Qualifications

• Bachelor of Theology, Catholic Theological Union (1998)
• Graduate Diploma in Religious Education (Pastoral Guidance), Catholic College of Advanced Education (1988)
• Master of Arts (Psychology), Macquarie University (1990)
• Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Macquarie University (1984)
• Bachelor of Laws, University of New South Wales (1979)
• Bachelor of Jurisprudence, University of New South Wales (1979)

Professional Memberships

• Member NSW Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychology (2002)
• Member Psychoanalytic Psychology Association of Australasia (2002)

Areas of Research Interest

The contribution of the psychological sciences to Catholic pastoral theology and practice. Neuroscience, Catholic anthropology and moral theology

Personal

I am a clinical psychologist and analytic psychotherapist in private practice in Sydney and Brisbane. I am married. I have lectured on a part-time basis in pastoral theology and practice at the Catholic Institute of Sydney for 3 decades. I was the psychologist on staff at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Sydney for 10 years.

I began my working career as a lawyer, practising in family law, with an emphasis on children’s advocacy. I became a Catholic in my 20’s, and inspired by the work of DW Winnicott and St John Henry Newman, I then retrained as a psychologist and psychotherapist. I currently consult to various Dioceses and religious orders throughout NSW and Queensland.

My clinical focus as a psychologist is on how individuals discover the significance of their own existence when they are assisted to address their psychological pain and suffering. My pastoral theological focus is on how the Church’s current pastoral practice both assists and inhibits this process.