Psychologist Donna Shepherd has started practicing from Bedford Street Medical Centre and is welcoming patients to her new space. We asked Donna about her career, what services she offers and to clear up any misconceptions about seeing a psychologist.

What is your background? I have been a registered psychologist since 2008. I started as a school psychologist in the Department of Education where I worked for two years. I also worked at Headspace from 2012 – 2016. I have been NDIS registered since 2017, providing therapeutic and behaviour support. I have been in private practice since 2009.

What services do you offer? I work with children, teens and adults, and offer individual sessions or sessions as family or couples. I work mainly with mental health issues (e.g. anxiety, depression), skill building (e.g anger management, coping, relaxation, problem solving, goal setting, friendships/ relationships) and dealing with changes (e.g divorce/relationships, death, parenting, jobs, retirement/ageing, illness). At the moment, I work Monday to Wednesday from 9am until 5pm.

What are some of the misconceptions about seeing a psychologist? People believe that you need to be ‘crazy’ or have a mental health problem to see a psychologist, or that it’s just a place to talk about your problems and then leave. However, most of my work centres around helping regular people with everyday problems by teaching them how to process and understand what is going on, then guiding them to build skills to deal with the situations in a more effective manner or to make informed choices about changes.

To book an appointment with Donna, contact Bedford Street Medical Centre on 03 6246 7855.