Joondalup

Psychology Team

Hendrik Uys

We are grateful to have Hendrik join the Excelsis Team. Hendrik is a qualified Counselling Psychologist with a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology. He has many years of experience working with young people and their families. He values authenticity, growth, creativity and connection within a therapeutic process based on evidence based approaches. He has practiced as a psychologist since 2011 within private practice and school contexts and appreciates the opportunity to be part of others’ journeys and to grow with his clients.

Hendrik works with children and adolescents between the ages of 2 to 18 years, as well as parents and adult clients. He is passionate about working with children and their families to support emotional well-being, optimise overall functioning and work towards their therapeutic goals. Hendrik’s therapeutic areas of interest include anxiety (including generalised anxiety, perfectionism, separation anxiety, selective mutism, panic, panic attacks and social anxiety), depression and low mood, school refusal, sleep difficulties, depression, and parenting stress, as well as emotion regulation, anger, behavioural, social and learning difficulties. He is skilled in diagnostic assessments, incl. ADHD, Developmental Disorders, Specific Learning Disorders, Gifted & Talented, School Readiness, and Neuro-psychological assessments.

Hendrik believes “If we look back we can see challenges that we overcame, we can see how we have grown and this helps us connect to the strength and resilience that we have inside of us. There are times in life that we need help with the process of overcoming these challenges and integrating the growth.” Hendrik is a counselling psychologist that views the problem as the problem; the person is not the problem. A period or moment of crisis where the challenges exist is an opportunity to learn and to grow. Children, adolescents and families are quite creative in finding ways to cope with challenges, but sometimes these ways even though it protects them is not the best way of dealing with the challenge.

Amanda Scott

Amanda is an valuable addition to the Excelsis Team. Amanda is a warm, caring psychologist, and highly skilled psychologist. Endorsed with the Psychology Board of Australia as a Clinical Psychologist she has over 20 years experience working with individuals and families. Amanda has completed the Graduate Certificate in Autism Diagnosis at the University of Western Australia. Amanda is known for her warmth, quality care, and compassion when working with families and has specialist knowledge and clinical skills in the assessment of ADHD, Developmental Disorders, Specific Learning Disorders, Gifted & Talented, School Readiness, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

She has extensive experience in comprehensive diagnostic assessments and believes that through providing quality assessments and accurate diagnoses we are able to better support children and adolescents learn, grow and excel in all areas of life. She provides psychological assessment services to children, adolescents and adults. Amanda has experience working with schools to implement reasonable adjustments for young people with a recognised disability (e.g. ADHD, ASD, Developmental Delays, Learning Disorders, Mental Health Disorders).

She provides psychological counselling and coaching services to children, adolescents, families and mothers and has a special interest in the treatment of Anxiety Disorder, incl OCD, Depression, ADHD, ASD, and complex presentations.

Simone Lombardo

Simone is a wonderful addition to the Excelsis Team. She is known for her experience working with children, adolescents and their families in a variety of settings. holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and is a registered Clinical Psychologist.

Simone is passionate about working with children and their families to support emotional well-being, optimise overall functioning and work towards their therapeutic goals. She is known for her warm, compassionate and non-judgemental approach to working with clients. She has a particular interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder and has experience working in early intervention for children with autism. Her therapeutic areas of interest include anxiety (including generalised anxiety, perfectionism, separation anxiety, selective mutism, panic, OCD, panic attacks and social anxiety), school refusal, sleep difficulties, depression, and parenting stress, as well as emotion regulation, anger, behavioural, social and learning difficulties.

Her therapeutic approach draws from evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Attuned Parenting, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and mindfulness; as appropriate for each individual. When working with children, Simone recognises the benefit of family involvement in the therapeutic process and embraces systemic family therapy whenever possible.

Candice Craig

We are very fortunate to have Candice join our Joondalup Team. Candice is a warm, caring clinician with a Masters degree in Psychology. Candice is a provisional psychologist who is completing an internship at Excelsis Psychology under the mentorship of the Clinic Director, Dr Liezl Addinall, and the Clinical Team Lead, Mr Hendrik Uys. She provides psychological counselling to children, adolescents, and their families. She works from a client-centered framework and tailors interventions to individual client needs. She uses techniques from a range of approaches (including: Attachment-based therapy, Play Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, mindfulness, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Interpersonal Process Therapy, Attuned Parenting, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy).

Candice’s therapeutic areas of interest include anxiety (including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, and separation anxiety), depression, anger, emotion regulation, behavioural difficulties, sleep difficulties, and social difficulties. She is also interested in issues that arise in the perinatal period, including preparing for parenthood, adjusting to parenthood, bonding and attachment.

She is known for her playful, curious, and collaborate approach when working with clients.

**Elizabeth Morrissey | Provisional Psychologist**

Holly Wentworth

We are fortunate to have Holly on the Excelsis Team. Holly holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Grad Cert (Education), and Grad Dip (Psychology). Holly is a registered psychologist with the Psychology Board of Australia.

Holly works with children and adolescents between the ages of 2 to 18 years, parents and adult clients. She has a particular interest in Anxiety (social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic), OCD, ADHD/ADD, Depression, School Refusal, Sleep Difficulties, Parenting Stress, Emotional and Behavioural Regulation, Social and Learning Difficulties. Her area of assessment interests include ADHD/ADD, Behavioural concerns, Educational concerns / Developmental Delays, Gifted and Talented, School Readiness and Specific Learning Difficulties (known as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia).

