Melissa Bedwell - Gymea Lily Psychotherapy

Melissa Bedwell, Psychologist

Melissa is a fully registered Psychologist with a Psychology Degree from the University of New England and a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology from the University of Queensland.

Melissa has worked at Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre in various positions since 2009, counselling children and adults for a wide range of psychological issues. She also does psychometric testing and report writing in an educational setting. She has worked as a Psychiatric Rehabilitation Support Worker and has experience with major mental illnesses. Melissa has also been involved in elite level sports. She has experience in both performance based psychology as well as life adjustment after sport.

Before 2009 she worked as a school teacher across all years, Kindergarten to Year 12, and is endorsed in special education. She has expertise in the areas of adolescent counselling, child counselling and assessment, family therapy, as well as drug, alcohol and gambling addiction, eating disorders and financial stress. She helps people with vocational and career assessments. She treats anxiety disorders and depression as well as sleep disorders and personality disorders. Melissa has experience in the management of Chronic Illnesses with extensive understanding of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and chronic pain.

Facebook

Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre

1 week ago

Many of our students don't know what a transitional object is....www.instagram.com/reel/DZdIDjYqdv8/?igsh=c20yZjA1amhybmpi ... See MoreSee Less

For the next few weeks, I will be talking about pediatric anxiety. I will start off by making a distinction between separation anxiety and separation anxiety disorder. Separation anxiety peaks between 9 and 18 months and typically subsides by age 3. It is a healthy part of child development. It stems from a developing relationship with caregivers combined with limited capacity to maintain an emotional bond toward someone even when they are absent, upset, or disappointed. Your baby has finally learned that you still exist when you walk away. That is a huge cognitive achievement. But that skill is not fully 100% online yet. Your child can hold you in mind for only a short time. When you are gone longer than that, the mental image of you starts to fade. That fading feels scary to children. Separation anxiety disorder is a different beast and I will get into my later video. This is where the teddy bear comes in. The blanket or the worn-out teddy is not a babyish habit. Tsychoanalyst Donald Winnicott called it a transitional object. It works like a bridge. It keeps the feeling of you alive when you are not there. Every time your child hugs that bear at daycare, your child is practicing how to carry you on the inside. So do not take the teddy away to teach independence. In fact, the teddy is how your child learns independence. Series: Becoming You on Apple TV

www.instagram.com

View on Facebook

Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre

2 weeks ago

If you need help with bullying at work we have a number of therapists available who work with this presentation. ... See MoreSee Less

Live: Culture in Australia's largest police force 'unacceptable'

www.abc.net.au

Bullying, discrimination and sexual harassment are occurring at "unacceptable levels" within the NSW Police Force and employees are too afraid to speak up, an independent report has found.

View on Facebook

Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre

2 weeks ago

Patterns can be changed but you have to commit to more than 10 sessions of therapy. You have to invest in yourself and your relationships. One way to do this in a more affordable way is to join our Psychotherapy group (2 places left...) ... See MoreSee Less

Video

View on Facebook

Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre

2 weeks ago

The goal in education should not be to enforce attendance through fear or consequences, but to remove barriers and create conditions where students feel supported, safe, and able to engage in their education.sac.ymhc.ngo #schoolanxiety #schoolattendancechallenges #schoolavoidance #schoolabsenteeism #educationsupportteam #schoolwidestrategy #youreducationmatters #SchoolAttendance #ymhc ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook

Gymea Lily Psychotherapy Centre

2 weeks ago

Avoidant attachment is harder to recognize than anxious attachment, partly because the behaviors that come with it tend to look healthy on the surface. Independence. Emotional self-sufficiency. Not needing too much from people. It takes a specific kind of honesty to look underneath those and see what's actually driving them.Pulling away when things got close. Not because closeness wasn't wanted, but because it triggered something. A fear of being consumed, of losing yourself, of being trapped. The withdrawal felt like self-preservation. From the outside it looked like not caring.Calling it independence when it was really fear of vulnerability. There's a meaningful difference between genuine autonomy, which coexists with closeness, and distance that's maintained to avoid the risk of being truly known.Shutting down instead of speaking up. Going quiet, becoming unavailable, letting the conversation end by attrition. It feels like choosing not to escalate. What it actually does is leave things unresolved and the other person feeling abandoned.Choosing partners who weren't fully available. Someone with their own walls was safer. Less chance of real intimacy, less chance of real loss.And confusing self-protection with self-respect. Keeping people out isn't self-respect. It's self-protection. They feel similar. They lead to very different places.Recognizing avoidant patterns in yourself isn't an indictment. It's the beginning of being able to choose something different.Like and follow for more. ... See MoreSee Less

Photo

View on Facebook