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PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO A HIGH LEVEL OF DEMAND FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES, I AM UNABLE TO ACCEPT NEW REFERRALS AT THE CURRENT TIME.
Hello, my name is Gena Fawns. I’m a somatic psychotherapist and counsellor practicing in Fairfield, Melbourne, since 1989. I am available either online or in my clinic with appropriate Covid safeguards. I work with adults facing difficulties in any area of life, particularly anxiety, depression, emotional regulation, childhood trauma and abuse, relationship problems, communication, self-esteem, or addiction. I provide a supportive, understanding and safe place where you can explore your concerns and find a way forward. I draw on many techniques, theories and my own experience, to listen and respond to each individual. |
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My therapeutic focus is on the person and their lived experience, which includes their feelings, emotions and thoughts. Through empathic understanding I help clients build cohesion and resilience. I combine an awareness of somatics and the bodily level of experience with a humanistic approach to the integration of all parts of the Self. Before starting my practice 30 years ago, I qualified and worked as a social worker, and completed five years’ training in somatic psychotherapy. Since then I have taken additional courses in self psychology, emotion-focused therapy, mindfulness, couple therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, embodied imagination, infant observation, neurotherapy, and intersubjectivity. I am listed on the Referral Database of the Blue Knot Foundation as a mental health practitioner with experience in supporting adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse. |
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| In 2013 I completed a Master of Counselling at La Trobe University. In recent years I have studied meditation in various forms, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga and Transforming Stress into Well-Being. In 2018 I completed a course in contemporary psychotherapy with the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (IPSS), New York.
I was a founding member of the Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapists (AASP), and gained accreditation as a Somatic Psychotherapist in 1991. I am on the Clinical Register of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA), and a member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP). I am also an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). I follow and comply with the Ethical Codes of all these associations. |
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