Meet Our Team
Our aim is to provide mental health care that is relatable to young people.
A huge part of this is achieved by the way we think of our team; as people first. We select our team for their human qualities. Yes, their qualifications and skills are important. But their lived experiences of community and culture, of failure and achievement, are actually the things that make them great team members and even better humans.
To find out more about our team members, see below for their individual profiles.
-
Courtney
Principal Clinical Psychologist
Courtney grew up on the South Coast by the beach and studied at UOW. She’s a massive bookworm, is obsessed with listening to podcasts and very much struggles to do nothing.
At work, Courtney has a special interest in supporting young people struggling with eating disorders. Since she graduated, she worked exclusively with young people, parents and families, across a range of different settings.
Alongside her clinical work, Courtney also has a huge passion for engaging youth in mental health care. The Wattle Tree Clinic is her commitment to this passion - to create a mental health service that makes a difference.
-
Michelle
Finance
Michelle works her magic from a far, so you’ll never actually see her around the clinic, but it’s her who answers the phones, takes the bookings and manages the diaries. She’s like our virtual Mum, who can do ten things at once.
Michelle is a wizard when it comes to Medicare, and she never fails to chase our young people about getting their treatment plans sorted. When she’s not answering four phones at once, she’s taking long walks on the beach, watching animated movies or smothering her grandchildren in lots of love.
-
Oliver
Admin
Oliver joins the clinic from Hobart via Melbourne, where he spent his twenties studying creative writing and making music. He's also spent time as a volunteer at a non-for-profit community centre, and working in admin roles for physicians, surgeons and psychiatrists.
Oliver brings the calm vibes to our admin team. He says that he understands how daunting the mental health system can seem from the outside, and he always tries to take time to answer questions and come up with solutions so that everyone's on the same page.
When he's not at work, you can find Oliver going for long, moody walks, cooking meals for friends, and making collages from old magazines and postcards.
-
Jen
Admin
Jen is a proud Sydneysider who relocated south a few years ago and hasn’t looked back. She brings a warm, grounded energy to every space she walks into, along with a knack for helping teams run smoothly and efficiently. With years of administrative experience under her belt, she’s become the go-to person for structure, clarity, and keeping all the moving parts heading in the right direction.
Few things satisfy her more than watching chaos slowly submit to organisation—preferably with a well-timed to-do list and neatly labelled folders. When she’s not bringing order to the workday, you’ll likely find Jen at the park with her two little humans, at the beach with her big fur baby, or out for a run with her favourite podcast in her ears.
-
Arianna
Clinical Supervisor
In 2024 we decided we needed to add some more clinical muscle to our team. So we went on the hunt for an extra special supervisor. They needed to have years of experience working with children, adolescents and families, be a natural teacher, be warm and kind and most importantly LOVE the work they do.
And as all good stories start, Arianna turned up in our inbox, a recommendation from a colleague-of-a colleague-of-a-colleague.
Arianna is Clinical Psychologist and Board-Approved Supervisor who grew up and completed her studies across the ditch in New Zealand. Arianna’s now based in Sydney, having spent a decade working across various private, public and academic mental health settings. Alongside her work, Arianna is a proud cat mum of two fur babies, loves hiking, watching a good crime doco and apparently gets competitive when it comes to playing tennis.
Arianna joins us monthly as our group supervisor and provides 1:1 supervision for team as needed.
-
Daisy
Registered Psychologist
Daisy grew up in Wollongong and completed her studies at UOW. As the daughter of an artist and a musician, she jokes that she somehow missed out on inheriting any creative talents. Outside of work, she can usually be found at live gigs, browsing op shops, or adding yet another plant to her home and doing her best to keep it thriving.
In her professional life, Daisy aims to bring warmth, curiosity, and authenticity to her work. She has a long-standing fascination with psychology and has gained experience across a range of settings—including disability services, a residential behavioural school, not-for-profit community organisations, and private practice—soaking up as much learning as possible along the way.
Daisy values building strong, meaningful therapeutic relationships and is particularly drawn to longer-term therapy. She has a special interest in supporting young people who have experienced adversity earlier in life and may need guidance in navigating the ongoing impacts of those experiences.
Work days: Wednesdays & Thursdays.
-
Dayle
Clinical Psychologist/PhD
Dayle remains on trend as a graduate of UOW. Having worked across a range of services and settings, Dayle finds working with young people and their families, the most rewarding. In her downtime, Dayle is always trying (and failing) to reach the bottom of her To-Be-Read pile of books, unwinding with video games, or just hanging out with her cat.
