Timothea Goddard - Director
BA, Dip Psych (ANZAP) Workplace Trainer, Cert V, MBSR Cert. (UMass) TSY Yoga teacher (YA500H)
Timothea Goddard is recognised as a pioneer in bringing MBSR to Australia over the past 14 years being the first in Australia to complete the training and be accredited as an MBSR teacher through the Center for Mindfulness, UMass Medical Center, USA; she maintains strong professional links with the international community. Timothea has worked in private practice for 30 years as a psychotherapist and educator having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic and body-based psychotherapy as well as training in MiCBT, ACT, Breathworks, .B, and Mindful Schools and more recently Internal Family Systems and Trauma Sensitive Yoga.
She is the Director of Openground – an Australia-wide network of clinicians and teachers offering MBSR and related programs. Since 2007, she has been offering MBSR training and supervision for health professionals and others and in 2014 was a founding director of MTI (which offers training in MBSR and MBCT) and is currently the Director of Training. She is very interested in the interface of biology and psychology and how mindfulness practice can facilitate the integration between what we experience as "body" and “mind”, as well as inquiring into structures of oppression and how to attend to them inside and out, to lead to more freedom for all.
She is a long time student of yoga, Aikido and meditation and practices in the Insight tradition. She swims in the ocean every morning, does yoga and Pilates, and loves cooking, people and straight-talking.
Deb Algar
Certified Hakomi Therapist, Certified Hakomi Teacher, Dip.Hol. Couns; Cert.Hol.Life Coaching; Cert IV Training & Assessment
Deb has been facilitating MBSR courses for the general public since 2011, after completing MBSR Teacher Training with Openground. She also teaches mindfulness workshops in the workplace. She has worked as a psychotherapist in private practice since 2004, after training in Holistic Counselling and then becoming a Certified Hakomi Therapist. Hakomi is a mindfulness-centred somatic psychotherapy. She is also a Certified Hakomi Teacher on the Hakomi Pacifica Training team. Deb has had a long-term interest in yoga and meditation and has an established mindfulness practice which has developed and deepened over many years. She is passionate about sharing the possibilities for self-discovery, connectedness and freedom that mindfulness offers.
Mark Baxter
Registered Psychologist (Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology)
I’ve been practicing as a psychologist for 16 years and find a lot of meaning and inspiration through work. I really enjoy listening to people and seeking to understand their experience and perspective. Seeing people transform and find freedom is very rewarding. I engage people in therapy with a collaborative, accepting, compassionate and non-judging spirit. This is combined with my ongoing training in cognitive, behavioural, acceptance, somatic and mindfulness based strategies.
As an affiliate of Openground, I have been teaching the MBSR course since 2013. I believe that mindfulness is a skill set and a way of being with practical, relational, emotional and spiritual implications. More than just a stress reduction tool, mindfulness meditation fosters qualities of presence, openness, honesty and expansiveness.
As a clinical supervisor and Practice Leader at The Psychology Spot (a group private practice in Wollongong NSW), I’m passionate about mentoring psychologists to bring a warm and authentic approach to their work.
www.thepsychologyspot.com.au
Astrid de Ruiter
MSc (Physics), Grad Dip Counseling, Dip Holistic Counseling
Hi, my name is Astrid de Ruiter. I am a registered counsellor/psychotherapist (PACFA Clin. Member) and also a certified mindfulness teacher, both with about 14 year of experience. I have a deep trust in people’s capacity to connect with their own inner wisdom and capabilities, and to overcome difficulties in themselves and their lives. I see the therapy process as simply the catalyst they need for change, healing and growth to take place. A session is a collaborative process between you and me and not something I 'do' to you. I use a combination of person-centred counselling, mindfulness, body-focused psychotherapies and Internal Family Systems therapy, which I find to be a powerful, yet gentle and flexible combination. My style of counselling is gentle, authentic and compassionate. One of my strengths is listening deeply to where you're at, and to find what you need to move forward. I often find myself working with people's emotional reactions to challenges in life, and earlier life experiences underlying those reactions. I am based in Maleny, Sunshine Coast Hinterland (just north of Brisbane), and also see people for individual sessions at Moffat Beach (Caloundra) and online viZoom. More details via a my website, www.sunshinecoastmindfulness.com.au
Contact: [email protected] or 0401 624 757
Elizabeth Granger
BEc, LLB, Dip. Som. Psych. PACFA Reg.
