curved edge

About

Home / About

Meet Pippa

I have lived and worked in Australia and overseas, having grown up in Sydney. I later relocated to Canberra inspired by its proximity to nature and all that this has to offer. With a passion for outdoor adventures including hiking and cycling I have a lived experience of the benefits of movement and exercise on my own sense of well-being. Having practiced yoga since the mid-90s I became an accredited yoga teacher in 2010 and I teach mainstream yoga classes in Canberra.

Combining my dedication as a psychotherapist working with trauma, and my passion for yoga, I have completed training as an accredited Trauma Centre Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (TCTSY-F). This is a yoga method developed by Dr Bessel van der Kolk and David Emerson of the Boston Trauma Centre, specifically for people with Complex Trauma histories. I facilitate TCTSY groups and individual TCTSY practices in Canberra. More information about TCTSY and the related services I offer can be found at www.canberra-trauma-yoga.com.

I am committed to ongoing mindful reflection of how my white privilege impacts on all those people with whom my life intersects. My personal journey and professional work are informed by anti-oppression, and racial and social equity and justice. I am humbled by the wisdom developed by those with lived experience of marginalisation due to race, culture, religious practice, economic background, physical disability, gender and sexual orientation.

Skills and Experience

I have been working as a psychotherapist and counsellor for over 30 years in a variety of government and non-government agencies including a sexual assault service, a rape crisis centre, a victims of crime support service, a women’s health service and an early parenting counselling service. I have worked in private practice in Sydney for 11 years and in private practice in Canberra for six years.

My areas of specialisation include Complex Trauma (the impact of sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect in childhood, and exposure to family violence), attachment trauma and trauma in adulthood (domestic violence, coercive control in relationships, rape). Further, I have developed expertise in working with people adjusting to the demands of parenthood and/or wanting to specifically process birth trauma.

I have also completed extensive training in the therapeutic modality of Trauma Informed Stabilisation Treatment (TIST) with Dr Janina Fisher at the Academy of Therapy Wisdom (Boston, MA USA). This modality is particularly helpful for people struggling with unresolved childhood trauma.

My skills and experience extend to helping people process single event traumas and addressing PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Given the compelling research on the short and long-term effects of trauma and how it is expressed and held by the body I have completed comprehensive training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP) with the SP Institute in Colorado, USA.

My formal trainings in Internal Family Systems (IFS Institute, USA) and Self-Psychology (ANZAP) support a deep understanding of the unmet developmental needs resulting from trauma in childhood and the short and long-term effects of trauma in adulthood, offering effective ways of managing and transforming the same.

Contact

I can be contacted via email or phone during business hours. Please note I read my emails intermittently. If you require a faster response please leave a message on my phone via text or voicemail.

My contact details

phone
0406 244 011

Hours

Monday to Friday 9am–5pm
Email contact form
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
aboriginal flag

I respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land in the Canberra Region, the Ngunnawal People, and pay my deep respects to the elders past and present of the land on which I live and work. I acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.