About A Social Approach
This is your mental health and well-being journey.
You're in the driver's seat and we're right with you, guiding, supporting, and motivating you to create meaningful change and take control of your story.
A Social Approach aims to create a genuine and open space for you to explore your mental health with a strengths-based and trauma-informed professional.
With a vast collection of therapy styles and approaches in our toolbelt, we shape your sessions and our methods uniquely to you as an individual, and to your individual circumstances.
Underpinned by values drawn from the social work discipline, we work from a belief that you are not the problem. Only the problem is the problem and we're here to help you untangle it.
We aim to empower you to change the narrative for the better and create a future full of opportunities, resilience, and happiness.
In her words
About Cassie
-
Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW)
-
Bachelor of Arts (Psychology & Philosophy)
-
Graduate Diploma of Psychology
-
Master of Social Work
-
NDIS provider
-
EMDR Therapist
-
RI-EMDR Therapist
-
Resource Therapist
-
ACT Therapist
-
AASW Clinical Supervisor
I'm really happy you're here!
I'm Cassie. A social worker who has been in the field of mental health for 19 years and driven by helping you to create and navigate meaningful change to your own mental health and wellbeing.
I'm a devout AFL follower, a mother, a great car singer, an active listener, and a consumer of all things dessert-related.
My lived experience of mental health serves as both a motivator for helping others, as well as a rich understanding of theories, approaches, and therapies I apply through a trauma-informed lens and unique position of genuine compassion and understanding. I am a Resource Integration Therapist which I use in my delivery of Eye-Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR) and RI (Resource Integration)-EMDR. I would love to support you in processing any old memories, trauma or difficult experiences with this incredibly effective method. This style of therapy accesses the parts of self to work together in creating a harmony and acceptance for yourself and others.
A glimpse into my roles within mental health includes:
-
Counselling
-
Client intake and assessment
-
Youth residential rehabilitation
-
Early psychosis
-
Care coordination
-
Child protection and case management
Mental health support isn't a 'one-size fits all' approach, and I want you to get something out of every session with me, which you can use to improve your day-to-day.
For that reason, you won't see me hiding behind a notebook or responding with 'hmms' and 'ahahs' while you lay on a couch staring at the ceiling (as comfortable as that sounds).
I'm here to listen to you.
I'm here to guide you.
I'm here to engage and empower you to find your own strength, voice, and inspiration to take control of your story.
For fellow clinicians, I am a trained and well-experienced clinician who loves providing reflective and clinical supervision. My training has been formally completed with the AASW for the Advanced Clinical Supervision qualification. Supervision with myself is accredited and goes towards annual CPD requirements. I encourage you to send a message and start a conversation about how I could best support you in your approach and practice with your clients.
About Grecia
-
Gestalt Psychotherapist
-
Family Constellations Counsellor
-
Neurodivergent Affirming
I am a counsellor and Gestalt psychotherapist (she/her) who believes in the transformative power of genuine human connection. I am originally from Venezuela (fluent-speaking Spanish) and a proud mother, which informs my understanding of life’s joys, challenges, and the complexities of human experience.
My primary approach is Gestalt therapy, a highly experiential, present-focused form of therapy that helps clients connect deeply with their thoughts, emotions, and behaviours in the here-and-now. Unlike therapies that focus mainly on the past, Gestalt therapy emphasises awareness, choice, and personal responsibility, helping you understand patterns in your life and relationships and make authentic decisions that align with your true self. This approach is especially effective for reducing self-criticism, boosting self-confidence, and navigating anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, and life transitions.
I also bring a systemic perspective as a qualified Family Constellations practitioner, supporting clients to understand relational and intergenerational patterns that may influence their wellbeing. Over the years, I have worked extensively with individuals recovering from traumatic and painful experiences, including family violence, childhood abuse, and neglect.
I offer individualised, neuro-affirming, trauma-informed one-to-one therapy for adults (18+), and I am happy to work face-to-face or online. I also offer a 15-minute introductory conversation to see if we are the right fit.
Areas of interest:
-
Anxiety and panic
-
Cultural identity and cross-cultural experiences
-
Women’s mental health, including perinatal mental health
-
Life changes and adjustment
-
Relationship issues
-
Grief and loss
-
Depression
-
Self-esteem and self-worth
-
Relational difficulties.
About Amanda
-
Accredited Clinical Social Worker
-
Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)
-
Graduate Certificate in Developmental Trauma
-
Diploma of Child and Family Intervention
-
Diploma of Nature-Based Therapy
-
Diploma of Leadership and Management
-
Trained in Therapies: ACT, DBT, MI
-
IFS/Trauma/Processing-informed
-
Clinical supervisor
Hi, I'm Amanda. I've been a social worker for 18 years, with the past 10 years primarily focused on mental health. I've worked across mild to moderate and acute mental health services, early intervention, clinical leadership and complex clinical presentations, with counselling and therapeutic work being the part of social work I've always found most rewarding.
My approach is collaborative, relational and trauma-informed. I enjoy working with people to understand what they want from therapy and finding an approach that actually fits them. I draw from a range of evidence-informed approaches, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills, Motivational Interviewing and parts-informed approaches, alongside my broader social work and mental health experience.
I particularly enjoy working with people experiencing complex or relational trauma, developmental trauma, and longstanding patterns of emotional or relational difficulty. I have a particular interest in working with people who may have experienced difficulties with previous services or who have often felt that their experiences were too complicated to fit neatly into a diagnosis or a standard treatment model. My background in child protection and alternative care work also gives me a strong understanding of the ways early experiences, relationships and environments can shape how we function later in life.
My understanding of mental health has been shaped not only by my professional experience, but also by my own lived experience and by supporting someone close to me through their own mental health challenges. These different perspectives have given me a genuine appreciation of how mental health affects not only the individual, but also the people around them and the systems they are trying to navigate.
I work primarily with adults and am happy to consider older adolescents on an individual basis. I value honesty, curiosity and a good sense of humour, and I'm not particularly interested in making therapy more complicated than it needs to be.
Outside of work, I'm a mum, a lover of the outdoors and nature, and a fairly enthusiastic gardener. Much of my spare time currently involves supporting my son's soccer adventures, so there is a reasonable chance that if I'm not working, I'm standing on the sidelines somewhere with a coffee in my hand.
Areas of interest
• Complex and relational trauma
• Developmental trauma and the impact of early experiences
• Emotional regulation and distress tolerance
• Longstanding patterns of emotional and relational difficulty
• Personality-related difficulties, including Cluster B & C presentations
• Anxiety and depression
• Self-esteem and self-worth
• Relationship and interpersonal difficulties
• Life transitions and adjustment
• Mental health and the impact on families and support systems
I also provide reflective and clinical supervision to social workers and other professionals working across the human services sector.
I have formal training in reflective practice supervision, integrated developmental model of clinical supervision and competency-based clinical supervision, alongside substantial experience in clinical leadership and supporting practitioners working with complex mental health presentations. My supervision style is collaborative, reflective, supportive and developmental. I'm happy to provide a space to think things through, but I'm also comfortable asking difficult questions, offering constructive challenge and helping practitioners build their confidence and capability.
I particularly enjoy working with practitioners who are genuinely curious about their practice and who see supervision as an opportunity to reflect, learn and grow—not simply something to tick off the list.
Supervision can contribute towards AASW continuing professional development requirements.
If something in this has made you think, “I think Amanda might get it,” then I'd love to hear from you. We can have a conversation about what's going on, what you're hoping for, and whether we'd be a good fit to work together.