Andy is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker, as well as having achieved provider status in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT in 2020) and completing his certificate IV in Youth Work and Juvenile Justice many years ago. 
 

He has been a social worker since 2012 and worked across a range of fields, including youth work, aged care and working in remote Aboriginal communities across the country. He has been working in mental health specifically for just over 5 years now, having worked in Federal Government social work roles prior to this. He started my career in youth work and youth mentoring back in 2005 and have been working with people ever since. He enjoys connecting with people on a personal level, and prides himself on the ability to relate, and build genuine relationships with others. 

 

He would say that he possesses extensive experience and knowledge working with children, adolescents and families who are struggling with their mental health in some way, shape or form. He has spent the last two or so years delivering trauma specific CPT with people 1:1 and he would describe himself as competent and experienced in the delivery of CPT and am interested in trauma specific treatment and the benefits it can provide to people who commit to it. He likes to encourage and highlight that trauma work is not something that is easy, but with the right support and guidance it can not only be done, but it can be life changing (he can vouch for this as he has seen people of all ages engage in CPT and get better). 

   

He has worked across many sectors, from youth mentoring for child protection to then working in Centrelink offices and remote teams across the Northern Territory. He has worked in Aboriginal youth work roles, as well as briefly spent time working in policy for Indigenous Affairs. He completed my mental health internship at Links To Wellbeing, from 2017 to 2019 where he then became accredited as a Mental HEalth Social Worker in early 2019. Since then, he has worked across multiple headspace centres, as well as Sonder's emerge team in Edinburgh North working with complex young people aged 16-25yo and for the last 12 months have worked in a country setting as a senior mental health clinician providing 1:1 therapy for people aged 14 and above, as well as offering clinical supervision and support to the wider clinical team.  

 

In terms of therapeutic approaches, he prides himself on being confident and competent in a range of therapies, such as: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and more. He believes in keeping a client (and child) centred approach to practice. He will tailor my clinical approach and interventions to the individual. He aims to empower, and develop the skills of the people he works with. Harnessing strengths, resources and goals he then works collaboratively with young people and their families or carers to achieve goals, improve situations and increase skills for the future. In terms of specific frameworks from a Social Work perspective, his overarching framework is the Generalist Intervention Model which has seven phases within it, and allows for other therapies and approaches to be used (e.g. psychosocial needs assessments, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and so on). 

 
 

Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with my family, my kids (three little ones!) and friends, when time permits you will find him out on the local mountain bike parks shredding trails, as well as listening to music and being outdoors. Despite some contradicting feedback, he would rate himself as skilled in the delivery of great puns.