Jess is a local psychologist who has been servicing the western suburbs of Brisbane and online since 2002. She is passionate about providing effective, affordable and accessible evidence based treatments to help you more from where you are, to where you want to be. 

 

Born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Jess embarked on her psychology degree in 1997 at the University of Wollongong. To cement her theoretical knowledge, she completed a drug and alcohol counselling internship at Kedesh Rehabilitation Services in 2000. 

 

In her employ with the Commonwealth Government since 1997, she worked with an array of client groups predominately the unemployed, young people, indigenous, mature-aged and parents. 

 

A mother of two girls, she has an interest in pre and post-natal care and is registered with medicare to provide non-directive pregnancy support. 

​

Having struggled with an overactive sympathetic nervous system (a.k.a anxiety), Jess loves to provide down-to-earth psycho-education while furnishing her clients with a practical psychological toolkit to maximise their brain and life. 

 

Jess is also passionate about helping people achieve their weight and fitness goals. Having lost over 30kgs twice in her life she can assist you with practical skills acquired through her personal experience and professional training as a Psychologist and Personal Trainer. 

In addition to her qualifications as a Psychologist and Personal Trainer, she is also a highly experienced Acceptance and Commitment Therapist (ACT). ACT is a very active therapy focused on creating rich and meaningful lives while developing strategies to deal with the unavoidable painful thoughts and feelings we struggle with.  

 

Jess was first introduced to the evidence-based treatment in 2005 and after seeing the dramatic change it yielded in her life, she became passionate about using ACT to help others realise rich and meaningful lives.  In therapy, we will look at your heart’s deepest desires for what you want to do, and how you want to be during your short time on this planet and work on small achievable goals of how to get where you want to be. ACT continues to prove itself as a quick, effective and lasting transformative therapy.

 

Jess' focus is to guide you towards getting unstuck and creating positive changes in your life, such as changing your relationship with painful thoughts, feelings, memories and internal experiences, letting go of self-defeating beliefs, break self-defeating habits or destructive patterns of behaviour; rise beyond your fears, and start embracing your precious valued life. 

​

Publications:

Smout, M. F., Hayes, L., Atkins, P. W. B., Klausen, J., & Duguid, J. E. (2012). The empirically supported status of acceptance and commitment therapy: An update. Clinical Psychologist, 16(3), 97–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-9552.2012.00051.x

​

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Psychology. University of Wollongong 2002

Certificate III and IV in Fitness. Onfit training 2012

Master of Psychology Practice (Clinical). ACAP 2023