Rosemary Andison
Rosemary is an Educational and Developmental Psychologist who is passionate about working therapeutically in a way that matches the developmental needs of her clients, often making adaptations for language, social-communication, and cognitive delays in the clinic room. She has fifteen years of experience working therapeutically with clients across the lifespan including many neurodiverse clients.
Rosemary's Story
Rosemary is skilled in the treatment of mental health concerns in children, adolescents, and young adults including anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive behaviours, and behavioural disorders. She also has experience working with children and adolescents with developmental trauma and she is in the process of accreditation as a Trauma-Focused CBT clinician. Her practice is grounded in evidence-based practice with therapeutic tools taken from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Family Systems theory, Narrative Approaches, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Rosemary’s work is playful and purposeful, using a thorough assessment process to guide the activities used in session. Rosemary is also goal-oriented, using the goals identified by the child and their family to guide treatment. Rosemary has a wide range of experience having worked in private practice, community services, schools, and hospital settings.
Rosemary enjoys working collaboratively with parents and caregivers supporting her child and adolescent clients. She believes that it is essential to engage a client's support network in bringing about change. Rosemary ensures that regular time is given to parents and caregivers to discuss their concerns, build skills, problem-solve dilemmas, and outline how to support the development of their child’s skills in real-world settings. Her work with parents is informed by attachment perspectives, developmental perspectives and neuroscience. Rosemary also has experience running parent and community groups on parenting and anxiety in children.
Rosemary works with a neurodiversity-affirming paradigm. This means that she recognises that differences in brain styles are a valuable part of our society. As such Rosemary enjoys supporting neurodiverse clients to recognise and build on their strengths and communication preferences.
Rosemary is also proficient in the assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders in children. This includes assessments for:
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Autism Spectrum Disorders,
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Intellectual Disability,
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Developmental Delay,
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Specific Learning Disabilities,
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Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder,
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Communication Disorders, and
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Tic Disorders.
Rosemary designs assessments around the specific questions brought by the client or families about their child or adolescent's functioning, using gold-standard assessment tools for measuring intelligence, early developmental skills, attention, impulsivity, academic skills, adaptive functioning, and behaviour. She integrates assessment data with information from the client’s family, client observations in the clinic setting, and information from third parties including allied health therapists, paediatricians, school teachers, and preschool/ daycare teachers. She is a strong believer in spending time with clients and their families to understand assessment results and recommendations to support the client in the future.