Holly has over 10 years’ experience working with adolescents and families within educational, therapeutic and clinical settings. Her career has involved facilitating support groups, delivering educational wellbeing programs and providing individual intervention and counselling that aims to build emotional resilience, enhance positive coping strategies and support overall psychosocial wellbeing of clients. Holly is passionate about working with at-risk youth to overcome emotional, behavioural and psychological barriers to academic and/or personal aspirations. Her collaborative approach includes identifying the interpersonal and intrapersonal aspects of the individual’s development and liaising with schools and parents to ensure intervention is informed and tailored to the client’s needs.

Her approach to achieving therapeutic outcomes includes providing evidence-based interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Motivational Interviewing. Holly’s therapeutic areas of interest include anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, as well as learning and behavioural issues.

Holly endeavours to support clients through a person-centred and creative approach that not only seeks to enhance the individual’s natural ability, but also motivates her clients to persevere through difficulties. She provides high quality, evidence-based exceptional care to all her clients, and tailors her approach to meet the needs of her clients.

**Casey Neame** **| Provisional Psychologist**

Aoibheann McCarthy

Aoibheann is a warm and genuine Educational and Developmental Psychologist who is passionate about working with children, adolescents, and families to understand and support their emotional wellbeing. Aoibheann has 15 years experience working with clients across the life span and has recently completed a Masters of Clinical Psychology degree at Curtin University.

Aoibheann has worked in clinical and community mental health settings across the public and private sectors, and has extensive experience working with children, adolescents and families in the school setting. She is highly knowledgeable in assisting students with additional needs and disabilities to access reasonable accommodations to support their learning and emotional wellbeing.

Known for her approachable, down to earth nature, Aoibheann provides a safe, trusting and respectful space for clients to speak openly about their current difficulties and goals for therapy. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and as such, Aoibheann values the importance of working collaboratively to empower children and families with practical coping strategies to navigate life’s challenges and harness their strengths to achieve their goals and thrive. She enjoys working with a range of presenting concerns, including anxiety, depression, emotional regulation and behavioural difficulties, school refusal, learning difficulties, ADHD, social interactions, family and parenting stress, and life transitions. Aoibheann tailors her therapeutic approach to her client’s needs and presentation, utilising a variety of evidence-based interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Schema Therapy, and Interpersonal Therapy.

Aoibheann is experienced in providing comprehensive psychoeducational and diagnostic assessments to profile areas of strength and identify possible learning difficulties, including Specific Learning Disorders, Developmental Disorders, Gifted and Talented, and ADHD. She is also well versed in completing assessments to support applications to SCSA (School Curriculum Standards Authority) for Special Exam Arrangements.

Natalie Pickles

We are fortunate to have Natalie, registered Provisional Psychologist, join the Excelsis Team. Natalie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Honours) and is completing her internship at Excelsis Psychology under the mentorship of the Clinic Director, Dr Liezl Addinall, and the Clinical Team Lead at Joondalup, Hendrik Uys. Natalie is passionate about working with children, adolescents, parents and families to improve emotional wellbeing and meet therapeutic goals. Her focus is creating a strong collaborative relationship through her warm, caring and non-judgemental approach.

Before starting her internship as a Provisional Psychologist, Natalie worked in other roles supporting children and families. She has over 2 years experience working with at risk children and adolescents, children in care, families, parents and foster carers. Natalie has experience working with children and families with trauma backgrounds, such as physical abuse, neglect and family and domestic violence. She also has experience in providing behaviour support for children, adolescents and adults with challenging behaviours through the NDIS. Her approach to achieving therapeutic outcomes includes providing evidence-based interventions such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and trauma informed approaches.

Natalie works with children and adolescents between the ages of 2 to 18 years, parents and adult clients. She has a particular interest in behavioural challenges in children and adolescents, emotional and behavioural regulation, depression, anxiety (generalised anxiety, social anxiety, panic), school refusal, sleep difficulties and academic difficulties. Her area of assessment interests includes ADHD/ADD, Behavioural concerns, Educational concerns / Developmental Delays, Gifted and Talented, School Readiness and Specific Learning Difficulties (known as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia).

Natalie utilises a range of approaches in therapy with clients, ranging from CBT, narrative therapy, play-based therapies, and skills building.

**Dr Liezl Addinall | Director - Principal Clinical & Counselling Psychologist**

Liezl is the founder of Excelsis Psychology and has a wealth of experience working with children, adolescents, parents and families. She is endorsed with the Psychology Board of Australia as a Clinical & Counselling Psychologist and has over 16years experience working with young people, and families. Liezl has worked in schools, hospitals (inpatient mental health), private practice and the not for profit sector. Liezl founded Excelsis Psychology as she is passionate about providing high quality psychology services to children, adolescents, mothers & families mental health care to Perth and surrounding areas.

She is known for her exceptional client care and warm, caring nature. She provides a range of psychology services to children and adolescents, parents, families and has a passion for supporting women with their wellbeing and mental health.

Her therapeutic areas of interest include providing support to children and adolescents who present with anxiety (incl. phobias, panic disorder, separation anxiety, selective mutism, social anxiety), adjustment disorders, depression, developmental concerns, family issues & stress, grief & loss. She also works with parents and families and has a special interest in perinatal concerns, and women’s mental health. Liezl is especially passionate about supporting the wellbeing of parents and families by providing them with practical skills to develop stronger relationships and connections. Liezl is known for providing quality perinatal support services to assist mothers, and their babies in a warm, caring and nurturing space.

She is skilled in diagnostic assessments and has a particular interest in the assessment of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Behavioural concerns, Communication Disorders, Educational concerns / Developmental Delays, Gifted and Talented, Memory, Language & Auditory Processing, School Readiness, and Specific Learning Difficulties (known as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia).

If you have any questions about Liezl and the Team at Excelsis Psychology, please contact us on (08) 6115 0024 or West Leederville Clinic - reception.epwl@excelsispsychology.com or Joondalup Clinic - reception.epj@excelsispsychology.com