Our faculty

Sally is a Gestalt psychotherapist, supervisor, and training facilitator, with over twenty years’ experience, who has worked across a variety of community, specialist, and workplace settings. Sally’s clinical experience has focused on providing therapy with people experiencing substance use, mental health difficulties, complex trauma, loss, grief, sexual assault and family violence. Sally has a keen interest in how the principles of Relational Gestalt Therapy enliven and support professional presence both within and beyond therapeutic encounters. As such, Sally is an experienced senior manager of multidisciplinary wellbeing teams in large and complex organisations, such as Victoria Police and The University of Melbourne. Sally has been a GTA faculty member since 2019, and absolutely loves the rich vitality of this experiential group training program. Sally has also taught the Diploma of Counselling, Diploma of Family Intake and Support Work, and Certificate IV in Alcohol and Other Drugs in Australia’s VET system. Sally was the Education and Training Manager for beyondblue where she managed the development, delivery and evaluation of mental health and wellbeing training nationally for a diverse range of audiences. As an independent consultant to the Qatar Supreme Council of Health, Sally developed, piloted, and evaluated Qatar’s inaugural workplace mental health and wellbeing training.

Gina is a psychotherapist in private practice in Brunswick West, VIC. She has a special interest in exploring chronic pain and illness through a Gestalt lens. In her practice, she draws on body process and parts work to help people befriend, make meaning of and often recover from physical symptoms in the context of their broader life concerns.

Karolina is a provisional psychologist, and she completed her Gestalt psychotherapy training at The Relational Institute Australia (TRIA) in Sydney in 2017. Karolina works with clients in private practice, and her interest in Gestalt psychotherapy reflects her passion for a deeper understanding of well-being and satisfactory interpersonal relationships. Sha is an experienced academic researcher, and her main interest for the last 25 years has been suicide research and prevention. Since 2020, Karolina has been a member of Gestalt Australia and New Zealand (GANZ) Council. Karolina completed a graduate internship in the ConnectGround clinic in 2018 and returned as a volunteer completing another 3 years in this capacity.

Nicole is an accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Psychotherapist with specialist training in Gestalt Therapy and Couple Counselling. She has a particular interest in the relational contexts in which we live and works with clients to develop personal awareness and relational capacity. In professional supervision Nicole supports the development of the whole practitioner with attention to internal and external supports. Nicole enjoys supporting new and training therapists to put theory into practice and find their unique way of being a therapist.

Tom is a psychotherapist, social worker, supervisor and trainer. He works in private practice in the western suburbs of Melbourne and has been a faculty member and trainer at Gestalt Therapy Australia since 2009. He previously worked in community health counselling, mental health, disability and respite services and community development. He has a particular interest in relational supervision and the learning potential of groups for training and psychotherapy. He is an ongoing student of the Diamond Approach, which is an integration of spiritual and psychological traditions.

Sally is an accredited mental health social worker, psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. Sally worked in community health for over 15 years, predominately in family violence and is now in private practice. Sally works with individuals & couples and offers clinical supervision to individuals and groups. She is interested in how early relational experiences present as enduring character styles in adulthood. Sally’s therapeutic work is influenced by her belief that with increased awareness clients have the capacity to resolve difficulties, enhance their sense of well being, increase their resilience and self support, and experience fulfilling relationships.

Sean is a mental health accredited social worker and Gestalt psychotherapist working in private practice in Melbourne. Prior to working full-time in private practice, Sean spent ten years working clinically in tertiary, primary and community health care settings. Sean has worked with individuals, couples and families and enjoys working with a diverse range of clients. He has worked with young people and developmental difficulties, grief, anxiety/depression, complex trauma and abuse and transition. He also worked across non-government and Aboriginal organisational settings. He is also presently helping coordinate the Gestalt Seminar.

Fred is a psychologist and psychotherapist with an extensive background in child, adolescent and family psychology. His clinical skills are well crafted around processes of attachment and development, complex trauma, mental-health and addiction. In private practice, Fred more commonly works with individual adults and couples and provides organisational supervision. He originally trained in family therapy before studying Gestalt therapy and has been a Gestalt therapy trainer for over 20 years. Fred has a particular interest in integrating Gestalt theory and practice alongside other models of psychotherapy and within an epistemological framework.

Rhys joined the teaching faculty in 2022. He is a psychotherapist in private practice in Castlemaine. In his psychotherapeutic practice, Rhys is particularly interested in exploring embodiment, experimentation, and relational process. He has published over 50 journal articles, book chapters, and reports on topics such as psychotherapy, mental health, fatherhood, family life, and social theory. He was previously the Editor of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Journal of Australia (PACJA). Rhys is a student in the Ordinary Mind Zen School.

Noel has been a faculty member and trainer at Gestalt Therapy Australia since 2001, and works in full time private practice as a psychologist, and psychotherapist. He works with individuals and couples, as well as offering supervision to allied health professionals. He also practices and teachers Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, an innovative experiential approach to psychotherapy. Noel has worked extensively in a wide variety of counselling and psychological services since 1995, including as Senior Psychologist at Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre for 4 years. Previous to this he has worked in family counselling, drug and alcohol, sexual assault, problematic gambling, men’s behavioural change programs, and several other mental health fields.

Anna teaches on faculty at GTA and in the counselling department of Victoria University. She is a psychologist and psychotherapist in private practice with a special interest in here-and-now embodied experience. This has been enabled by many sources of privilege including race, sexuality, class, location and physical ability. Anna has worked as a yoga teacher and continues a passionate individual practice in the tradition of Scaravelli. She is committed to sitting in conversation with people and engaging with their present experience, trusting their curiosity and energy to grow towards what feels most integrated, meaningful and satisfying in their lives.

Awombda is a Gestalt psychotherapist, supervisor, and creative arts therapist. Awombda has worked in the community sector for over twenty years and is passionate about social justice. She currently works in both private practice and a community health setting. She supports creative exploration and experiential body work in her clinical practice. Awombda has previously worked as a sessional teacher at MIECAT (Melbourne Institute of Experiential Creative Arts Therapy) and values creating spaces in which curiosity can be manifested and explored.

Leanne O'Shea is a psychotherapist, supervisor and educator. She studied the Gestalt approach in Melbourne and London. In addition to her private practice work, she holds a number of teaching positions, including the Director of Training at Gestalt Therapy Australia. She is also an Associate with Relational Change in the UK. She is interested in creating greater awareness of and sensitivity to our relational responsibility and is particularly passionate about the place of sexuality and the erotic within the therapeutic relationship.

Tony is a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer. He works with people to support resilience and wellbeing and helps them develop a sense of vitality and choice in their lives. He provides supervision for psychotherapists which assist them to deepen their own personal and professional capacities. Tony also provides training for individuals and groups that focuses on building responsiveness to individual and group needs in emergent situations.