Hi, I'm Lysh.

I've been a Clinical Psychologist for fourteen years. I am passionate about helping women heal and then thrive. I have worked with women through anxiety and perfectionism, through pregnancy and early motherhood, through trauma that surfaced decades after the fact, and through the particular exhaustion of a body that stopped behaving predictably.

I built a psychology practice from myself alone to a team of sixteen and sold it in 2021. I've supervised early-career psychologists, I’ve previously held endorsement as a credentialed eating disorder clinician and I've trained in the most effective therapies we have on offer — EMDR, ACT, schema therapy, CBT, DBT, parts work, attachment informed perinatal therapies, compassion-focused therapy. That’s a very, very brief overview of my skills and experience.

What I feel is most valuable for you to know is that I combine my experience and skills with the most valuable ingredient for healing - I'm a fellow human in the room. I’m here to walk the healing journey alongside you. Sessions with me will never feel cold or too clinical; they will feel connected, safe, not always easy but useful with the aim of closing the gap between your life now and the life you want for yourself. I draw on the most helpful components of a range of modalities depending on your most unique needs.

I have two young children, I live on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and I've spent enough of my own life doing the harder version of this work to know what it asks of someone.

Who I work with

Women, mostly. Often capable, conscientious women who are managing a great deal and haven't told many people how hard it's been. Frequently at a point where something has shifted — a pregnancy, a new baby, a diagnosis, a month that keeps going wrong, a feeling of not being enough, an old memory that won't settle.

Read on to learn a little about me or watch me chat on The Pregnancy Process Podcast about the importance of ‘doing our work’ on our journey through pregnancy and motherhood here

Work with me

SPECIALISATIONS

 

I am deeply passionate about helping women not only to cope through the difficult aspects of their life, but to develop a psychological resilience that will allow them to truly experience fulfilment, authenticity, wholeness and vitality in their life.

I have specific, tailored experience and interest in helping women with the following presentations:

  • Trauma and PTSD including sexual assault, birth trauma, multiple or enduring traumas, relational wounds, trauma from childhood

  • Anxiety disorders

  • Stress and burn out

  • Perinatal mental health including: fertility difficulties and assisted reproduction, psychological preparation for Motherhood, grief and loss, termination support, gender disappointment, prenatal anxiety / depression and adjustment, postnatal anxiety / depression and adjustment; parent-infant relationship, return to work adjustment, parental burn out, matrescence and postpartum depletion

  • Family of origin and attachment work - healing unmet needs, attachment patterns, intergenerational issues and trauma in childhood

  • Zebra health conditions (such as MCAS and POTS), psychoneuroimmunological disorders, chronic health conditions and invisible health conditions

  • Eating disorders, especially binge eating disorder. (Note: I am not taking on new clients with eating disorder presentations at the moment).

  • Low self-esteem and self-confidence, feelings of worthlessness or not being ‘good enough’

  • Grief and loss

  • Negative body image

  • Life transitions

 

QUALIFICATIONS

 

Master of Psychology (Clinical), with Distinction

Bachelor of Science (Psychology)(Honours)

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency no. PSY0001684541

EMDR trained

Member of the Australian Psychological Society

Member of the APS College of Clinical Psychologists

 
 

Alysha’s current offerings

  • 1. Trauma therapy and EMDR intensives

    An optimised, faster paced treatment plan adapted by Alysha as an alternative to the slower progressing weekly therapy sessions that are typically used in psychotherapy. This approach provides an opportunity to commit to achieving faster changes, healing symptoms and experiencing relief more efficiently. See my intensive page for more info.

  • 2. Perinatal mental health

    I can support you through the evolution in your sense of self, emotional challenges, grief and interpersonal challenges that come up during this unique and complex time in your life. Intensive sessions for healing birth and fertility trauma also available.

  • 3. Women's therapy

    I am highly experienced in providing effective therapy for a range of women’s mental health issues - eating disorders, attachment wounds, burn out, anxiety and relationship troubles to name a few.

My Approach

 

My approach draws on therapeutic modalities that are supported by scientific research. Don’t stress if these terms mean nothing to you - we will discuss the approach I feel will be most effective for you and I will explain all you need to understand to get the most out of therapy. I work in an integrated, personalised way using a range of therapeutic approaches:

-        Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR), a gold standard trauma treatment. I have completed advanced EMDR training and this is my predominant therapeutic approach.

-        Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

-       Ego state and Internal Family Systems informed parts work

-        Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

-        Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and CBT-E (Enhanced for Eating Disorders)

-        Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)

-        Schema Therapy

-        Emotional Freedom and breath work techniques

-        Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) - a type of meditation therapy

 

EmDR

EMDR is a psychotherapy that provides healing of symptoms and emotional distress resulting from disturbing, painful life experiences. The Australian Psychological Society has rated EMDR as a Level 1 trauma treatment - the highest rating that can be applied to a treatment approach. Over 20 controlled studies show using EMDR therapy is effective in a relatively rapid time frame compared to other approaches (Shapiro, 2014). Some of the studies show that 84%-90% of single-trauma victims no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder after only three 90-minute sessions (EMDR Institute). Learn more

ACT

ACT is an experience based therapy with the core goal of building psychological flexibility to move through the difficult aspects of life that are an unavoidable consequence of being human. The results one can expect to experience are: learning to fully engage in the richness of the present moment, connecting with and living by values and developing a more adaptive relationship to unwanted, difficult thoughts and feelings.