about – julie o’donoghue
I am an accredited mental health social worker, gestalt psychotherapist and EMDR trained therapist based in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs.
Over the course of my 26-year career, I have gained extensive clinical experience across a diverse range of mental health and therapeutic settings. My practice has encompassed community mental health, including specialised work with survivors of torture and trauma, as well as forensic and community-based alcohol and other drug treatment.
I have provided counselling and therapeutic support to carers, adolescents in alternative education settings, and young people accessing services through headspace. In addition to direct clinical practice, I have contributed to the development of the profession through the provision of clinical supervision for final-year psychotherapy students at Gestalt Therapy Australia.
For many years, I have also partnered with schools to provide wellbeing support and professional supervision to staff. This breadth of experience has enabled me to work effectively with individuals across the lifespan and within a wide variety of complex clinical and organisational contexts.
For the past 14 years I have worked full time in my private practice located in North Fitzroy. This work centres around offering long term psychotherapy and counselling to adults and adolescents, and also clinical supervision to allied health workers.
I completed my Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University, followed by a Bachelor of Social Work and went on to complete training as a relational gestalt psychotherapist at Gestalt Therapy Australia in 2011. Since then I have completed training in EMDR therapy. I am committed to ongoing professional development to enrich and deepen my work. I am a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers and am a Medicare Provider (5368282W).
my approach
My aim is to always create a warm, supportive and gentle place for us to begin to look together at what it is that brings you in to the room with me. My intention is to support you in whatever way you may need, and that differs from person to person – psychotherapy is an act of creating this meeting together. My training in gestalt psychotherapy is my primary orientation, but I also value and utilise a range of other approaches including somatic based approaches, polyvagal theory, mindfulness, trauma sensitive practice, developmental and attachment theory, IFS and EMDR therapy.
where
I am based in the North Fitzroy Counselling rooms – 842 Nicholson St, North Fitzroy (red brick building on the corner of Holden St). It is easily accessible on public transport – route 96 tram runs along Nicholson St. There is plenty of free parking available on Nicholson St and surrounding streets.
I also offer online (zoom) sessions to those who need or prefer.
medicare rebates
I am able to offer the Medicare rebate of $87.25 per session for a total of 10 sessions per year.
A mental health treatment plan is prepared with your GP under Medicare’s better access initiative. This referral will cover your first 6 sessions, after which you will need to book a review appointment with your GP in order to access the further 4 sessions available.
initial call
I like to offer an initial phone call so that you can get a sense of me and how I work, to support you in considering if you feel like we might be a ‘good fit’. If this is something that you would be interested in please feel free to contact me on 0404 509 010 so that we can set up a time to talk.
fees
Standard fee for a 55 minute session is $180. If this poses an issue for you or inhibits your access to this service, please let me know so we can negotiate a suitable alternative. When you attend with a mental health care plan you can claim back $87.25 per session.
cancellation
In the event that a session is cancelled within 24 hours, this will incur a fee of half the cost of the session. If there is no notice of a cancellation, this will incur the full cost of the session.
contact
P: 0404 509 010
E: jmodonoghue@hotmail.com
