Wayne is a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, a Mental Health Social Worker, and a Counsellor with more than forty years’ experience. He works predominantly in private practice as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, and as a registered Mental Health Provider through the Better Access programme.  Previously he spent 25 years in a wide variety of psychiatric settings including Adult Inpatient Services, Mental Health Outpatient Clinics, and Primary Mental Health services, in addition to community based and not-for-profit agencies.

 

He is a graduate of the Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists training programme in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Adults, a Past President of the association, and a past Chairman of the Training Programme.  Over the years, Wayne has completed additional trainings in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In various work settings in the past he has provided Family Therapy to families of inpatients and Analytic Group Therapy for the patients. He has also taught psychoanalytic theory and psychodynamic counselling skills in several different tertiary settings.

 

While in private practice he concentrates on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with individual adults or, alternatively, counselling interventions within an IPT framework, he also works with couples and groups when required. With his extensive background in mental health, he is open to Shared Care arrangements with medical providers – General Practitioners or Psychiatrists.

 

Wayne has an ongoing interest in working with people suffering from Depression and Anxiety, as well as carers or families of those suffering from mental illness. He has a special interest in the importance of creative endeavours to a person’s overall mental health and life satisfaction, and in working with those experiencing blocks to their creative potential. In 2015 he completed a PhD in which he explored the emergence of subjectivity in the fields of Psychoanalysis and Literature, especially Lyric Poetry, while also drawing on recent insights derived from Neuroscience.

 

 

Wayne notes that although many of the people who taught him about the importance of  creativity have been artists of various kinds, it is equally  important to affirm with Fred Hollows that to leave behind a garden, or to raise a happy, self-respecting child is a profoundly creative  activity that leaves the world a better place. Regardless of what painful circumstances or history a person may have experienced, a respectful, life-affirming relationship with a person such as a therapist can lead to positive change, given commitment and hard work on both sides. A central feature of positive change results from the development of a coherent life narrative, which is a strongly protective factor against anxiety and depression.

 

Therapy and Counselling Options offered:

 

            Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy

           

            Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

            Individual Counselling

            Interpersonal Therapy

            Couples Therapy