Individual Therapy

Psychological Care Tailored to You

At Lightner Centre, we believe effective psychological treatment begins with understanding the individual, not simply applying a standard treatment or intervention to address symptoms or a diagnosis.

Our extensive team of Clinical Psychologists, General Psychologists, and Clinical Psychology Registrars bring together a broad range of clinical experience, areas of interest, and therapeutic expertise. The breadth of our team means we can provide psychological treatment for most mental health, psychological, and behavioural concerns across the lifespan, from relatively focused or recent difficulties through to complex, longstanding, and overlapping presentations.

Rather than expecting every psychologist to treat every presentation, our aim is to help clients access a clinician whose experience, therapeutic approach, and areas of practice are suited to their individual needs.

More Than a One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Psychological treatment is most effective when it is selected for the individual rather than determined by a single preferred therapeutic approach.

Our clinicians are trained across a wide range of evidence-based psychological interventions, allowing treatment to be selected and adapted according to the client's presentation, goals, preferences and response to therapy.

Depending on your needs and the experience of your treating psychologist, approaches available across the Lightner Centre team include:

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – Enhanced (CBT-E)
Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT)
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)

Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP)

Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS)
Metacognitive Therapy (MCT)
Mindfulness-based approaches
Motivational Interviewing
Prolonged Exposure (PE)
Schema Therapy
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (TF-CBT)
Trauma-Informed Stabilisation Treatment (TIST)

This breadth of therapeutic expertise means that if one approach is not appropriate for a particular presentation, our team has access to a range of other evidence-based treatment options. Treatment can also evolve as a person's needs, goals, and understanding of their difficulties develop.

Understanding What Is Driving the Difficulty

Our approach is not limited to reducing symptoms. Assessment and individualised case formulation are important components of treatment at Lightner Centre. Your psychologist will work to understand what you are experiencing, how the difficulty developed, the factors that may be maintaining it, and what needs to change to support meaningful improvement. For some clients, the treatment pathway is relatively straightforward. For others, symptoms may reflect several interacting factors or diagnoses, previous treatment may not have produced the expected improvement, or the underlying difficulty may not yet be fully understood. The breadth of experience within our team allows us to respond to this complexity and, where appropriate, draw upon additional assessment, different treatment modalities, or the expertise of other clinicians within the practice.

Finding the Right Psychologist

The relationship between you and your psychologist matters, but so does having access to a clinician with the appropriate experience for your needs. With an extensive psychology team, Lightner Centre can offer greater choice of clinician and therapeutic approach than may be possible within a smaller practice. When selecting a psychologist, consideration can be given to your presenting concerns, treatment goals, preferred therapeutic approach, clinician experience, appointment availability, and whether you would prefer to attend face-to-face or via telehealth. If your needs change or it becomes apparent that another clinician has expertise better suited to your presentation, being part of a larger team also provides opportunities for consultation and, where appropriate, transition within the practice.

From Focused Support to Complex Psychological Treatment

People seek psychological treatment for many different reasons. You do not need to be experiencing a severe mental health condition to benefit from seeing a psychologist. We support clients seeking assistance with current life challenges, stress, relationships, adjustment and personal development, as well as people experiencing established mental health conditions and complex psychological presentations. Our team provides care across a broad spectrum, from focused, short-term psychological intervention through to longer-term treatment for complex or longstanding difficulties.

Evidence-Based. Individualised. Experienced.

Lightner Centre was established around the principle that psychological care should be evidence-based, carefully formulated and individually tailored. Our difference lies not in offering one particular therapeutic approach or treating one particular condition, but in bringing together a substantial team with the clinical experience, diversity of expertise, and range of evidence-based interventions needed to provide genuinely individualised psychological care. Whether you are seeking support for a recent difficulty, looking for a different approach after previous treatment, or require an experienced psychologist for a more complex presentation, our aim is to connect you with the clinician and treatment approach best suited to your needs.

Individual therapy is available face-to-face at our Paddington locations and nationally via telehealth, providing access to the broader Lightner Centre team wherever you are in Australia.