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About Donna Bedells

Children's Counsellor, Play Therapist, Filial Therapist

For more than 30 years, I have found long-term inspiration working with children, adolescents and their families. My experience is drawn from a range of settings including Child Centred Play Therapy, Filial Therapy (Child-Parent Relationship Therapy) training, counselling of children and families, Children's Services and a domestic violence children's counselling service. For several years, I have been proud to be the principal therapist at Embley House Counselling for Children, a family conducted private practice serving the Joondalup area.

In previous roles, while training senior staff in Children's Services at private colleges in Perth, I developed several training packages including Parenting Skills, Child Care courses and Cultural Variations in Child-Rearing Practices. I have been actively involved in working with children with special needs and I have developed numerous Individual Education Plans and Individual Family Service Plans. I bring a crucial understanding of early childhood development to my work.

I have extensive experience working with children and young people aged 3-18 years. The children I see have been travelling with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. Typically these may be caused by difficulties with anxiety, attachment, self-esteem, relationships, school, health, bullying, grief and loss, trauma, family break-downs, processing difficulties, domestic violence or all forms of abuse, including sexual abuse.

I have received extensive individual supervision (and continue to receive clinical supervision) from Dr. William Nordling who is the co-author of the book "Child Centered Play Therapy" and who is widely recognised as a leading trainer of Louise Guerney's approach to Child Centred Play Therapy.

My approach is to create a trusting, warm and safe relationship where the child feels heard and accepted and can gain a sense of mastery over the issues or experiences in their lives. I am a firm believer in the power and effectiveness of Child Centred Play Therapy and Filial Therapy.

My therapeutic approach is to work in partnership with families to address a range of issues that parents face. I focus on offering support and guidance to parents to build their attachment with their children, to create positive relationships and to enable them to feel excited about parenting. Whilst still recognising the past, I encourage parents to focus on the present and look to the future.

I am an ACFED Approved Eating Disorder Practitioner.

Formal qualifications include:
Graduate Diploma of Counselling (Family Therapy) [AIPC];
Bachelor of Social Science (Children & Family Studies major, Disability Studies minor) [Edith Cowan];
Post-Grad Diploma in Play Therapy [a clinical training programme from Play Therapy Australia];
Diploma in Counselling [Open Colleges];
ACFED Approved Eating Disorder Practitioner.
Three year curriculum of Interpersonal Neurobiology - The Mindsight Institute - by Dr Daniel J. Siegel, M.D

Professional Memberships include:
Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia: PACFA Reg. Clinical 2232;



 
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