Hello, my name is Gena Fawns. I’m a somatic psychotherapist and counsellor practicing in Fairfield, Melbourne. Since 1989, I have helped many individuals resolve and manage the problems they face. I am available either online or in my clinic with appropriate safeguards.

I work with adults experiencing 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.

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, then 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 health practitioner with experience in supporting adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse.

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 am 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.