ABOUT PSYCHOLOGIST, EMILY BURTON

Emily’s bubbly and friendly nature tends to establish a warm and genuine professional relationship that fosters trust and comfort for her clients, which she believes is paramount to achieving successful therapy. Emily’s clients have described her as warm and genuine in her approach and often describe feelings of comfort and trust very early on in therapy.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Behavioural Science
• Bachelor of Psychology
• Master in Science (Health Psychology)
• Diploma of Professional Psychology

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• AHPRA Registration Number: PSY0002092793
• Member of the Australian Psychological Society
• Member of Australia and New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZED)
• Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician

Emily as a practising psychologist, is registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). As a psychologist in clinical practice, Emily adheres to the professional codes of the Australian Psychological Society and Psychologists Registration Board of Victoria.

Therapeutic Approach

Emily’s objective in clinical practice is to adopt a client-centred approach to therapy whilst drawing on a variety of evidence-based strategies and tools to help facilitate positive change for her clients. Emily works collaboratively with her clients to improve their life satisfaction, health and well-being.

Emily provides her clients with a safe and non-judgmental space. She enjoys helping her clients to understand past and present difficulties but also identifies and taps into her client’s inner strengths and values.

Emily is collaborative in her approach to her therapy, where she encourages her clients to explore their goals early on in treatment whilst providing direction and supporting future orientation. Emily uses the therapy goals set early on to help her clients move towards positive change.

Emily also believes it is essential to respectfully place her clients as experts in their own life experiences. She has found this helpful in facilitating a greater sense of self-esteem, control and empowerment hence promoting further positive growth.

Experience and Interests

Emily has experience working with adolescents, young adults and adults within public, private and community settings.

Emily has a special interest in working with clients who experience difficulties with attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, executive functioning, and self-management skills. These difficulties may or may not meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Emily’s primary focus is on addressing mental health concerns, supporting the individual’s development of a positive self-identity, and fostering the acquisition of self-advocacy skills.

As a psychologist in clinical practice, Emily embraces neurodiversity, which refers to the natural variations in the human brain.

Emily adopts a strength-based approach when working with clients with ADHD, viewing ADHD as a difference rather than a disorder or disability, whilst acknowledging that a lack of fit between the individual and their environment can limit their abilities to thrive, or in some instances be identified to disable the individual. Emily recognises the differences in the brain network, embracing self-acceptance, uniqueness, and exceptional contributions, rather than imposing the already established ways.

Emily’s main areas of expertise:

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults
• Emotional difficulties (emotion regulation)
• Executive function difficulties
• Assertiveness training
• Individual relationships issues
• Navigating complex family dynamics
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Stress and burnout
• Higher education or work-related stress management
• Personal growth and well-being
• Low self-esteem
• Eating disorders
• Body image
• Sleep difficulties
• Life changes

Emily supports her clients to increase their self-confidence in personal development, conducting practice interviews, decision-making and problem-solving, as required in their personal, social and occupational lives.

Emily Burton has worked on numerous research studies in her Postgraduate and Master’s, including investigating the impact of depressive tendencies on the family dynamic. Emily also researched the relationship between academic pressures and depressive tendencies among Singaporean Undergraduates while residing in Singapore for 5 years.

Therapies

Emily’s therapeutic approach is grounded in neuroscience, cognitive-behavioural theories (CBT and CBT-E for Eating Disorders), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), schema therapy, acceptance and mindfulness-based sciences (ACT), and positive psychology. Emily also adopts narrative and interpersonal therapy (IPT) and the Gottman Method of Relationship Therapy.

Personal Interests

Emily enjoys visiting her parent’s family home with their two beautiful golden retrievers – Millie and Daisy. More recently, Emily added to the chaos and has 2 beautiful Toy-Cavoodles, Coco and Poppy. Emily finds her days off usually involving a takeaway coffee and walking the beautiful botanical gardens, conversing with good friends, especially on a chilly winter’s morning.

Emily also has a special interest in collaborating and supporting other fellow psychologists. Emily enjoys having coffee (usually with an almond croissant) with other professionals holding similar interests. Emily prides herself and her private practice on building holistic support for her clients. As a result of this natural interest and drive, Positive Wellbeing Psychology has grown organically and blossomed into a warm and professional private practice well-known for providing integrated wrap-around support for clients.

Personal Strengths and Passions

Emily was introduced to new cultures and countries from a young age. This often meant that she missed weeks 1-2 of the school term. Emily soon discovered her inner travel bug was an important part of her life – it needed to thrive. Emily resided in Singapore for five-plus years as a result of this passion. Emily has many fond memories of her time there, along with first-hand experience of stressful life transitions and adjustment challenges relating to starting new. Emily’s life experiences have enabled her to find grounds to relate and connect to her clients, creating a more collaborative journey for her clients and helping improve their well-being and life satisfaction in general.

Emily is passionate about minimising the obstacles that hinder Australians from accessing high-quality psychological support. Driven by her personal values of warmth, genuine care, and integrity, Emily is committed to promoting a welcoming and nurturing environment for all individuals seeking support at Positive Wellbeing Psychology. Emily’s heartfelt dedication to fostering positive well-being resonates in her approach, ensuring that every client receives the utmost care and support throughout their journey towards improved mental health.

Emily Burton feels privileged to work with clients to facilitate positive change at Positive Wellbeing Psychology, delivering online psychology at our Melbourne psychology clinic.