Our Services

At Symkowiak & Associates Psychology, we use a range of therapies that suit each patient specifically.

Your Mental Health Matters

We all know the pressures of living in South West Sydney. Whether you are a young person starting out in life, a busy family with weekly commitments, approaching retirement or embracing your senior years. Each person has a story to tell and we at Symkowiak & Associates Psychology are here to listen.

Your mental health not only affects you, it can affect the people around you including friends, family, team mates and colleagues. When other people are drawn into your health issues it may put pressure on relationships and can exacerbate your symptoms. This might be situation where “everything becomes too much” and a person experiences a downward spiral out of control.

Early intervention is the best offence we have to prevent serious mental health issues from compounding and becoming difficult to unravel.

Seeking help is sometimes a difficult first step for someone experiencing mental health issues. Always remember, you are definitely not alone! Almost half of all Australians will experience mental health issues in their lifetime. If your first step is giving us a call, we promise to remain professional, caring, courteous and respect your privacy on all matters.

While we would love to help at any hour of day or night, our practice operates during regular business hours. So if you have an emergency or feel the need to speak with someone right now, please check our online resources page for some immediate options.

Counselling & Treatment Offered by Us

Generalised Anxiety

People with Generalised Anxiety feel anxious and worried most of the time, not just in specific stressful situations, and these worries are intense, persistent and interfere with their normal lives.

Depression

While we all feel sad, moody or low from time to time, some people experience these feelings intensely, for long periods of time (weeks, months or even years) and sometimes without any apparent reason.

Pain Management

Developing a long term strategy to manage chronic pain is important for physical and mental health. An holistic approach that doesn’t rely entirely on pain medication is the best long term solution.

Performance Anxiety

Performance anxiety is fear about one’s ability to perform a specific task. People experiencing performance anxiety may worry about failing a task before it has even begun. They might believe failure will result in humiliation or rejection.

Adjustment to Injury/Disability

Unexpected changes to physical ability can have a distinct and undesirable impact on your mental health and ability to function comfortably in daily activities of living.

Addiction - Gambling, Internet, Drug & Alcohol

Addiction happens when someone compulsively engages in behaviour such as drug taking, gambling, drinking or gaming. Even when bad side effects kick in and people feel like they’re losing control, addicts usually can’t stop doing the thing they’re addicted to without help and support.

Acute & Posttraumatic Stress

Acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are mental health conditions that can occur when someone experiences a traumatic event.

Grief & Loss

Grief is a natural response to loss. It might be the loss of a loved one, relationship, pregnancy, pet, job or way of life. Other experiences of loss may be due to children leaving home, infertility and separation from friends and family.

Anger Management

Everyone feels angry from time to time. But it’s how you show your anger that matters. If you don’t control your anger, it can lead to violence or angry behaviour like yelling, throwing things or storming out.

Assertive Communication

Assertiveness means expressing your point of view in a way that is clear and direct, while still respecting others. Communicating in an assertive manner can help you to minimise conflict, control anger, have your needs better met and have more positive relationships.

Stress Management

Everyone encounters stressful situations at times, and learning about managing stress can involve different strategies.

Career Coaching

Whether you are starting out and deciding which direction to take in your career, need a change, feel stuck, find it difficult to progress your career or want to discuss workplace dynamics for a greater understanding – a psychologist can help you make positive and confident decisions.

Some of the above definitions were sourced from: Beyond Blue, Good Therapy, Reachout, Health Direct and Healthy WA.

Therapies We Use

Acceptance & Commitment

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an action-oriented approach to psychotherapy that stems from traditional behavior therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy.

Applied Behaviour Analysis

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a type of therapy that focuses on improving specific behaviors, such as social skills, communication, reading, and academics as well as adaptive learning skills, such as fine motor dexterity, hygiene, grooming, domestic capabilities, punctuality, and job competence.

Biofeedback

Biofeedback is a technique that involves monitoring a person’s physiological state and feeding information about it back to that person.

Cognitive Behavioural

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a short-term form of psychotherapy directed at present-time issues and based on the idea that the way an individual thinks and feels affects the way he or she behaves.

Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing

EMDR is a unique, nontraditional form of psychotherapy designed to diminish negative feelings associated with memories of traumatic events.

Graded Exposure

Exposure therapy is often essential if you are to overcome your anxiety disorder. The cognitive behavioural treatment of conditions such as: panic with agoraphobia, simple phobias, social anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and post traumatic stress usually entails an exposure component.

Humanistic

Also known as humanism, humanistic therapy is a positive approach to psychotherapy that focuses on a person’s individual nature, rather than categorizing groups of people with similar characteristics as having the same problems.

Interpersonal

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a time-limited, focused, evidence-based approach to treat mood disorders. The main goal of IPT is to improve the quality of a client’s interpersonal relationships and social functioning to help reduce their distress.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a modified form of cognitive therapy that incorporates mindfulness practices such as meditation and breathing exercises.

Prolonged Exposure

PET is a form of psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Originally developed by Edna Foa, Ph.D., PET is endorsed by both the American Psychiatric Association and the Department of Veterans Affairs and Defense.

Psychological Testing & Evaluation

Psychological testing and evaluation consists of a series of tests that help determine the cause of psychological symptoms and disorders, to determine the correct diagnosis and follow up with the appropriate course of treatment.

Solution-Focused Brief

Unlike traditional forms of therapy that take time to analyse problems, pathology and past life events, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) concentrates on finding solutions in the present time and exploring one’s hope for the future to find quicker resolution of one’s problems.

Strength-Based

Strength-based therapy is a type of positive psychotherapy and counselling that focuses more on your internal strengths and resourcefulness, and less on weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural

A form of cognitive behavioral therapy that addresses the specific emotional and mental health needs of children, adolescents, adult survivors, and families who are struggling to overcome the destructive effects of early trauma.

Some of the above definitions were sourced from: Psychology Today and Anxiety Australia