Elizabeth

In Practice Since
1974
Can help with
Depression, anxiety, bio-polar disorder, borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance misuse, trauma, grief, emotional attachment, self-harming behaviours, gender identity, sexual intimacy
Methods/Modalities
Narrative Therapy, Cognitive- Behavioural Therapy, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy, Solutions Focused Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavioural Therapy, Transactional Analysis, Psychoanalytic Therapy, Dynamic Interpersonal Therapy, Client Centered Therapy, Brain Based Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Schema Therapy, Neuropsychotherapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Couple Therapy (J. Gottman), Cognitive and Emotional Rewiring, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Positive Psychology, Mindfulness.
Languages
English and Polish
Timezone
Australia/West
My passion is to bring the insights of psychological science into my clients lives, revive hope for realistic recovery and create for them an opportunity to live a meaningful, happy, and regret-free life.
In my practice the most important is creating the therapeutic alliance with my clients. I am using my comprehensive therapeutic skills, authentic genuine and warm interactions to establish a sense of safety and incorporate psychoeducational and neuro-psychotherapeutic components in friendly and appropriate manner to maintain client’s therapeutic engagement, foster positive learning and inspire process of change.
I have learnt that a focal point in any therapeutic engagement is not what you know, what licences, training, and certifications you have but who you really are as a human, your authentic self, your life experiences, your ability to genuinely connect with people, to be emotionally and cognitively present with them and for them, your understanding of people struggles and believing in them – they are the most important factors.
I am allergic to injustice. I have been a human rights fighter all under the communist government in Poland in 1970 and 1980s. I was arrested during the Martial Law in Poland on the ground of “encouraging people to think and change”. I have been forced to leave Poland with one plastic bag and 3.5 years old daughter Joanna. I came to Australia as a political refuge, single mum with no English.
I learnt English, I wrote two books, research papers and designed many psychoeducational workshops: (Straight Talk Inside – a Psychoeducational Program of Behavioural Changes in Prison and Being a Better Man- from a Caveman to a Great Man – a Psycho-educational Program for Men.
I am multiple traumas and loses survivor. I have muddle through by applying psychological knowledge I have learnt and mastered.
I am the current Western Australia Master Champion in Athletics: discus, shot put, hammer, and weight throw. I was nominated twice to the Australian Citizenship Award.
For my political struggle against the communist government in Poland I received the Cross of a Merit for outstanding service to the nation and the Cross of Freedom and Solidarity.
I have met in my practice, in the individual and group therapy, more then 10 000 people.
I have never met twice a person with the same story and the same problems.
- Most people traumas are of human design – created by other people, who suppose to love and care for us.
- People need to be ready, willing, and able to change. I can help them when they are not able, but I cannot make them happy without their consent.
- I am not a magician, not a super-hero, not a rescuer. I am very experienced and highly trained psychologist, who in therapeutic practice uses current scientific findings.
- To design efficacious psychological strategies and interventions people need to be informed and included in a process.
- All therapeutic interventions need to be personalized and tailored to an individual client’s needs.
- We cannot live life free from challenges, obstacles, and psychological injuries but we always have a choice to learn from our past not to live on our past and suffer.