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Services
Adults
Romney has experience working in adult mental health within the health department (Outpatient Community Mental Health), working with parents and carers within the child protection system, and in private practice. He works with adults treating a range of mental health conditions including anxiety, depression, addiction, and personality disorders. Treatment typically involves a combination of psychological education, behaviour change strategies, relaxation strategies, learning new skills to manage thought processes, and building self-awareness. Sometimes treatment may also involve working through past traumatic experiences. Addressing issues such as anxiety and depression can help individuals move forward to live happier, more fulfilling lives.
Couples
Understanding relationship dynamics and changing long standing patterns of relating to each other can make a big difference in relationship satisfaction. Couples therapy is a valuable process in getting relationships back on track and building stronger more intimate connections. Romney is experienced in working with couples and helping them to navigate complex interpersonal challenges. Romney’s approach typically involves understanding the differences in each person’s assumptions, building awareness of how conflict is managed, and developing new ways of relating and communicating.
It is no secret that divorce rates are high in our society. Current research suggests that around 30% of Australian marriages end in divorce, with around half of these involving children**. Considering the high prevalence of relationship breakdown in our society it is wise to get professional help to improve this vitally important aspect of life.
** Source : Australian Bureau of Statistics, Marriages and Divorces, Australia, 2016
Families & Children
Romney’s approach to working with families and children involves a combination of gaining an understanding the child’s inner world, understanding the family system and dynamics, and strengthening the attachment relationship between the child and parents. Work with children often involves developing emotion regulation skills, anger management, strategies to manage anxiety, and social skills development. A typical session would include some time with the parent and child together, and then some time with both the child and the parent individually. Romney is trained in delivering Circle of Security Parent Training (an attachment-based model of parenting). He has several years’ experience working with very complex family dynamics within the child protection system.
Young People
Young people face a unique array of challenges that are often not well understood by the adults in their lives. Beneath this complexity is often a common core that revolves around the need for meaningful connection with others. Therapy with young people tends to work best when it is sensitive to and respectful of the complexities and social challenges that that they are facing. Romney’s approach to working with young people is based upon developing an understanding of the complex issues that each individual young person is facing and building trust to work through these issues together.
Intervention for Trauma
Resolution of unprocessed traumatic memories is often an important aspect of psychological treatment. Best practice for trauma processing involves a three phase approach that includes stabilisation and skills building, trauma processing, and integration.
The first phase, stabilisation and skills building, is particularly important for creating a stable base and ensuring that the client has the skills to manage the negative emotions that typically arises during trauma processing. The second phase, trauma processing, can be achieved by a variety of modalities, but most commonly includes Trauma Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (TF-CBT) and/or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR). This phase involves working through the emotional, cognitive and physiological aspects of the traumatic memory. This typically involves experiencing emotions that were dissociated at the time of the traumatic experience and also correcting cognitive distortions that have arisen in the context of the traumatic event. The trauma processing phase is typically a relatively brief component of therapy when the stabilization phase has been done well.
The final phase, integration, involves assisting the client to assimilate their traumatic experiences into their overall life narrative, and to move forward in life with new skills and without the baggage of unprocessed emotions and cognitive distortions. The length of time required for the integration phase is dependent upon a number of factors including personal resilience, and the intensity and chronicity of the traumatic experiences.
Romney is experienced in working with complex trauma in both adults and children.
Outreach
Outside the Box Psychology is the name of our clinical outreach service. This is a specialised service for clients who are unable or unlikely to engage in traditional therapy services. This may include therapy sessions delivered at home or other places in the community such as in a park, at the beach, or at a sports field. Video conference (Skype) sessions may also be used as part of this service. Service provision is negotiated on a case-by-case basis, is dependent upon clinician availability, and additional fees apply for out of office sessions.