Horsham Clinical Psychology

WE ARE NOW ACCEPTING NEW REFERRALS FOR CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS INCLUDING LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENTAL ASSESSMENTS
CALL 0448 408 632 OR EMAIL ADMIN@GRAMPIANSPSYCHOLOGY.COM

Welcome to Grampians Clinical and Child Psychology. We are a specialist Psychology service providing evidence-based and comprehensive psychology services to the Wimmera and Grampians region. Please have a look around our site and get in touch with any queries or to make an appointment.

OUR PSYCHOLOGISTS

Dr Catherine de Vaus

Catherine is a Clinical Psychologist whose passion for rock climbing and the outdoors led her to move from Melbourne to Natimuk in 2014. Catherine completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology in 2006 at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She has 20 years experience working in both the public and private sector. She spent several years working at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and has previously worked for the Department of Education and Training. She offers a full range of learning and developmental assessments. Catherine is also a board approved supervisor able to supervise Provisional Psychologists and Clinical Psychology Registrars.

Catherine specialises in working with children and adolescents across a wide range of issues including general anxiety, OCD and phobias, depression, body image difficulties and social difficulties. She has a particular interest in assisting families with assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder, particularly in girls. She uses a range of evidence-based strategies in her work, drawing from cognitive behaviour therapy, child centred play therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness based techniques, tailoring the specific treatment approach to the child’s needs.

Catherine lives with her husband, her toddler and their elderly cat. She is an avid rock climber and mountain biker and generally enjoys being outside, cooking, and with her family.

Anne Penny

Anne is originally from Missouri in the USA where she worked as a special education teacher in the inner-city public education system after having studied Psychology at the University of Northern Colorado and Special Education at the University of Missouri. Nearly 18 years ago Anne moved to the Wimmera and has lived here ever since. She is married to a farmer and they live in Douglas with their three children on their family farm. Upon moving to the area, Anne provided integrated support to children and families through Child FIRST program at Uniting before leaving to have children. She eventually wound back up in the education sector, working for the past 8 years at Holy Trinity Lutheran College, first as a school counsellor and later as a psychologist after completing further training through Deakin University.

Having worked in education for much of her career, Anne has a passion for understanding the drivers behind learning and behaviour. She enjoys the relationships that come from working within schools, including the staff, families and students and hopes to be able to continue to foster that through clinical practice. In her practice she seeks to understand the whole child, so that those working closely with them can provide the best support. She appreciates the importance of connections and aim to partner with families, schools and health professionals to get the best outcome possible. In her spare time when she's not running her children to sporting events, Anne loves going for bush walks or just pottering around on the farm with her menagerie of animals including chooks, miniature goats, sheep, her whippet Tex, sheepdogs Roxy and Ash Barky, and cats Fuzzles and Scratchy.

We DO NOT complete assessments for legal or court matter or provide legal reports (e.g. for the family court) as this is a specialist area.

Play Therapy Service

Grampians Clinical and Child Psychology is pleased to announce the introduction of their play therapy service. Play is a child’s natural language and toys are their ‘words’. Research has consistently shown that play therapy can help increase children’s’ independence, decrease anxiety and oppositional behaviour and improve mood and family relationships.

For difficulties including OCD, specific phobias and children in crisis situations play therapy will not be the most appropriate approach. However, it can be very effective for:

Young children (approximately aged 2-8)
Building social skills and self-confidence in Autistic children
ADHD
Anxiety
Illness and medical trauma
Emotional dysregulation
Increasing independence and self confidence
Behavioural concerns

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss if your child would benefit from play therapy.

Developmental and Learning Assessments

Catherine has worked in the well regarded Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne) Learning Differences Centre, as well as running the learning and developmental assessment division in a busy practice in Melbourne. She has worked for the Department of Education and Training, and has relationships with many of the schools across the Wimmera.

Anne has worked for many years in special education and wellbeing before training as a Psychologist. She has an excellent understanding of learning difficulties and school based approaches to assisting children with different learning needs.

Both Catherine and Anne are experienced in assessing and assisting children with:

Specific learning disorders (e.g. dyslexia)
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Intellectual Disability
Giftedness

Many parents have a series of assessment reports but are unsure how to use these to help their child. We work closely with teachers and schools to ensure your child's assessment translates into an effective learning plan.

Read more about learning difficulties and about red flags for learning difficulties.