Finding your way back to mental wellness can feel like a difficult road. Sometimes the obstacles can feel too big to overcome or the fatigue can smash you down to the ground. Sometimes you may feel all alone with your demons, no help in sight.
You are never alone.
At Clarity Health Care, our team of mental health professionals understand the journey you’re on. Using evidence-based psychology, we’ll match what you tell us about your struggles, beliefs and preferences with the most relevant research into mental health treatment, to develop an evidence-based pathway to wellness for you.
Our multidisciplinary team will be with you every step of the way.
Why is EBPP right for me?
Evidence-based practice is an approach where a mental health professional will use their clinical experience and expertise, along with a review of the most up-to-date research, to develop a treatment plan that suits your condition, beliefs and preferences.
Because each psychologist is different, with a unique set of qualifications, experience and personality traits, it is important to take some time to choose someone you feel you can grow to trust.
If you are interested in any particular treatment options, be sure to mention them to your psychologist. They will be able to assess its appropriateness for you and connect you to members of the Clarity Health Care team who specialise in these options.
Using EBPP, there are a number of treatments that can form part of your pathway.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by your emotions? Drowned in seas of despair and hopelessness or explosive with uncontrollable rage? Maybe you struggle with self-hate, self-harm or suicidal thoughts. You may behave impulsively or struggle to form strong relationships.
Research shows that Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) can be effective in helping some people gain control of powerful emotions and develop better relationships with themselves and others – particularly for those with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), emotional dysregulation, and self-harm behaviours.
Learn more about Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist will help you develop key skills around distress management, emotional regulation, mindfulness and interpersonal boundaries. They will work with you to become aware of and reduce the intensity of difficult emotions.
Sessions are often both one-on-one and in groups, with group sessions offering the opportunity to put into action some of the strategies you’ll learn in a safe space.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Do you constantly replay the same sort of negative thoughts over and over again? Maybe you tell yourself you’re a fat no-hoper in the changing room at Target or think no one will ever love you after another dud Tinder date.
These thoughts don’t just damage your self-esteem; they can prevent you from achieving your goals and negatively impact your relationships.
CBT has been shown to be highly effective for treating conditions such as anxiety, depression, and OCD, helping individuals reframe negative thought patterns and focus on healthier coping strategies.
Learn more about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist may ask you to consider thought patterns that make you feel anxious or depressed and then prompt you to consider alternative ways that a situation may have “played out.” You’ll learn to observe negative thoughts as they pop up, consider if they are helpful, and if not, challenge them.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Are you woken by frequent nightmares? Maybe certain situations trigger extreme distress, or you suffer from panic attacks. Trauma from past events can reshape how you interact with the whole world, whether from a deployment, childhood sexual abuse or any other situation where you felt deeply threatened and often alone.
If past traumatic events are haunting you or limiting your ability to live a full life, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) can help you properly process the trauma in a safe setting.
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist will spend time getting to know you, including your trauma, tolerance and triggers. They will then teach you strategies to regulate your feelings and emotions. Following this, they will take you through a series of EMDR sessions to heal past traumas.
During EMDR sessions, you will work with your therapist to identify which memories you feel ready to process. Bilateral stimulation (such as eye movements or tapping) is used to help you process these memories, reducing their emotional impact over time. There is no need to talk through every detail of your recollections, although your therapist will provide opportunities to reflect on any aspect you wish during regular breaks.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Are negative or limiting thoughts damaging the quality of your life? You may struggle with addiction or feel controlled by Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Maybe anxiety is costing you promotions at work.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help you accept your thoughts and act in accordance with your values despite them.
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist may help you to explore your thoughts and how they impact your feelings and behaviour. They will help you develop strategies to reach your goals while learning to process challenging emotions and events.
Schema Therapy (ST)
Are you overwhelmed by feelings that your needs are not being met? Do all your relationships feel like such hard work? Do your loved ones call you out on your self-destructive behaviour?
If you long for connection but have no idea how to make it happen, Schema Therapy (ST) can help take back control from the negative core beliefs and harmful coping mechanisms you resorted to in the past.
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Schemas are strongly held negative beliefs that shape your life. Your therapist will help you identify negative schemas that are holding you back, tracing them to their source and progressively challenging them to develop new ways of seeing and interacting with the world. By breaking old patterns, you are able to step into a more confident, healed version of yourself.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Feeling conflicted about an important change you could make in your life? Maybe you know you need to lose weight, and you really want to, but you’re afraid of what it will do to your relationships. And what if the loose skin is worse than the belly?
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an approach that can help you explore and resolve ambivalence about making important changes, empowering you to take steps towards your goals.
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist will help you work through your thoughts, set a shared purpose and identify your ‘why’. This is your powerful, compelling reason for seeking a change. From there, they will help you plan how to go about making the change.
Pharmacological Therapy
If your distress is severe and could benefit from medication, a psychiatrist at Clarity Health Care can work with you to explore pharmacological options alongside your psychological treatment.
Read our Medications Factsheet
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist will work closely with you to diagnose any mental health conditions you may have, including their severity. They will provide suggestions on medications that can work hand in hand with therapy to improve your well-being more quickly. While ultimately the choice is yours, you’ll be given all the information you need to make an informed decision.
Gestalt Therapy
Do the people you love keep telling you that your behaviour is causing your problems? Maybe you’re trying to connect your current reality with your thoughts and reactions.
Gestalt Therapy has been shown to help individuals become more aware of the present moment and their current experiences, rather than viewing them through the lens of past events. This can help you take responsibility for your actions and increase self-awareness.
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
By utilising a range of approaches, your therapist will help you draw your focus to the present moment and the choices you have now. You may work through a variety of role-play and feedback techniques to help explore these possibilities.
For example, the ‘empty chair technique’ has you imagine a conversation with a key person that might otherwise feel or be impossible to have in real life.
Gottman Method
Is one of your most important relationships in life falling apart? Do you look back on the early days and wonder how everything has become so broken?
The Gottman Method can help you and your partner to change the rules of engagement, refocusing on how to really see each other again. This approach is specifically designed for couples and focuses on improving relationship dynamics.
Learn more about relationship counselling at Clarity
What to expect at our Melbourne and Hobart clinics
Your therapist will assess where you are in your relationship and guide you, as a couple, through the various principles of the Gottman Method. They will help you build positive communication behaviours and avoid those that are most destructive. You will learn to know and appreciate each other more fully while navigating conflict in respectful ways.
Please note: While these therapies have been shown to be effective for many individuals, the suitability of a particular treatment plan should always be discussed with a licensed therapist who can provide a comprehensive evaluation.