Keara Wood

• Bachelor of Psychology
• Youth Mental Health First Aid- Mental Health First Aid Australia
• Understanding and Applying the CBT Model: A Foundation Course for Clinicians- Centre for Clinical Interventions
• Attachment Theory and its Application to Therapy – Lidia Genovese
• Protective Behaviours Professional Development Workshop – WA Child Safety Services
• Eye-movement desensitisation reprocessing therapy (EMDR)
• Dialectal Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

Anxiety

When working together to address your anxiety, we’ll start by exploring the feelings and thoughts that arise and how they might be shaping your experiences. We’ll uncover any patterns in your thinking that might be contributing to your anxiety, and together, we’ll develop new, healthier ways of approaching those thoughts. Additionally, we’ll practice relaxation and grounding techniques to help manage the physical symptoms of anxiety when they occur. Finally, we’ll pinpoint specific situations or triggers that bring on anxious feelings. Over time, we may gradually introduce you to these triggers in a safe environment, helping you feel more comfortable and reducing the fear associated with them.

Depression

To work through your depression, we’ll start by focusing on ways to gradually boost your motivation and energy. We might try scheduling small activities or tasks that you find enjoyable. If getting started feels overwhelming, we’ll explore what might be holding you back and begin with very small, achievable steps to build your sense of accomplishment. Together, we can also delve into what might have contributed to your depression. If needed, we’ll find ways to lessen the impact of any triggers or difficult situations that may be affecting you.

Anger

When we work on managing your anger, our first step is to figure out what situations or feelings usually trigger it. Then, I’ll teach you skills to handle your anger right when it happens, as well as ways to prevent that intense build-up over time. We can also look closely at any specific problems that are making you feel angry. Together, we’ll find strategies to manage those challenges and lessen their negative impact on you.

Trauma

Our work together on trauma will prioritise your comfort and wellbeing. We’ll focus on developing strategies to manage any distress or overwhelm you experience when thinking or talking about the traumatic event(s). We’ll also explore ways to self-soothe and manage triggers that may arise in your daily life. Then, at your own pace, we can begin to explore the traumatic event(s) and how they may be affecting your view of yourself, the world, and different areas of your life, such as relationships or work.

Children and young people

In working with children and young people (aged 10+), we will explore the current difficulties in a relaxed and easy to understand way. We can work on identifying and naming specific emotions as well as developing an understanding of how those emotions present and why they are occurring. We can implement strategies to manage uncomfortable feelings and develop resilience in coping with these in the future. We can utilise talk therapy, as well as working in an interactive way to appeal to different learning styles and personal comfort.

Please find below a note from Keara

“Life is certainly good at throwing curve balls and these can make it hard to be your most healthy and able self. This is what therapy with me is for. Therapy may seem daunting, however, I describe myself as friendly, approachable, relaxed and empathic. I create a supportive and safe space for you to identify, explore and process the difficulties that are impacting your life. I enjoy building trusting and honest relationships which help you to feel more confident and capable to deal with whatever life throws at you next.

I can work with you at your own pace while we work on the goals you identify in our first few appointments. I can help you build insight into the thoughts, emotions and behaviours that are barriers to you experiencing positive mental health. We can work on exploring the origins of these difficulties and work to reduce the impact, whether it is a previous traumatic experience, conflict in relationships or stress with daily life.

I have worked with youth and adults for the last five years, where I have focused on developing clients emotional intelligence and awareness to cope better with the difficulties they are experiencing now and in the future. Additionally, therapy has included providing strategies and skills to manage difficult situations.

I have my own lived experience with mental health difficulties and therapy, and this has given me a greater level of empathy, understanding and passion to support people.

It is important to me that you make the most of your experience in therapy and achieve the mental health goals you desire.” – Keara Wood, Psychologist

Keara’s areas of interest and passion are:

• Anxiety
• Attachment issues
• Relationship difficulties
• Depression
• Trauma
• PTSD
• Personality disorder
• Grief and loss
• Emotional dysregulation
• Children and teens (aged 12 and above)
• Bullying and school refusal
• Self- esteem
• Suicidal ideation and self- harm
• Australian Defence Force

Keara doesn’t work with the following:

• Families
• Couples
• ASD
• Intellectual Disability
• OCD
• ADHD Counselling
• Eating Disorders
• Drug and Alcohol
• Court Reports