Clinical Psychologist
BAppSc(Hons),
DPsych(Clin Child, Adol & Fam)
Dr Jenny Hansen is a clinical psychologist who completed a Doctorate of Clinical Child, Adolescent and Family Psychology in 2003 and began working as a registered clinical psychologist at this time. Jenny has specialist training and extensive clinical experience in the area of assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and families, having worked for many years in child and adolescent mental health.
Jenny spent much of her early career working at Eastern Health Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service in varying roles. She worked in the Adolescent Day program, a group therapy program for adolescents with psychiatric disorders in addition to working in the outpatient clinic providing assessment and treatment to children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Treatment modalities included parent and family therapy, group therapy and individual therapy for children and adolescents as well as conducting a case management role, which involved liaison with a number of community services and the child or adolescent’s school. In addition, risk assessments were a routine part of the assessment process for children and adolescents referred to child and adolescent mental health.
Later on in her career, Jenny worked in the role as a senior clinical psychologist at Eastern Health child and adolescent mental health service providing supervision to clinicians within the mental health team as well as working with children and adolescents with the most complex presenting difficulties. Previous to this time, Jenny was working in private practice treating with people across the age span including adults, children, and adolescents who have experienced a range of psychiatric or psychological difficulties.
Jenny very much enjoys working with people from all age groups as noted from early childhood to older adult. The most important focus for Jenny is developing a trusting and supportive working relationship to assist her clients in better understanding and coping with their individual difficulties and to make positive changes in their lives. Jenny highly values honesty and is transparent about her therapy approach, and facilitating the goal in therapy to work collaboratively so clients always feel safe to share their experiences and needs and so therapy space can be adapted as client’s progress.
Jenny works in many different ways depending on clients’ specific needs and goals and she works with clients over varying time frames depending on their individual needs. Jenny often conducts relatively brief and successful therapy, however she also has long term relationships with clients over a period of many months that have more complex psychiatric needs. Therapy modalities include Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), insight-oriented therapy, solution focused therapy as well as parent support and family therapy. Further, Jenny works closely with all professionals involved believing strongly that collaborative work results in the best outcome for her clients.
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Client Interests
Children and Adolescents
- Mood disturbance or depression
- Anxiety (separation anxiety, social anxiety, OCD, persistent worry, panic symptoms/attacks)
- Behavioural disturbance (oppositional/defiant behaviour)
- Anger management
- Parenting support
- School refusal
- Learning difficulties
- Social difficulties (bullying and friendships issues)
- Parental/sibling/family difficulties
- Adjustment issues
- Family system changes (e.g. separating parents)
- Grief and trauma
- Sleep disturbance
- Toileting difficulties
- Eating difficulties
Therapeutic Modalities
Children and Adolescents
- Play based therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Acceptance Commitment Therapy (with adolescents)
- Parent support/therapy
- Dyad sessions with child/adolescent and parent
- Family therapy
- Group therapy
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Client Interests
Adults
- Mood disturbance or depression (including Bipolar and PND)
- Adjustment concerns
- Anxiety (Social Anxiety, Panic, OCD)
- Grief and Loss
- Trauma (Acute Stress Disorder, PTSD)
- Relationship difficulties (marital discord, separation/divorce)
- Interpersonal difficulties (social skills, communication skills)
- Sleep disturbance
- Stress management
Therapeutic Modalities
Adults
- Acceptance Commitment Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Solution focused Therapy
- Insight oriented therapy
Client Groups
- Adults
- Children
- Adolescent
- Parent support
- Family therapy
- Group therapy
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Jenny is available for Tuesday and Wednesday appointments, including day and evening appointments.