At work, Dayle gets that coming to see a psychologist can be a lot, and so she aims to create a genuine and warm space. She is flexible in her practice, and is able to draw from a number of therapies as needed. Overall, Dayle believes that people are doing their best with what they’ve got, and sees therapy as a way to deepen self-understanding and develop skills to help live your best life. She enjoys the journey of self discovery, and finds being able to walk alongside people in that journey an immense privilege. Dayle is also a board-approved supervisor.
Work days - Monday & Wednesday mornings. Dayle has AFTER HOURS appointments available on Mondays only.
-
Kate
Registered Psychologist
As an early career psychologist, Kate also joins our team after several years in the Not-for-Profit space. A graduate from UOW and Monash in Melbourne, Kate is looking to move into private practice to extend her skillset working with kids and families. Kate describes her approach to her work as warm and relaxed, seeking to meet her clients wherever they are at. Kate particularly loves working with families, helping to support parents with whatever is required to support their young one to thrive. Alongside this, Kate’s special interest area is working with young people with neurodevelopmental needs, because “they’re just great.”
When she’s not working, Kate spends most of her time with her dog and two cats, watching (read: binging) her favourite comfort series on repeat or playing Nintendo Switch.
Work Days – Mondays, Tuesday & Wednesdays. Kate has AFTER HOURS appointments available on Wednesdays only.
-
Kezia
Registered Psychologist
Kezia joins our team after moving to the area, from the Central Coast of NSW. A graduate of the University of Newcastle, Kezia worked clinically for a few years in private practice, whilst also dabbling in the equine/eco and art therapy spaces. From here, she moved into the Out of Home Care sector for a year, supporting kiddies with complex needs. Not surprisingly with this background, Kezia enjoys incorporating art and creativity into sessions (if clients are eager to express themselves that way!) and she understands that coming into a clinic can be intimidating so she aims to be as chill as possible. Kezia is passionate about helping children and adolescents navigate their social and emotional world, with her favourite clients being young one’s with neurodiversity.
In her free time, you’ll find Kezia painting, making ceramics, surfing, hiking and bird watching (yellow-tailed black cockatoos are her favourite!)
Work days - Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursday afternoons. Kezia has AFTER HOURS appointments available.
-
Andy
Registered Psychologist
Another graduate from UOW, Andy has spent the last few years across both the public and private education system working as a school psychologist in Sydney. He’s now returned to the coast, looking to start in private practice, with the intention to create a great work life balance.
According to Andy’s mum the first words out of his mouth were why! Apparently, Andy has always had a keen interest in discovering why things are the way they are, especially when it comes to psychology and philosophy. This is something he takes into his work with young people, because if we can understand someone's why, then we can hopefully begin to work on improving outcome. Alongside being a genuinely warm and curious human, Andy is also a keen runner, enjoys nature and being outdoors. Fun fact - On the days he isn’t working at Wattle, Andy is completing an outdoor leadership course!
Work days - Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays. Andy has AFTERHOURS appointments available on Wednesdays only.
-
Jessie
Registered Psychologist
Jessie joins our team as newly registered psychologist, after graduating from the Clinical Master’s program at UOW in 2025. Jessie’s passion for working with young people is unmistakable. Through her studies, Jessie worked in a variety of contexts relating to children and adolescents, including supporting children in Out of Home Care as well as working as a Learning Support Officer in local primary schools. Her focus on early development continued into her clinical placements with Jessie supporting adolescents as a Mental Health Clinician at headspace as well as working with young families at the Family Care Centre.
Jessie’s another local, growing up on the south coast and therefore, not surprisingly she spends most of her spare time at the beach. Jessie also comes from the world of elite sport, having spent many of her younger years around the athletics track. Of course, life changes as we grow up, but Jessie has maintained her connection to sport, now working as a coach and mentor to the next generation of athletes.
Work days - Tuesdays & Thursdays. Jessie has AFTER HOURS appointments available on a Tuesday only.
-
Trudy
Senior Registered Psychologist - Assessments Only
Trudy is a senior registered psychologist, who originally hails from a small country town and completed her studies at a rural university. Trudy joins us at Wattle Tree after spending fifteen years working as a psychologist across a range of settings including public mental health, schools and private practice, supporting children, adolescents and their families.
