Manuela Sberna

I'm a licensed psychologist both in Australia and Italy with more that 10 year experience providing mental health, psychosocial and clinical intervention in various community and health services as well as in private practice. I'm passionate about supporting people who have gone through distressing situations, difficult life changes or trauma in their life to help them in their healing journey, guided by their specific needs and individualities to define the best approach that works for them. I'm specialized in working with experience of refugee trauma, migration concerns and cultural conflict. My clients tend to present with concerns related to anxiety, panic attacks, depression, grief, trauma, family concerns, relational problems, low self-esteem, anger issues and experience of violence and abuse. They often find it difficult to seek for help, but they experience a sense of relief and hope after their first session. My approach is centered on the therapeutic relationship, considered to be the main factor of change in therapy, and aims to develop a better understanding of self and of the presenting concerns in the context of the individual's past and present functioning, support healthy coping strategies and thinking patterns, help to manage overwhelming feelings and achieve a more integrated and harmonic sense of self. Since I don't believe than "one way works for all", I use an integrated approach that embraces principles of various therapies (cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance commitment therapy, mindfulness, psychodynamic and strengths-based approach) and try to adapt to the client's needs and preference. Due to not being based in Australia at the moment, Medicare rebates are not available and my fees have been lowered to reflect that.