Vanessa Kugathasan

Vanessa is a Clinical Psychologist who is passionate about supporting families during pregnancy, postpartum and through parenthood. She has a focus on helping them to find joy and increased confidence in these life transitions and values the opportunity to support and enhance parent-child relationships. This includes providing support with a range of issues which may arise, including depression,  anxiety, infertility and pregnancy loss, traumatic birth and managing difficult emotions related to parenting.

Additionally, Vanessa is skilled in working with a range of other non-perinatal mental health concerns, including trauma, adjustment, grief and loss, depression and anxiety. Vanessa completed her undergraduate and postgraduate psychology training at the University of Melbourne. She has supported clients in a range of public mental health services, including youth and adult community mental health and hospitals. More recently, Vanessa has worked in private practice, supporting clients with a variety of issues, including perinatal difficulties.

Vanessa’s approach is compassionate and warm. She is aware that it can be daunting to commence therapy. Hence, she is committed to providing an empathic, non-judgmental environment where clients feel listened to and safe to talk about their difficulties. She is interested in helping clients to reflect on how past experiences, especially where these are traumatic or challenging, may connect to current concerns and provides support to work through these together.

She utilises a range of therapeutic approaches, depending on a client’s needs and goals. She is a registered Circle of Security facilitator and she will also often draw on attachment theory in her work with clients. She is also a registered Circle of Security parent group facilitator.

Age groups:
• Adults
• Older Persons

Therapeutic modalities:
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Attachment-based therapy (ABT)
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
• Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)