phobia is about appearing anxious and that their physical symptoms of anxiety (e.g., shaking, blushing, sweating) will be noticed by that others who will judge them negatively or reject them as a result.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
People with OCD typically experience repetitive, intrusive, and unwanted thoughts, images or impulses which cause anxiety and distress (obsessions). These obsessions most commonly centre on themes of harm to oneself or others by contamination, negligence (e.g., forgetting to turn off the stove), or violence (e.g., images of harming a loved one). Other obsessional thoughts include themes of blasphemy, or inappropriate sexual thoughts. In response to these obsessions individuals develop physical or mental compulsions which are designed to lessen their anxiety and prevent the dreaded event from occurring (e.g., washing, checking, counting, and repeating actions or words).
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
People with GAD experience long-standing and excessive worry about day-to-day concerns such as family, finances, work, or illness. The person finds these worries very difficult to control and fears that they may not be able to cope if something goes wrong. The worry leads to a number of physical symptoms of anxiety including muscle tension, irritability, tiredness, disturbed sleep or concentration, and an inability to relax.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
People with Body Dysmorphic Disorder experience anxiety and distress about a particular aspect of their appearance which they believe to be abnormal, ugly, or unattractive. As a result of these concerns they are often intensely preoccupied with their appearance, repeatedly check their appearance, ask others for reassurance, avoid social situations, seek surgical interventions, or attempt to camouflage the area so that others will not notice.
Child Assessment
The UWS Psychology Clinic also offers comprehensive psychological assessment services for children and adolescents. These services are provided by provisional psychologists who are closely supervised by experienced clinical psychologists and educational psychologists.
Assessments are usually conducted over three sessions, each lasting approximately two hours, which are scheduled one or two weeks apart. Information is collected from parents and teachers through interview and/or questionnaire. Feedback is provided to parents in the form of a face-to-face session, together with a comprehensive written report detailing the results of the assessment and recommendations for further action. This report can be provided to the child’s school if the parents wish this to occur. Site visits by our provisional psychologists to schools may also be conducted in certain cases.
We offer:
- Intellectual Assessments
- Educational Assessments
Intellectual Assessments
These assessments are carried out to gain information about a child's level of general intellectual functioning. They allow the provisional psychologist to diagnose intellectual giftedness or learning disorders, and to make recommendations about educational and/or vocational planning.
Educational Assessments
Educational assessments are conducted for children and adolescents who are having difficulties with aspects of learning, language or behaviour. These assessments are helpful in determining the nature of a learning difficulty, and can assist parents and teachers to plan appropriate interventions.
