Background
Yolanda is a Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years’ experience working with mothers, babies and families, and with adults, children and parents.
Yolanda completed a Masters in Clinical Psychology in 1994 and a Masters in Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology in 1996, both from the University of Melbourne. She worked in a number of Departments of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at various major Melbourne Hospitals (the Austin, Monash, Maroondah), where she saw children with a wide range of psychological, behavioural and developmental problems, including depression, anxiety, trauma, behavioural problems, obsessive compulsive disorder and autism spectrum disorders. Yolanda also ran group programs and worked closely with parents and families. Yolanda consulted to the Melbourne Children’s Court Clinic, where she undertook complex assessments of high risk infants and children and their families in protective and forensic matters.
From 2001, Yolanda began working specifically in perinatal mental health. After undertaking further studies within the Graduate Diploma of Parent-Infant Mental Health, she worked at the Mother-Baby Unit at Northpark Private Hospital, and then worked for five years as senior clinical psychologist at the Infant Clinic, Austin Hospital, where she provided individual, parent-infant, and group work. She ran groups for women with postnatal depression and saw parents and their infants individually for a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, birth trauma, perinatal loss, bonding and attachment issues, as well as helping parents deal with family of origin issues and mental health issues that emerged during this period. In this role, Yolanda also provided supervision to psychology Masters and Doctoral students and was involved in research and training, including running training for Maternal and Child Health Nurses. She was co-author of the book, Toward Parenthood: Preparing for the Changes and Challenges of a New Baby (ACER, 2009).
More recently, Yolanda has been involved in providing clinical supervision and teaching postgraduate psychology students in Professional Ethics at The Cairnmillar Institute. She consulted to the Sleep Psychology Clinic at the Department of Sleep and Respiratory Medicine, Austin Hospital, where she supervised students providing assessment and treatment for a full range of sleep disorders.
Yolanda has been in private practice since 1999.
Current Practice
Yolanda currently works in private practice in Kew where she provides therapy to women, men and couples who are experiencing difficulties in the antenatal and postnatal periods. This includes issues of depression, anxiety, adjustment to parenting, bonding and attachment issues, fertility problems, premature birth, perinatal loss and birth trauma. She provides treatment and support for mental health problems and issues relating to family of origin experiences, including past trauma.
Yolanda also provides therapy to parents of older children, and to older children themselves. She provides clinical supervision to psychologists and other health professionals.
Approach to Therapy
Yolanda offers both short term and longer term psychotherapy for women, men and their families. Yolanda works with infants alongside their parents wherever appropriate particularly when there are attachment and bonding issues.
Yolanda assesses the needs of the individual client and works collaboratively with them to determine which approach may be most appropriate. Yolanda uses a variety of approaches including cognitive behavioural therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and psychodynamic therapy and utilizes an attachment framework to better understand issues within the parent-infant relationship.
Yolanda provides EMDR to assist clients to process traumatic birth experiences or other traumas that are negatively impacting their lives.
With the client’s consent, Yolanda works closely with other professionals involved in the client’s care, including GPs, psychiatrists and Maternal and Child Health Nurses to achieve the best outcome for her clients.
Professional Affiliations
Registered with Psychology Board of Australia (PBA)
Registered Supervisor Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Board (AHPRA)
Member of Australian Psychological Society (APS)
Member of APS College of Clinical Psychologists
Member of APS Perinatal and Infant Psychology Interest Group (PIPIG)
Member of Australian Association of Infant Mental Health (AAIMH)
Member of World Association of Infant Mental Health (WAIMH)
Registered with The Perinatal Loss Centre
Publications
Book
Milgrom, J., Ericksen, J., Leigh, B., Romeo, Y., Loughlin, E., McCarthy, R., & Saunders, B. Towards Parenthood: Preparing for the Changes and Challenges of a new Baby. (2009). ACER press. Towards Parenthood is also published in Italian (2012) and Dutch (2015)
Journal Articles
McCabe, M., Cummins, R. & Romeo, Y. Relationship Status, Relationship Quality and Health (1996) Journal of Family Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 109-120.
Kotler, T., Buzwell, S., Romeo, Y. & Bowland, J. (1994). Avoidant Attachment as a Risk Factor for Health. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 67, 237-245.
Cummins, R., McCabe, M., Romeo, Y. & Gullone, E. (1994). The Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale (ComQol): Instrument Development and Psychometric Evaluation on College Staff and Students. Educational and Psychological Measurement. Vol. 54, 2, 372-382.
Cummins, R., Baxter, C., Hudson, A.., Polak, S. & Romeo, Y. (1992). The Community Living Support Service: An Operational Overview. Australian Disability Review. 3, 51-59.
Romeo, Y. & Cummins, R. (1991). The Quality of Life of people in the community: Results of a Pilot Study. Interaction. 5(5), 37-40.