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Dr Sophie Burgess
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST
BA (Psych), G Dip Sc (Psych) (Merit), MSc, D Clin Psych, MACPA, MGKIHS
Home: Welcome
I am an award-winning clinical psychologist with over 15 years of experience in providing warm, compassionate and specialised therapy to individuals, young people, groups, couples and families across private practice, hospital, educational and government settings. I have specialisations in treating a wide range of long-standing and short-term difficulties that range in need and complexity. I centralise the relationship between yourself & I as your therapist while using evidence based models of therapy to facilitate repair and change.
My belief is that the therapeutic relationship is the cornerstone of treatment. I aspire to have this relationship characterised by warmth, trust, respect, constancy, humour, challenge, reciprocal participation, honesty and differentiation. For those who experience me in my work, I am known to be down-to-earth, kind, honest, sensitive, compassionate, challenging, non-judgmental, sincere and direct, all while being deeply empathic.
I also hold that it is important to work closely with ‘process’ and ‘dynamic’ in sessions, paying close attention to what is not said, what’s underneath the content of what is said, and of the feeling in the room between a patient and myself.
To find out who and what I currently treat, please see the ‘Who I Treat’ and ‘What I Treat’ sections.
In conducting my work I also believe in matching the type of treatment to the specific and individual needs of each and every person seeking help. The ‘How I Treat’ section of this page outlines the models from which I utilise techniques to treat issues holistically.
I engage regularly in consultation with colleagues and in local, national and international workshops and conferences to continue my personal and professional development.
Finally, I am a Supervisor available to provide consultation to clinical and registered psychologists interested in psychodynamic/analytic therapies, the therapies I use in practice and developmental/reflective-practice models of consultation.
Home: About Me
Who I See
I currently see individual adults, young people aged over 16 and couples.
Home: Who I Treat: Who I See
Home: What I Treat: Presenting Issues I See
What I Treat
Difficulties I treat are included but not limited to:
• Adjustment Difficulties
• All Anxiety Disorders (e.g OCD, Social Anxiety, fears/phobias, generalised worry)
• Assertiveness Training
• Communication Difficulties
• Body Image Issues
• Depression & related mood difficulties
• Fertility, Pregnancy & Post-Natal issues
• Gender Identity & Sexuality Issues
• Sexual Problems (e.g vaginismus)
• Sleep Difficulties (e.g insomnia)
• Relationship Difficulties
• Grief/Bereavement/Loss
• Work Stress (e.g burnout, boundaries, workplace stress)
How I Treat: Therapeutic Modalities I Use
I have longstanding expertise in multi-model therapies & use an integrated approach to treat the needs of you as the patient and the type of therapy best fit for your difficulties. Therapies I utilise include but are not limited to:
• Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
• Behavioural Therapies (e.g Exposure-Based therapies)
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Existential Therapies (e.g Gestalt)
• Mindfulness-based Therapies
• Attachment-based Therapies
• Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)
• Conversational Model
• Polyvagal Theory Therapies
• Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapies
• Self Psychology
• Sensorimotor Therapies
• Schema Therapy
Home: How I Treat: Therapeutic Models
Much like the image above, the “symptoms” - those identifiable or conscious issues that you may present with (e.g insomnia, sadness, feeling lost, depressed, anxious, having difficulty expressing your emotions) are like the leaves of a tree. They’re only the surface, having typically (but not always) sprouted from a catalyst.
I implement effective psychotherapy methods to not only help your symptoms but instil insight about:
1. the sticks of a tree (triggering or activating situations) 2. the branches (the long-held “if I do x, then y” assumptions that have been disrupted) 3. the nodes of the trunk (formative events in your life) 4. the trunk (core beliefs held about yourself, others and the world) and 5. the roots (early childhood, biological factors and unconscious processes).
In essence, the model of a tree shows from the roots upwards how presenting difficulties come to develop and make their presence known in the here and now.
Rather than just trim the leaves and expect the trunk to change itself, it is helpful to keep in mind that therapy has to go beyond the surface. I believe it is a process of mutual trust and collaboration with participation and investment from the patient and therapist alike.
Branches (old behavioural patterns that no longer serve you) can be pruned so that new patterns blossom. My aim is to promote renewal towards new seasons for you, but not by avoiding the harder work of working through deeper issues. This will be done in a therapeutic relationship that’s one marked by trust, sincerity, honesty, humour, compassion and challenge.
