Registered Psychologist
D.Psych (Clinical), B.Psych (Hons)
Carmel is a Registered Psychologist with extensive experience working within public and community health settings, schools and educational settings, as well as within private practice. Carmel brings to DS Psychology Group a Doctorate of Psychology (Clinical) with a specialisation in child, adolescent and family psychology and has worked extensively with a broad range of age groups across the lifespan including infancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Having worked in a clinical and research capacity within parent- infant mental health teams at a number of major tertiary hospitals, Carmel is experienced in working with parents and infants within an attachment-focused framework to address relational issues such as bonding, attachment and transition to parenthood. Carmel also works with women both during pregnancy and postpartum, which includes support for postnatal anxiety and depression.
Carmel has provided extensive counselling and parent support for preschool and school-aged children and adolescents experiencing social, behavioral and emotional challenges. Through this work, she has developed a passion for supporting families to build healthy parent-child relationships and working with families to repair these relationships where they may be challenging or strained. Carmel is a trained facilitator for Circle of Security program, which is focused on supporting the development of positive and secure parent-child relationships.
Carmel also specialises in providing assessment and counselling for children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD and ADHD. Having worked as both a clinician and a researcher in the area of neurodevelopmental disorders, she has extensive experience in providing social skills training for ASD as well as organisational skills training for ADHD.
Carmel is a warm and caring clinician, committed to providing a therapeutic environment that is supportive, compassionate and empowering. She believes in taking a collaborative approach with clients and their support networks to develop personalised strategies to reach their goals.
Clinical Interests
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Infant mental health (infants under 12 months and parents)
- Parent-infant bonding difficulties
- Adjustment to parenthood (ante-natal and post-natal)
Children and Adolescents (age 3+):
- Mood difficulties
- Behavioural challenges (eg. Picky eating, bedtime resistance)
- Social difficulties (eg. Social communication)
- Bullying
- Parental Separation/divorce
- Parent-child relationship difficulties
- Trauma
- Stress (academic, home)
- Self-esteem
- Assertiveness training
- Emotion regulation
- Neurodevelopmental disorders (ASD, ADHD)
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Adults:
- Anxiety (generalized anxiety, OCD, social)
- Depression
- Neurodevelopmental disorders (ASD, ADHD)
- Parenting support and strategies
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Assertiveness training
- Stress (academic, work)
- Emotion regulation
- Adjustment and life transitions
Therapeutic Modalities
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Infant parent psychotherapy
- Attachment-based therapy
- Skills training (ASD and ADHD)
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Carmel is available Mondays and Wednesdays at our Ringwood office.