Nigel Denning

Director & Counselling Psychologist 

Nigel is a Counselling psychologist in private practice. He works with individuals, couples and families.

Nigel sees therapy as a joint and cooperative enterprise where he uses his skill set to your benefit, rather than trying to fit you into a theory or approach. He has extensive experience with individual and corporate clients and draws on a strength and awareness based philosophy to client work.

Nigel has studied in Australia and overseas with many of the current leaders in psychological research and theory such as Dan Siegel, John and Julie Gottman, Les Greenberg, Alan Schore and the late Michael White.

Patricia Evans

Psychologist 

Patricia completed a Master of Clinical Psychology. She is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and is a member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

Patricia approaches therapy as a collaborative journey, prioritising warmth and empathy to build strong client connections. She works with evidence-based treatments and draws from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness-based CBT.

Patricia has worked with a variety of clients who needed support in various areas of functioning, both in the early intervention space and with populations presenting with prolonged difficulties. She has experience working with a range of psychological and emotional difficulties, including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, trauma, PTSD, and schizophrenia. She has experience within the public and private mental health sectors.

Patricia is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English and welcomes clients who may be more comfortable conversing in any of these languages.

Jake Douglas

Psychologist 

Jake is a registered Psychologist (Master of Professional Psychology) and a Member of the Australian Psychological Society.

Jake adopts a warm, person-centred approach to his work, and emphasises creating a safe and compassionate environment where one can feel heard. He seeks to work collaboratively to set goals and takes an integrative approach to therapy, combining various evidence-based techniques to provide an intervention tailored to the people he works with. He draws from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), schema therapy, and mindfulness-based approaches.

Jake has experience working with adults with a range of difficulties including depression, anxiety, stress, interpersonal relationships, sleep disturbance, trauma, and existential concerns.

Nina Brown

Psychotherapist

Nina’s therapeutic approach is warm, attuned, and delivered relationally. She offers a nuanced understanding of how early life experiences shape our relationships with ourselves and others. Committed to creating a safe, empathetic space, Nina ensures that clients feel understood and supported as they navigate and explore their inner worlds.

Nina views the therapeutic relationship as a powerful tool for healing and transformation, continuously informed by her own journey and ongoing professional development. She believes that each client relationship is unique and prioritises a genuine, supportive connection that fosters the exploration of experiences, losses, desires, concerns, and dreams. Through this process, Nina sees psychotherapy as a way for individuals to adapt, heal, and gain a deeper self-understanding.

Nina works with adults and couples of all ages and backgrounds, focusing on issues such as self-esteem, emotional distress, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, trauma, existential concerns, anxiety, and depression.

Isabelle Ruiz

Psychotherapist

Isabelle is an ACA accredited psychotherapist who’s compIeted a Bachelors of Integrative Psychotherapy at the Ikon Institute of Australia and has training in Adult Attachment Repair, Gottman Couples Therapy, and Psychedelic Integration.  

Isabelle’s practice is delivered interpersonally and is well suited for people with developmental and/or relational trauma and neglect. She is warm in her approach and endeavours to create a collaborative and attuned therapeutic relationship, one which prioritises an experience of feeling safe and understood. She holds a strong perspective that psychotherapy has dynamic potential for change and well-being, with this perspective continually being reinforced through her own journey, research and training. 

Working across many different issues, Isabelle can assist with relationship and intimacy concerns, grief and loss, emotional distress, chronic illness and pain, existential concerns, trauma, anxiety and depression. 

Her services are available for couples, adults of all ages and is suitable for queer people. 

Isabelle is not currently available for client sessions. 

Irene Quintavalle

Psychotherapist

Fluent in Italian, Spanish, and French, Irene fosters a multicultural practice, where she warmly embraces clients from diverse backgrounds. Her clientele includes individuals and couples grappling with a wide array of issues, such as anxiety, depression, relational concerns, immigration challenges, self-esteem issues, lifestyle adjustments, chronic pain, trauma, PTSD, existential difficulties, undo influence, and grief and loss.

Irene is a seasoned yoga practitioner and bodyworker, boasting over a decade of experience in her field. She holds a deep-rooted belief in the interconnectedness of the mind and body, viewing each individual as a holistic being deserving of comprehensive care.

Irene’s therapeutic approach is deeply person-centred, characterized by her genuine warmth, empathy, and profound ability to attune to her clients’ needs. She values collaboration, striving to deepen her understanding of her clients’ experiences and concerns through mutual exploration. With unwavering faith in her clients’ inherent potential for growth and transformation, Irene creates a safe and nurturing environment conducive to sustainable change. Irene is often accompanied by her therapy dog in training, Theodorus.

Liss Smith

Psychotherapist

Daniela Petrovic

Psychotherapist

Cristina Jiménez

Psychotherapist

Cristina is an ACA-accredited Holistic Counsellor and Psychotherapist with a genuine and compassionate approach to her work. She firmly believes in addressing the mind and body, fostering a deep sense of safety and trust in her clients. Cristina’s unwavering warmth, empathy, and presence form the bedrock of every interaction, fostering collaborative partnerships with her clients to facilitate positive change. Fluent in Spanish, she embraces diversity and welcomes individuals from all backgrounds, including the LGBTIQ+ community.