In sessions, you and I make a clearing in the path, resolving old patterns and discovering new ones that, however unfamiliar, welcome new changes that come to be consolidated into helpful, generative and sustainable ways of being and relating to yourself, others and the wider world in your everyday life.
Home: About Therapy
FAQ
I hold a Doctor of Clinical Psychology and Master of Science from the University of Sydney, during which time I was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship as a result of outstanding performance. During this particular time in my postgraduate years I completed 6 x 6 month internal and external placements (totalling 3 years) at public and private hospitals and community clinics in a wide range of specialisations. Before the aforementioned postgraduate study, I completed a Graduate Diploma in Science (Psychology), graduating with Distinction (Merit), and a Bachelor of Psychology.
I have been awarded membership into the Golden Key International Honour Society for excellence in the field of psychology.
I am also a Psychology Board of Australia board-approved supervisor. This means I’m able to provide supervision (consultation) to other clinical psychologists or registered psychologists (where the therapeutic orientations may involve interest in Psychoanalytic, Psychodynamic, Schema, Family-of-Origin, CBT, Self Psychology, Sensorimotor and other reflective-practice models that hold counter-transference to be important in formulating and treating your patients).
I am registered with the Australian Health Practitioner’s Agency (AHPRA) as a psychologist with specialist recognition in the field of clinical psychology. I am also a member of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association (ACPA). Finally, I am recognised as a provider of specialist services by Medicare.
1. For individuals, an initial consultation (assessment session) can be 50-60 sessions or 80-90 minutes. Many people are surprised by how quickly the time passes, but I also respect your right to choose what you estimate would fit you best. Outside of this session I also assess and interpret measures of distress and schemas (beliefs about the self, others and the world) that help me conceptualise the bigger picture as well as pinpoint some of the specifics difficulties you face.
2. For individuals, subsequent consultations are 50-60 minutes in length.
3. For couples, an initial consultation (assessment session) is 120 minutes. Similarly, outside this initial session I will also take time to interpret administered measures to better understand the specific difficulties you, your partner and I would be working on.
4. For couples, subsequent consultations are 75 minutes in length.
5. In instances whereby consultation is required with psychiatrists or other specialists who are also involved in the collaborative care of yourself, phone consultations longer than 15 minutes incur a pro rata fee.
Fees depends on what kind of session you have. An initial consultation (assessment session) can be either 50-60 minutes or 80-90 minutes depending on your choosing.
Before the initial session I will spend up to a clinical hour scoring and interpreting measures of distress and beliefs you have formed about yourself, others and the larger environment. This is complimentary.
The fee for a standard 50-60 minute session is commensurate with the 2023-2024 schedule of fees as recommended by the APS, which can be accessed online via the Australian Psychological Society (APS) website.
With a valid Mental Health Care Plan and accompanying referral (i.e covering letter addressed to me) from your GP, you get back nearly $140 per session ($136.35) from Medicare up to 10 sessions per calendar year. This significantly reduces out of pocket costs.
Other individuals choose to see me privately (without a Mental Health Care Plan). If you have private health cover for psychotherapy / clinical psychology your Health Fund will cover a portion of session costs (the specifics of which can be determined by contacting your private health fund).
If you would like to go via Medicare’s Better Access system, you visit your GP to obtain a Mental Health Care Plan (MHCP) and covering letter addressed to me, which entitles you to up to 10 sessions per calendar year (with a review with your GP after the 6th session). Medicare rebates / gives you back at least $136.35 per session.
If you do not wish to go down the MHCP route you are able to self-refer as a private patient. If you have private health insurance it may cover some of the costs of psychotherapy / clinical psychology sessions, depending on your provider. Please research this and check your provider’s policy.
Please note that you can’t get a rebate from both Medicare & private health for the one session at the same time.
I’m happy to answer any other questions and / or provide you with an information, policy and consent form for your consideration.
I welcome contact:
drsophieburgess@gmail.com.
Home: FAQ
Home: Therapeutic Quote
The closed fist was once an open palm, held out and waiting.
(Yehuda Amichai)
Home: Famous Quote
Contact Dr Sophie Burgess:
Home: Contact
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