These days, Trudy's work focuses primarily on conducting psychological assessments, including Autism, ADHD, cognitive and learning assessments. Trudy has always been drawn to assessment work - she enjoys bringing together information from multiple sources, identifying patterns, and piecing together the puzzle of how a person thinks, learns and experiences the world.
When she's not at work, you'll usually find Trudy spending time with her husband, two daughters and their two dogs. As a family, they love escaping for weekends away, whether that's heading to the beach, exploring the city, or simply enjoying time together. She's also a self-confessed fan of psychological thrillers and can happily spend an evening curled up on the couch binge-watching a good mystery series.
Work Days - Thursday & Fridays. -
Destinee
Registered Psychologist
Destinee is a registered psychologist that comes to us from a local NGO, having spent the last five years of her career working with children and families. Destinee is looking to join our team to add some private practice hours to her working week. Another UOW graduate, Destinee grew up in the Camden area, before moving south to the coast.
Destinee is true child and adolescent clinician, with her love of pop culture shining through into her work. Destinee is a book lover, mostly sci-fi and fantasy, with the occasional classic thrown in (think Agatha Christie, Virginia Woolf and the Bronte sisters). She plays a lot of Nintendo switch and collects Pokémon cards (“I mostly collect cards designed by my favourite artists Yuka Morii and Asako Ito OR my favourite Pokémon Totodile and Fuecoco”). While Destinee loves working with kiddos, teens and young adults from all walks of life, her special interest areas are those who are struggling with OCD, are neurodivergent or identify as gender diverse.
Work Days - Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Destinee has AFTER HOURS appointments available on both days.
-
Matilda
Provisional Psychologist
Matilda is a provisional psychologist, joining the team until July 2026 as part of her postgraduate studies at UOW. She’s wanting to expand her skills working with kiddos, adolescents and their families, and we thought we were well placed to help her with this! As part of this process, Matilda is supervised in-house by our lovely Dayle (see above).
Matilda's happy place is the beach, and in her spare time you can find her surfing down the coast, or at the pilates studio. Having lived on Dharawal and Yuin Country for several years, Matilda fills up her cup bushwalking the beautiful tracks of the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and South Coast.
In her clinical work, Matilda describes herself as deeply curious about people and their stories. She considers herself pretty lucky to have the opportunity to help people in their mental health journey. As her grandmother taught her, "If you listen to anyone's story long enough, you realise everyone deserves a standing ovation".
Work days – Mondays & Wednesdays.
Our Mission & Our Values
Our mission is to improve the Illawarra’s youth mental health sector by providing uncomplicated clinical care that is designed specifically for young people. This means providing services that young people and their families understand, engage with and then feel capable of applying in their everyday life. Our clinicians understand the struggles of being young and the bigger picture of youth mental health – that small conversations had today, build resilient young people of tomorrow.
Compassionate
When times are tough, we know that kindness is one of the most powerful things we can offer our young people.
“Long after, people will forget what you said, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” – Said someone on the internet.
Grounded
We’re just people* helping other people with the overwhelming parts of life. We aim to provide support in a humble manner, accepting that we aren’t experts on others lives.
*suitably qualified people
Inclusive
We understand that it takes a village and that everybody’s village looks different. We honour this by inviting different perspectives, seeking collaboration, and listening with the intent to understand the bigger picture of young person’s life.
Relatable
Being young is tough. We get it. We remember.
We let our lived experience inform our work, remembering that our humanness is one of the most powerful things we can offer young people.
The Wattle Way
Our Manifesto
We believe that young people can change the world, so long as they’re given the right tools.
At The Wattle Tree Clinic, our job is to provide the right tools at the right time for when mental health issues cause young people to get stuck. We strive to do this in the most effective and efficient way possible; because good therapy understands that wellness happens outside of the therapy room and that happiness happens when young people are supported to create their own change.
Alongside the actual work, we also believe in our responsibility in being drivers for social change. The quality of our day to day work extends beyond the young person in front of us. Our work contributes to wider community attitudes towards mental health and because we want the future to be better, we’re committed to doing this to the best of our abilities. We want to live in a world where mental health care is shameless, celebrated and commonplace.
Any Questions?
Visiting a psychologist can be a hard thing to do. It can be strange, especially if you’ve never done it before. But we’ve got you covered. We’ve put together a list of frequently asked questions, that hopefully eases any first timer nerves.