Specialising in individual counselling for adults, Cristina adeptly addresses various issues, such as depression, anxiety, grief and loss, trauma, interpersonal relationships, sexuality and intimacy, existential challenges, emotional difficulties, and self-exploration.

Beyond her counselling practice, Cristina is a skilled Dance Movement Therapist. Her extensive background as a dancer and movement therapist has refined her ability to tap into the somatic level of the body. She has witnessed the transformative potential of healing trauma through subtle cues and the innate wisdom of the body.

Cristina is studying Somatic Experiencing, further deepening her expertise in facilitating holistic healing.

Sophia Robinson

Psychotherapist

Sophia is a psychotherapist in private practice who works with individuals and couples. Using a range of evidence-based approaches, Sophia works collaboratively with a relational focus to accommodate the individual needs of her clients. She hopes to create a safe and supportive environment for clients to engage in meaningful personal exploration. Working with an awareness of both mind and body, Sophia believes strongly in the client’s innate capacity to create lasting personal change.

Sophia works with people seeking support for a range of concerns including stress, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, relational difficulties (including attachment repair), sexual identity and gender, personality disorders, high control groups, grief and trauma.

Traill Dowie

Psychotherapist

Dr Traill Dowie is the Chair of the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) Panel for Trauma Standards & Practice, he is also the Head of Faculty (acting) at Ikon Institute Australia, and is a practising psychotherapist, supervisor and public speaker. Traill has been involved with counselling and psychotherapy for the last 20 years. Traill holds a PhD in Psychiatry and holds a PhD in Philosophy (social theory). Traill holds qualifications in psychology, philosophy, sociology, history of ideas and Jungian psychology. Traill also holds masters degrees in counselling and psychotherapy as well as mind and society. He has extensive knowledge of European philosophy and psychotherapy, including existential and phenomenological systems. As well as this Traill holds qualifications in transpersonal counselling and art therapy. Traill has a particular interest in integrative practice and the treatment of trauma. Traill also has extensive teaching experience in counselling and psychotherapy.

Dr Fiona McGlade

Psychiatrist

Dr Fiona McGlade, MBBS, FRANZCP, MPM, Diploma of Applied Medicine (Infant Mental Health), is a psychiatrist with over twenty years of experience in Victoria and Western Australia in both urban and rural settings. She started her psychiatry career as a Consultation-Liaison psychiatrist delivering psychiatric opinion and care within the general hospital wards. After commencing her private practice, she worked as a consultant on the Parent/Infant ward at Albert Road Clinic for ten years. The work with parents and infants has further developed her understanding of the critical role played by early life relationships and experiences in the subsequent development of psychological health throughout the lifecycle. She carries this psychological understanding into her current work with adults and applies its principles into her work with understanding the impact of trauma and the development of complex personalities.

In her private practice, she mostly works with adults struggling with mood disorders, anxieties disorders, trauma issues, relationship issues, addictions and work-place stress. She remains available to provide care and support to parents and infants who may be struggling at this vulnerable and challenging stage of life. She also accepts referrals of Veterans from DVA.

Fiona has experience and special interests in Indigenous Health and Refugee and Asylum Seeker Health. She has a current appointment as psychiatrist to the Victorian Doctors Health Programme, where she provides assistance to doctors presenting with issues pertaining to mental health or addictions.

Daniel P. Brown

Consultant International Psychologist

Not available for appointments.

Dr. Daniel P. Brown Ph.D, is a consultant psychologist and advanced training provider to Integrative Psychology. Dr. Brown is an Associate Clinical Professor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. As an academic and researcher he has served on the Harvard Medical School faculty for over 38 years. In the 1980’s he was Director of Training and then as Chief Psychologist at The Cambridge Hospital. Dr. Brown’s clinical research has focused on assessing attachment disorders in adults and on developing psychotherapeutic and hypnotherapeutic protocols to treat attachment pathology. He is the winner of the 2018 ISST-D Pierre Janet Writing Award for his work on The Three Pillars treatment method with David Elliot.

Dr. Brown was an expert witness and consultant on trauma, memory, and children’s testimony regarding sexual abuse, and testimony before of International War Crimes Tribunal for the Prosecution of war criminals of the former Yugoslavia that was upheld on appeal. He was also the winner of the 1999 Manfred S. Guttmacher Award from the American Psychiatric Association for “outstanding contribution to forensic psychiatry”.

Dr. Drown is an accomplished Indo-Tibetan concentration and insight meditation teacher and runs regular week-long meditation retreats.

Dr. Brown is also an author of 24 books on; hypnotherapy, Hypnosis and Behavioural Medicine, attachment repair, affect development, self development from a cross-cultural perspective, Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law, as well as four books on meditation (Transformations of Consciousness with K. Wilbur & J. Engler), psychotherapy and meditation, contributed to two books of East-West dialogues in psychology with H.H. The Dalai Lama.