Hello, my name is Dr Anu Paradkar

My personal belief is that despite our histories and circumstances we strive for purpose, fulfilment and growth. I try and ask myself how I can create a safe therapeutic space where my clients can move forward in that journey.

Essentially all the clients I work with come to therapy because they want to improve their quality of life, want to understand themselves better and want to work in a safe, collaborative and non-judgmental space that facilitates exploration and understanding.

Some of the challenges that I work through with my clients include; feeling stressed/distressed, finding that they are unable to stop worrying, or are feeling down about themselves and experiencing low self-esteem, self-doubt, mood swings, interpersonal difficulties, have very negative or harmful thoughts and/or experiences of depression and anxiety. I have a special interest in helping those that have experienced trauma and I have worked with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, childhood neglect, attachment injuries and eating disorders.

I also work with clients that are not necessarily experiencing anxiety or distress but want to work on improving their understanding of themselves, improve their resilience and build on their strengths.

My approach in therapy is collaborative, individual-centred and evidence-based. I believe it is essential to work with my clients to identify individual needs from therapy, strengths that they bring with them which have often been long overlooked, and to work together to develop a formulation and treatment plan.

Goals in therapy can range from developing skills and coping mechanisms to deal with recent stressors or focus on addressing long-enduring life patterns.

Modalities that I draw from include Schema Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness and Emotion Focused Therapy.

I have worked across Government, public and private practice in Australia and overseas, and have experience working with people of different cultures and belief systems. I appreciate that distress can present differently and can be experienced differently. I view the cultural lens as important when trying to navigate distress and improving quality of life.

I am an endorsed Clinical Psychologist, and a registered Board Approved Supervisor. I am registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and a Medicare provider of specialist clinical psychology services.

In the initial consult, I will try and get to know you and work with you to identify what you would like out of working together and the goals of therapy. I will also conduct a detailed clinical assessment over the initial two consultations- this will provide an understanding of you in the context of your experiences and will enable me to create a formulation that I can share with you to start the collaborative journey and work towards the goals of therapy.

Work in therapy will focus on addressing what ‘you need’. The number of sessions involved in treatment is dependent on your presenting concerns and the goals of therapy are different for each individual.

Work in therapy can roughly be classified as:

• Addressing symptoms/ finding strategies/ building skills.

• Addressing long enduring life patterns.

When addressing longer enduring patterns a longer commitment may be required and this is something that we will discuss in the initial consults.

My professional affiliations include:

• Member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS)
• Fellow of the Clinical College of Psychology (FCCLP)
• Member of the Australian Clinical Psychology Association (ACPA).
• Member of the International Society of Schema Therapy (IIST)
• Australian Centre For Eating Disorders Practitioner (ACFED Practitioner)