Libba is a psychotherapist in private practice in Sydney as well as being a long term mindfulness practitioner. She has been teaching MBSR since 2007 through Openground and is also the co-founding Director of Openground for Organisations which has been running mindfulness programs in corporate, health, educational and government sectors for over a decade.
Prior to that Libba worked as a litigation lawyer for 14 years, including at partnership level, and because of this background, has been passionate about bringing mindfulness into organisations and opening people to the best in themselves and their lives. She understands the realities and practicalities of practising mindfulness in daily life and work, and is passionate about sharing the possibilities for self discoveryand freedom that mindfulness can offer.
She also sits on the Advisory Board of the Mindful Futures Network which looks at new research and applications of mindfulness, empathy and compassion in shaping social change in Australia as well as linking with similar organisations around the world.
Libba brings a very down to earth manner to all her teaching with much warmth and a sense of humour. She practices in the Insight tradition - when she is not teaching mindfulness, surfing and wrangling her three delightful children.
Mary McIntyre
B.A.,Dip. Counselling, Somatic Experiencing ® Trauma Therapy Practitioner, Expressive Therapies, Member Australia Counselling Association
I love teaching the MBSR program and it has given me a window into people’s vast capacity for growth and change. If you have dipped into meditation in any significant way hopefully you have discovered some ease, relief and insight. In addition, you may have discovered your personal edges around past/present undigested emotions and patterns of behaviour. This type of edge can be best addressed in a therapeutic relationship and in the context that warm hearted therapy can offer.
I help people heal their stress, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain and grief practicing various modalities of therapy. One of these is a mindfulness /body based type of trauma therapy called Somatic Experiencing ®
I am happy to have a brief telephone consult to explore if what I offer is right for you at this time. Contact me at [email protected]
https://www.goodtherapy.com.au/mary-a_mcintyre
Nique Murch
BA adult ed. Practitioner: MBSR, Breathworks, IFS, Feldenkrais Movement, IFS Practitioner
Deeper understanding confers that most precious thing — wonder.
Brian Cox
Since the onset of covid, I have started offering one to one Contemplative Play sessions. These are informed by Internal Family Systems therapy, engaged Buddhist practice and Stephen Levine’s grace-filled work with grieving and dying.
Cultivating the relationship between awareness and ‘parts’ of ourselves can be a safe and clarifying way to explore emotions and stress reactivity. As a facilitator and fellow traveller, my intention is to gently help you orient to this inner world of vulnerable and rowdy parts, shining some light onto the unique landscape you inhabit. Initially, learning to navigate in this new way may be easier with a reliable, friendly companion who has some scroggin* and a compass in her pocket.
*NZ term for a mixture of dried fruit, nuts, and other food eaten as a snack by hikers.
Eva Papadopoulo
Cert.Couns., Grad Dip. Psychotherapy, Mem., A.A.S.P. Member PACFA Register.
Eva is a psychotherapist and is in private practice in Sydney. She has been an MBSR teacher with Openground since 2004 and is a co-director and mindfulness teacher with the Mindfulness Training Institute of Australasia. She has also designed and teaches the Living with Compassion workshop. Eva trained in body-oriented, contemporary psychodynamic, developmental and relational orientations with the Somatic Institute of Australia in 2000 and trained with Openground and attended the Teacher Development Intensive offered by the CFM with Bob Stahl and Florence Meleo-Meyer in 2012. Eva has also had much experience in teaching mindfulness meditation as pain-management with cancer, HIV and AIDS and has worked in many organizations offering stress and anger management. Her interest in an integrated body-mind approach both personally and professionally has been deepened through many years of practice in insight meditation, yoga, Ortho-Bionomy, Body Mind Centering (BMC) and dance and theatre improvisation.