![Sarah-circle](https://liminalspaces.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Sarah-circle-380x380.jpg)
I am a ciswoman and go by she/her pronouns.
I currently live and work on the lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung Peoples of the Eastern Kulin in Naarm, an area also known as Melbourne in Australia. I was born in Belgium to a French speaking mum and a Flemish dad.
I worked for a decade alongside people seeking asylum in Belgium, offering them psychological support as they waited for their claims to be processed. At different points in time, I combined this work with solo travelling, further education, volunteer work and private practice. In 2017, I came to Australia to undertake doctoral research, hoping to make a contribution to refugee studies from a narrative practice perspective. More specifically, I explored how grassroots community initiatives, where people with and without refugee experience come together, can shape people’s preferred sense of self.
I continue to pursue my interest in translational research that supports the recovery and healing responses of communities in my part-time work as a research fellow in post-disaster mental health. I combine this with my independent practice as a clinician, supervisor and trainer.
Living and working as a settler on the unceded lands of the First Nations people of Australia, I recognise that this was, and always will be, Aboriginal land. As a mental health professional and trauma specialist, I recognise the profound traumas that First Nations people have been subjected to and are still enduring as a result of colonisation and dispossession.
Formal qualifications
- PhD
- Master of Narrative Therapy & Community work
- Master of Psychology, Option Clinical Psychology
Professional Training
- Certificate of Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. Global Mental Health: Trauma & Recovery
- EMDR Practitioner Certificate
- Certificate in Psychotraumatology
- Certificate of Practice oriented course in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Post Conflict Areas
- Certificate of Culture, Psychology and Psychiatry (executive course in medical anthropology)
Professional Registration and Memberships
- Registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
- Member of the Australian Association of Psychologists Inc (AAPi)
- Member of the EMDR Association of Australia (EMDRAA)