Steve sees couples and children.

Children present within a range of complex, social/emotional contexts and bring to psychological counselling developmental challenges and strengths. Often a child’s behaviour, as with all people across the lifespan, is communication. Assessing the social emotional context of a child’s life is informed not only by personally connecting with the child respectfully and with warmth but also by conferences with parents, teachers and multi-disciplinary teams of health and allied health professionals, as appropriate.

I have skills and experience working with neurodiverse children and meet all children and young people at their level of understanding and social/emotional development. My child focused approach is grounded within a model of authentic, warm, relational, outcome focused therapy incorporating the practice of evidence-based strategies between sessions. I avoid the use of the term “homework” instead referring to “thought” or “behavioural experiments.” This fosters curiosity and provides the opportunity to promote and practice a growth mindset. It can be rewarding at a deep level, building self-confidence and a sense of personal agency or “internal locus of control”.

While the choice of therapeutic modality is an important consideration, effective outcomes develop within the framework of a quality, therapeutic relationship, which is my primary focus and at the core of my practice.

I incorporate the use of the sand tray and miniatures if appropriate to help children tell their unique stories through symbolic play, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), solution focused brief therapy (SFBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), narrative therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), interpersonal neurobiology, conflict resolution and third-party mediation.

I have skills and experience working with children presenting with selective mutism, mood disorders, school refusal, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), problematic gaming, peer relations difficulties, frustration tolerance, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Couples

My clinical approach to couples is grounded in a warm, relational and strength-based solution focussed model to assist couples and children to develop and coordinate their inner resources to respond creatively and positively to complex developmental challenges across the lifespan.

I offer and develop a therapeutic alliance with both partners with the focus on the relationship as front and centre of our work together. My work with couples is informed by interpersonal neurobiology which helps to explore how our brain, mind and interpersonal interactions coordinate to shape and support wellbeing and healthy relationships.