Wayne Featherstone

I am a Clinical Social Worker, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, and Counsellor with forty years’ experience.

I work predominantly in private practice as a Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and as a registered Mental Health Provider through the Better Access programme. At present, I also consult two days a week to the Lighthouse Foundation, an agency that provides therapeutic residential services to homeless and traumatised young people.  Previously, I worked for many years in a wide variety of psychiatric settings including Adult Inpatient Services, Mental Health Outpatient Clinics, Primary Mental Health services. I have also worked in community and Not-for-Profit agencies.

I am a graduate of the Victorian Association of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists training programme in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy with Adults, a Past President of the association, and a past Chairman of the Training Programme.  Over the years, I have completed additional trainings in Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. In various work settings in the past I provided Family Therapy to families of inpatients and Group Therapy for the clients themselves. I have also taught psychoanalytic theory and counselling skills in the tertiary education sector.

While in my private practice I concentrate on psychoanalytic psychotherapy with individual adults or, alternatively, counselling interventions within an IPT framework. I also work with couples and groups where required. With my mental health background, I am open to Shared Care arrangements with medical providers – General Practitioners or Psychiatrists – and have an ongoing interest in working with people suffering from Depression, Anxiety, and carers or families of those suffering from mental illness. As well as providing direct clinical services, I also provide professional supervision (individual and group), reading groups, and reflective practice groups, all informed by a psychodynamic perspective.

I have a special interest in the importance of creative endeavours to a person’s overall mental health and life satisfaction, and in working with those experiencing blocks to their creative potential. In 2016 I completed a PhD in the field of Psychoanalysis and Literature.

Telehealth:

All services are now only provided by telehealth

About me … 

I usually work with individual adults but sometimes with couples or families. I also work with groups.

I have a special interest in the importance of creative endeavours for a person’s overall mental health and life satisfaction, and experience in working with people experiencing blocks to their creative potential.

While many of the people who have taught me about the importance of  creativity over my years of practice have been artists of various kinds, it is  important also to affirm with Fred Hollows that to leave behind a garden, or to raise a happy, self-respecting child is a profoundly creative  activity that leaves the world a better place.

My patients have also taught me that no matter what the painful circumstances or history a person may have experienced, a respectful, life-affirming relationship with a person such as a therapist can lead to positive change, given commitment and hard work on both sides. The development of a coherent life narrative is a strongly protective factor against anxiety and depression.

What I provide: Therapy and Counselling Options:

• Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy
• Individual Counselling
• Interpersonal Therapy
• Couples Therapy
• Group Therapy

Professional Development Services: *

• Professional Supervision (Individual and Group)
• Reading/Study Groups or Reflective Practice Groups for practitioners wanting to develop their knowledge of   Psychoanalytic Theory and to explore its relevance in their work contexts.

* My work is informed by psychoanalytic theory, broadly from an Object Relations perspective. However, I have a special interest in the work of Wilfred Bion and also the recent work of various Italian Psychoanalysts such as Antonino Ferro. I am also an interested observer of recent developments in Neuro-psychoanalysis.