Hi, I’m Bianca,
A perinatal and child-focused Clinical Psychologist passionate about guiding those who are struggling to manage and understand their emotions and mental health throughout the perinatal period and beyond.
I work with individuals and couples from pre-conception through to parenthood, on a variety of issues including:
Feelings of Depression.
Feelings of Anxiety.
Grief and loss related to all forms of pregnancy and child loss.
Pregnancy after loss.
Fertility challenges.
Overwhelm and confusion around how to respond to the intense and challenging emotions and behaviours expressed by their infants, toddlers, and children.
Intense and complicated feelings/thoughts that arise in response to previous trauma.
Communication difficulties.
Difficulties with managing intense emotions.
Parenting on different pages.
Body image difficulties.
Disordered eating.
I wholeheartedly believe you have everything within you for things to change.
I can show you how.
My why:
I came to support parents and families via the detour of Forensic Psychology. To some, this may seem like a sideways step but the pathway makes total sense if you’ll give me a moment to explain…
My early research and training within the Criminal Justice System opened my eyes to the contributing biological, social and psychological factors that led individuals into the system. It appeared that the knowledge of regulating and coping with emotions was absent from so many people in this setting. Not knowing what to do with big feelings like anger, disappointment, grief, and fear was a significant contributor to the cycling cascade of poor mental health, poor relationships, and dysregulated behaviour.
Missing out on the opportunity to develop emotion regulation skills is sadly common, but it doesn’t have to be! The best time to develop these skills is in childhood, and children rely heavily upon their caregivers to do so. If parents however, have also missed out on or struggled with developing these skills, it can be an enormous challenge to raise emotionally intelligent little humans.
I came to believe that one of the best things we can offer our society and future generations, is to support parents and families, to bolster everyone’s emotional resources so that their trajectories are brighter.
My Doctoral research saw me working one on one with parents of children who had a range of emotional and behavioural challenges using the parenting program Tuning Into Kids. Together we explored and experimented with some different parenting strategies to build up their child's emotional intelligence. What we found in the pilot trial of this program, was that working together in this way had the beautiful effect of reducing children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties. More importantly, both parents and children came away from the program with so much more understanding about themselves and each other, and with a richer relationship.
A strong belief that I have developed so far as a clinical psychologist (and as a Mum), is that all the parenting strategies in the world can mean nothing if the person trying to use them is struggling to make sense of their own emotions and mental health. For this reason, I see my role as supporting parents so that they can more easily support themselves and their families.
Support parents the way they deserve and the child will naturally flourish.
And so that is how I came full circle (or to the beginning of the circle) to focus my work and professional life on supporting those in the delicate perinatal period.
I believe my power is in holding space for the very valid expressions of grief, confusion, or overwhelm, and drawing on my clinical skills to support you through them.
MY QUALIFICATIONS
Doctor of Psychology (Clinical and Forensic Psychology) from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.
Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) from Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.
Tuning in to Kids Certification from Mindful Centre for Research and Developmental Health.
Trained in the Gottman Approach to working with Couples.
Post graduate training in Perinatal and Infant Mental Health.
I am very passionate about avoiding the pathologisation of childhood - whereby children are diagnosed as problematic or disordered without first understanding what is going on beneath their behaviour.
Instead, I advocate for tuning into who the child is, what they are communicating and needing, and helping you to thrive in connection with one another.
More about me:
I see and feel where you are because I have been there too.
As a mum to two littlies, you’ll find me somewhere between figuring out this one phase of parenthood and being catapulted into the next. I fully understand the highs and lows that come with motherhood as I am living it too.
I have experienced the heartbreaking loss of miscarriage and termination for medical reasons and the mental Olympics of pregnancy (and then parenting) that follows after such loss.
It is not just my professional passion that drives this work, it is also the genuine compassion and empathy of someone who understands and has been on your journey too.
Outside of work and motherhood you’ll find me with a podcast (or Harry Styles…) in my earbuds, or trying to keep my house plants alive.
I’m passionate about breaking down the walls that patriarchal motherhood has us held within, to free us to live and parent the way our heart tells us to.
Above all, I look forward to supporting you on your own rich and rewarding inner journey.