Background
Gwyn graduated from the University of Nottingham (UK) with first class Honours in Psychology in 1997. She then undertook a Masters by research (University of Bristol, UK) and PhD (University of Edinburgh, UK) in the area of health psychology, investigating the psychosocial impact of health conditions. She is recognised as a Health Psychologist with chartered status in the UK. She moved to Melbourne in 2003 where she took up a position with the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), University of Melbourne to explore psychological issues around eye disease and vision loss. She received two fellowships from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and worked closely with rehabilitation organisations, including Vision Australia to translate research into practice, with a focus on assisting rehabilitation practitioners to recognise and manage psychological distress and depressive symptoms.
In 2014 Gwyn undertook a Masters in Clinical Psychology. During this program she worked as a provisional psychologist for 12 months at the Austin Perinatal Mental Health Clinic and developed a passion for perinatal psychology. She has provided individual treatment and group-based programs for women and their families experiencing postnatal depression and anxiety, as well as programs focused on developing the parent-infant relationship. Gwyn has also undertaken further professional development in perinatal psychology.
Current Practice
Gwyn works with people experiencing anxiety, depression, loss/grief, birth trauma, and difficulties in the perinatal period including issues around fertility, conception, pregnancy, birth, the transition to parenthood and early parenting. With her background in Health Psychology, Gwyn is particularly interested in working with women and men who experience health anxiety around pregnancy (especially after loss) and after the birth of their babies. Similarly, Gwyn assists parents who are experiencing health problems (such as diabetes, cancer or other chronic illness).
Approach to Therapy
Gwyn understands that reaching out for support is not easy and the pressure to ‘have everything together’ or be the ‘perfect parent’ can be immense. She therefore provides a warm, respectful and non-judgemental space to enable people to feel comfortable to share, reflect and grow. Gwyn believes that the transition to parenthood can be a turbulent time and that parenting is one of the hardest jobs there is. She also believes that these journeys can bring an opportunity for self-discovery and personal growth. Gwyn draws from a range of evidence-based approaches, predominately Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), as well as Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). She uses Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) to treat post-traumatic stress associated perinatal trauma (including birth trauma, loss, premature delivery, termination).
Gwyn is a registered Circle of Security parent educator, assisting parents in building secure relationships with their babies and toddlers.
Professional Affiliations
Registered with the Psychology Board of Australia (PBA)
Member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS)
Member of APS College of Health Psychology
Member of the APS Acceptance and Commitment Therapy & Psychology special interest group
Member of the British Psychological Society (BPS)
Member of BPS Division of Health Psychology
Member of the Association for Contextual Behavioural Science (ACBS)
Member of the ACBS Australian & New Zealand Chapter
Member of the Compassionate Mind Australia (CMA) Compassion Focused Therapy special interest group
Registered Circle of Security parent educator
Registered with The Perinatal Loss Centre
Publications
Throughout her academic research career, Gwyn has published 95 peer reviewed publications covering research on coping, stress, anxiety and depression, decision making and quality of life in respect to health conditions and disease risk, as well as improving the management of psychological distress in health care settings.
