How individual exploration can help
"Meditation wasn’t designed to heal early psychological wounds." Debra Flics
Gentleness, curiosity, compassion
BA, Dip Psych (ANZAP) Workplace Trainer, Cert V, MBSR Cert. (UMass) TSY Yoga teacher (YA500H) IFS Levels 1 and II
I have been offering psychotherapy in private practice for 35 years having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic and body-based psychotherapy as well as mindfulness approaches and more recently - Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Trauma Sensitive Yoga. I love assisting people to get more access to their own basic goodness - in terms of their clarity, courage and wisdom. IFS has been a revelation to me in terms of its effectiveness and how it dovetails so beautifully with meditation practice.
I also am the steward (director) of both Openground and the Mindfulness Training Institute - Australia and New Zealand, and am deeply grateful to have so many insightful, straight-talking and loving people in both of these organisations with whom I can pursue my interests. Some of them are listed here!
Contact: [email protected]
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.
Contact: [email protected]
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
MSc (Physics), Grad Dip Counseling, Dip Holistic Counseling
I am a registered counsellor and 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
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.
Contact: [email protected]
BA adult ed. Practitioner: MBSR, Breathworks, IFS, Feldenkrais Movement, IFS Practitioner
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.
Contact: [email protected]
Cert.Couns., Grad Dip. Psychotherapy, Mem., A.A.S.P. Member PACFA Register.
Hello, my name is Eva Papadopoulo. I have been teaching MBSR with Openground since 2004 and am a co-director and mindfulness trainer with the Mindfulness Training Institute of Australia and New Zealand. I have also co-developed and teach the Living with Wisdom and Compassion course. I began my private practice as a psychotherapist in 2002 in Sydney having trained in body-oriented psychotherapy, psychodynamic, developmental and relational orientations with the Somatic Psychotherapy Institute of Australia in 2000. I have also had much experience in teaching mindfulness meditation as pain-management with cancer, HIV and AIDS. My personal and professional interest in nourishing and healing our past so we can live in the present with more peace and ease is informed by an integrated body-mind approach deepened through her many years of practice in insight meditation, yoga, Ortho-Bionomy, Body Mind Centering (BMC) and dance and theatre improvisation. I have a love and curiosity for what moves the heart and brings connection.
Contact: [email protected]
IFS Level 1; BA Social Work; Registered MBSR (MTIA); Grad Dip Yoga Therapy (AIYT); Advanced Dip Yoga Teaching (AYA)