Registered Psychotherapist specialising in individual psychotherapy, LGBTQ+ therapy, relationship counselling and clinical supervision.
Experienced + professional + accessible online
About
I am a PACFA Registered Psychotherapist and Certified Transactional Analyst, offering individual counselling, psychotherapy and relationship therapy via a convenient online platform, to a diverse range of clients nationally and internationally.
With close to 15 years’ clinical experience, I work with a range of adult clients, and I have particular interest in working with individuals and those seeking relationship therapy who define themselves as sexual-, relationship- or gender-diverse.
I also offer individual and group clinical supervision to a range of mental health clinicians.
My approach is empathic, supportive and gently challenging where appropriate, and I approach therapy from a contemporary psychodynamic perspective using evidence-based therapeutic approaches for dealing with emotional, relationship and psychological difficulties.
Brad McLean
My goal is to help you increase your sense of autonomy, be more in control of your experiences and feel more harmonious and confident. Psychotherapy is an approach to mental health care intended to help individuals navigate the complexities of life, work and relationships. I specialise in working with adults facing difficulties with mood and anxiety, trauma, loss, and the many other issues associated with life challenges and our origin stories. My approach has been described as warm, empathic, and sometimes sensitively challenging. Our work together is a collaborative endeavour to help you overcome fears, improve relationships, and work through emotional roadblocks.
Services
My online services include:
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Psychotherapy is an approach to human difficulty focused on the relationship between therapist and client that facilitates self-understanding, awareness, and change. This work occurs in a contracted, ethical relationship that enables a person to look to resolve issues of an interpersonal (external) or personal (internal) nature.
The therapist uses therapeutic and psychological theories and advanced interpersonal skills drawn together to facilitate new understandings and ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.
Often integrating aspects of our nurturing relationships, parts of our unconscious experiences and deeper work with personality change are at the heart of psychotherapy work.
[Adapted from PACFA definition]
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Unremitting conflicts, loss of emotional connection, and poor communication are common reasons my clients seek relationship psychotherapy.
For acute presentations, a crisis has often occurred or trust has been breached. For others, there is a desire to address a slow and sustained loss of connection.
Relationship or couples + counselling offers new ways of seeing, feeling and behaving in your relationship and offers the chance to become more aware of how our individual histories intersect in our intimate relationships.
I work with couples, polycules and non-normative relationship structures by looking at attachment patterns, conscious and unconscious processes and the neuroscience behind what happens in relationship difficulties.
My focus is on providing the couple with skills that strengthen communication, increase flexibility, trust and empathy and reduce conflict. I also offer a deeper level of understanding of the unconscious dynamics at play in our relationships.
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I believe that it is important to work with someone who understands the specific challenges that can come with identifying as LGBTQ+ and is familiar with the community. I have considerable experience helping people with a wide range of issues including:
Coming out
Exploring same-sex attraction/ identification
Exploring gender and gender identification
Exploring the impact of heterosexism and undoing internalized heterosexism
Compulsive sexual behaviours
Impacts of substance use issues
HIV/STI psychological impacts
Social network/friendship pressures
Understanding gender socialization and how it affected all of us
Identifying and overcoming shame
Dating and relationship issues
exploring the intersection of LGBTQ+ identity and other social identities
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As a grief counsellor I work with you to validate your emotions, normalise your experiences, and help you understand that your grief is a natural part of the healing process.
The grieving process and bereavement are unique experiences for every person and grief and loss counsellors and therapists acknowledge the wide range of emotions and reactions that can accompany loss, such as sadness, anger, guilt, confusion, and even relief.
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Gottman Couples Therapy is an approach to relationship therapy designed to promote reconnection, assist with the navigation of conflicts so that the couple actively build stronger, more fulfilling relationships.
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Pre-marriage counselling helps couples prepare for marriage by providing an evidence-based framework on which to build a successful long-term marriage and skills to address potential issues that inevitably arise in all marriages.
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Psychodynamic therapists approach the treatment of anxiety and depression by exploring the conscious and unconscious conflicts and unresolved issues that underlie the psychological symptoms and often cause stress.
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Relational Transactional Analysis psychotherapy is a therapeutic approach that integrates the principles of both Relational Psychoanalysis and Transactional Analysis and emphasises the importance of the client-therapist relationship as the primary vehicle for healing and change.
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I provide supervision and consultation for mental health professionals who seek ongoing professional growth and development. My approach is both supportive and challenging and I focus on the elements of the client/patient and therapist relationship and the qualities of the transference/countertransference matrix.
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Balint group work is a method of clinical reflection intended to support participant psychotherapists in their work with patients/clients. The focus is on the emotional experiences of those involved, not on problem-solving, diagnosis or management. There is no critique, judgement or advice given. The focus is always on the therapist-client/patient relationship and not group dynamics.
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Working with clients online is an option for us to discuss. It also offers access to clients outside of cities, those with physical challenges, very busy schedules and those who travel regularly.
Some clients are not suitable for online therapy so an assessment process is necessary to determine if it is appropriate for us to work this way.
Due to insurance limitations, I cannot work with clients in North America or Canada.
“Nothing is an end because it always can be the basis for something new and different”
Keith Haring