Location: Cleveland

Dr Lisa Gusciora
Clinical Psychologist
BSc (Hons), MSc, DClinPsych

Lisa is a psychologist who holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology and has over 11 years of experience working with children, families and adults. Lisa has worked in hospital and community settings in the NHS, England. She has worked in paediatric psychology and child mental health, working directly to support child-parent relationships. However, in recent years her focus has been on private practice working with parents, infants and toddlers during the perinatal period.

Lisa understands the vulnerability in asking for help and aims to work collaboratively with you, bringing warmth and compassion to the therapeutic space. She is passionate about supporting families during preconception, pregnancy, postpartum and the early parenting years.

Lisa is particularly interested in supporting clients through pregnancy and the transition to parenthood, understanding this can be an anxious time for many. She also enjoys working with clients who experience birth trauma, postnatal depression and anxiety, including general anxiety, intrusive thoughts and perinatal OCD.

Lisa has a special interest in attachment theory, intergenerational trauma and enjoys working with clients who wish to explore family of origin patterns, relational trauma and the impact this has on one’s own parenting. As a Circle of Security Facilitator, Lisa aims to gently support clients in developing connected, attuned and joyful relationships with their children. She enjoys encouraging parents to understand and meet their child’s emotional needs, while helping parents to recover from their own childhood experiences. Lisa has also completed the Becoming Us training with Elly Taylor which focuses on the couple relationship in the perinatal period.

Lisa works collaboratively with clients to meet their specific needs and goals, drawing on various evidence-based models to inform her therapeutic approach. This includes Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Acceptance Commitment Therapy,  Mindfulness, Schema Therapy, and Mindfulness-based Exposure and Response Prevention (OCD). Attachment theory is always at the centre of Lisa’s approach. She aims not only to reduce parental distress but also to strengthen relationships and promote the well-being of all family members by ‘holding’ the mother, father and baby in mind.

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Amanda is unable to accept new referrals at this time – please make contact with another of our psychologists to make an appointment.

Amanda Donnet
Clinical Psychologist
BPsych; BSci Hon (Psych), MPsych (Clin).
CertIV Breastfeeding Education (Counselling)

“Early parenthood is a time of great vulnerability. This vulnerability has a primal purpose – we are wired to open our hearts in order to let our baby in.  But to open our hearts can also present great challenges – exposing old wounds and making us raw.  My job as a clinician is not to stop you from feeling vulnerable, but to create a space where it is safe for you to feel this way.” ~ Amanda Donnet

Amanda is a Clinical Psychologist who predominantly works with women and their families experiencing depression, anxiety, or adjustment difficulties during pregnancy and the postnatal period.  Amanda also assists mothers or fathers experiencing parenting difficulties, including sleep difficulties, bonding or attachment issues.  She has a particular interest in rage and other strong emotions that can come along with parenting.  Amanda is a firm believer that if she isn’t baby-friendly, then she isn’t mother-friendly, so you are always more than welcome to bring your baby to sessions with you.

At the heart of all the work that Amanda does is a keen focus on the therapeutic relationship.  She will work alongside you to collaboratively develop a treatment plan and therapeutic approach that is right for your circumstances.  Amanda’s therapeutic approach is adapted to suit the needs of each individual and unique family she sees, drawing on the latest science from Compassion Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Schema Therapy and a range of attachment-based approaches.

She is an endorsed Clinical Psychologist registered with the Psychology Board of Australia. Amanda completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, before returning to Queensland to complete her Psychology Honours and a Master of Clinical Psychology at the University of Queensland (UQ).

She has also completed additional training in birth trauma, breastfeeding, feeding disorders (accredited SOS feeding trained therapist), and managing unsettled and distressed babies (including Possums certification 1 and 2: evidence-based care of mothers and babies 0-6 months).  Amanda liaises closely with GPs, Psychiatrists and Maternal Child Health Nurses to ensure the best possible care for clients.

The mother of three young boys, in her spare (and often not spare) time, Amanda enjoys volunteering as a qualified breastfeeding counsellor assisting individuals with infant feeding concerns and running mother-to-mother support groups.

For professionals: Amanda is also passionate about improving the knowledge and skills of health professionals in the arena of perinatal mental health.  She provides individual supervision as well as training workshops in a variety of settings.

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