Location: Berwick

Thanh Lee
Perinatal Psychologist
BSScPsych BAppScPsych (Hons) GradDipProfPsych MAPS

Thanh’s warm, genuine, and compassionate approach to therapy allows her clients to feel safe and comfortable in the therapeutic environment. Thanh is passionate about supporting individuals, couples and families during the perinatal period, which encompasses from pre-conception, pregnancy, and postpartum. It was through her role as a Home-Start Volunteer with Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia (PANDA) that Thanh developed a passion for prevention, early intervention and treatment approaches to perinatal mental health and supporting individuals and families with transitioning to parenthood.

Thanh has worked in community health, not-for-profit, educational settings and private practice. She has provided perinatal prevention, early intervention and treatment through individual therapy, group facilitation, parent sessions and couples counselling in supporting families with adjusting to parenthood. Through her work in community health, Thanh has also supported families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds during the perinatal period.

Thanh believes treatment should be collaborative, and tailored to each clients’ individual, couple, and family needs. Thanh believes in empowering individuals to reach their true potential by using a person-centred and strengths-based approach. She draws on a variety of evidence-based methods in tailoring treatment to your individual situation including: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Solution- Focussed Therapy. Thanh has a strong interest in using Mindfulness, Compassion-Focused Therapy techniques and draws on attachment theory and psychodynamic approaches to better understand individuals, couples and families.

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Lorena Villalon
Psychologist (Clinical Registrar)
BA (Psych & PsychoPhys), PGradDip (Psych), MPsych (Clinical)

Lorena is a registered Psychologist, and with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency who holds a Master of Clinical Psychology degree. Lorena is a part of the registrar program for Clinical Psychology endorsement. She is also a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the respective APS Clinical Psychologist group.

Lorena has experience in private practice, community mental health and primary school settings developing her skills and knowledge. She is adept at working with individuals, families and groups from diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages, and sexual orientations. She has worked with a variety of women in the perinatal phase of life, addressing a broad range of mental health concerns.

Lorena adopts an evidence-based approach when addressing symptoms, utilising therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, mindfulness techniques. Her knowledge in psychology, psychophysiology and neuroscience helps her understand how the brain and body connect which allows her to apply a unique approach to her practice.

Lorena aims to ensure therapy is tailored to each individual’s concerns, background, and history to help clients utilise their values and strengths to manage their distress and achieve positive outcomes. She is passionate about women’s health and encouraging women to feel empowered to achieve their therapeutic goals. Lorena is interested in working collaboratively with parents to create secure parent-child relationships and support families with a nourishing environment.

Lorena looks forward to improving the outcomes for women and their infants during such an important time in their lives every day she comes to work.

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Sofia is unable to accept new referrals at this time. Please choose another of our psychologists to make an appointment.

Sofia Galgut
Clinical Psychologist
BSc(Psych) GradDipPsych Mpsych(Clinical) MAPS CCLIN

The transition from the time just before conception, through pregnancy, in childbirth and early parenthood can be both challenging and incredibly rewarding time. Sofia’s aim is to support parents through their journey in preparation to parenthood and in their adjustment to the new life with a baby. She assists parents to gain confidence in their new role and helps them deal with changes in relationships between partners, and with their extended family. She supports parents through grief and loss, and in working through past or recent trauma. Sofia is also passionate about promotion of positive and healthy bonds between parents and their baby.

Sofia holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology and regularly attends workshops and training specific to Perinatal Mental Health in order to provide her clients with the best possible care. Sofia’s expertise in the area comes from working in a community mental health setting with young children, adolescents, adults and families, as well as in perinatal mental health settings of both major public and private hospitals in Melbourne, through private practice and in a research capacity at Monash University.

Currently Sofia works individually with women, men and their families in the pre- and post-natal period and into the early years of parenthood. She also runs postnatal groups for mothers at a private hospital mother-baby unit setting, where she consults on a weekly basis.  Sofia facilitates a group program in Berwick called Discovering Your GLOW – A Perinatal Depression and Anxiety Group.

Sofia employs and integrates a variety of therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness, and is trained in Clinical Hypnosis. In addition, she implements attachment and psychodynamic approaches to help clients better understand the links between earlier life experiences and the difficulties that they are currently experiencing. Sofia employs the parent-child relationship – based early intervention program (Circle of Security) and uses this framework to help enhance attachment and security between parents and infants. Parents are always welcome to bring their baby to the sessions.

Sofia has a warm, caring and engaging approach to therapy and provides a safe and supportive environment for her clients. She works collaboratively with clients to establish treatment goals, and tailors treatment to the client’s individual and family needs. She also works closely with other health professionals to provide the best possible care for her clients.

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