Kipara Psychology in Richmond, New South Wales | Psychologist

Kipara Psychology

Locality: Richmond, New South Wales

Phone: +61 427 021 794

Address: 2A/25 Bells Line of Road 2753 Richmond, NSW, Australia

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24.01.2022 I had an interesting reaction yesterday from an estate agent called Michael when I went to look at a room for the business: 'Oh you're a psychologist. You deal with all those crazy people!'He rolled his eyes and I knew what his answer would be if I continued to pursue the room. I'd never thought of my clients that way and find them actually saner (after a bit of therapy) than the so-called normal people. I am supposed to go back on Monday to see one of the rooms the agency has been advertising, but I've had a few difficulties over the past couple of years with people's attitudes towards what I do that I am reluctant to buy into places offering several rooms now.

23.01.2022 Regrettably, the combination of Borderline Personality Disorder and overuse of alcohol - the latter not necessarily daily or near daily - is very destructive all round. Head for the hills is often good advice to avoid the destructiveness of such sufferers, but really if you want to stay in the relationship make sure you arm yourself with lots and lots of good advice. A good drug and alcohol counsellor is a god send and so are self-help groups such as Al-anon for relatives ...and friends of alcohol overusers with or without another mental health issue. So if you want to see this model in action continue to watch the current edition of Married at First Sight. However, you may wish to take the advice of a friend of mine who says that all the reality shows are acted out on the direction of the Director and other Principals of the Show. Either way, the model I have outlined in my most recent posts on Married at First Sight certainly seems well to the fore in its current edition. Happy watching? Not really but it is very instructive. See more

23.01.2022 I was amazed yesterday when I drove through Richmond about 1pm to sort out some shopping. The Richmond Saturday road snarl was almost back to its old self after several weeks of quietness and lack of traffic; no parking spot easily found around the Marketplace either; and the little stalls around the Oval had three and four people at each stall - no social distancing there! I was very puzzled. I briefly visited North Richmond Aldi and Coles and Richmond Woolworths, all p...acked as usual despite the now familiar signs re social distance and the like. Today, I figured it out. People have done their 14 days of isolation and think that it's all over! Well, it ain't. As near as possible, China had its first case last September (ie 2019) and we all speculate how much earlier. It is now towards the end of April, 2020. Do you think the pandemic is finished there? Ours appeared in March 2020. So we all sat in our homes for two weeks and expected it to be all over on day 15? My clients, old and new, are telling me they're not expecting much of a reprieve for up to twelve months. Twelve months? Yes, quite right. Twelve months. It seems too that the media hype is nearing its screaming sensational seeking end, so people may just betrained sufficiently to recognise the slowing of once front page in your face news. It seems that these people read the gradual losing of interest in the media as it's all over now, what's next. One of my clients and I (both horse owners) commented recently on those on lockdown in five star hotels. If only we could have a two weeks holiday in a luxury hotel! How dare anyone complain! Each time I work with my clients whether through telehealth or on the unusual homevisit, I review the client's position on the regulations andd we discuss developing ways of coping for the long haul. Seems to make sense to them..and to me. Some old clients are returning - not for an update on their mental health difficulties, but simply to protect themselves in the changed conditions. Such good sense, protecting oneself. As for the Richmond crowds and yesterday's through traffic? Another spike in COVID-19?

22.01.2022 Oh wow, how timely is this: the Mental Health Professionals' Network Webinar tonight is on 'Mental Health, terrorism, and grievance fuelled violence: Understanding the nexus'. Some very prominent people will be discussing the MHPN made up Vignette of an Australian 28 year old male of Turkish descent becoming secretly attracted to a new 'Church'. You need to realise however, that this Webinar has been 10 months in the making and was not designed to address the terrible and... terrifying incident last Saturday in New Zealand. Obviously,though, it was a difficult decision made by the MHPN's hierarchy to run it on its prior published date. No doubt there will be a flood of questions in the Chat Room and directed to the Speakers. However, MHPN have made it clear that what will be discussed by the Speakers (and presumably us too) will be directed towards the Vignette, not to Christchurch's second great tragedy within a decade. MHPN has also acknowledged the Christchurch tragedy and expressed its heartfelt sadness. I take copious notes and participate in the discussion and if anything comes up which may help people out there to understand the cruelty of mental health issues and terrorism, i will bring it up here. But the greatest tragedy in my mind is why didn't we, as the everyday Australian or New Zealander, understand that someone Australian or New Zealander would want to retaliate against Muslims in these very accepting societies. Why didn't we in the South Pacific region take greater care of such potential targets? We certainly need to get this safety issue right in our communities. Watch this space. See more

19.01.2022 Further to my post on Married at First Sight, Borderline Personality Disorder combined with alcohol overuse is pretty disastrous in any relationship. It encourages its sufferer to lie, cheat, seduce, manipulate, often without an apparent conscience. The behavioural pattern hurts a huge circle of people and some never recover from that level of pain. People unwisely are encouraged to confront the perpetrator of the disaster, as they see it. But the golden rule is never to... confront and never to argue with a drunk. If you have something to say, you do it as the person is sobering up when they are most likely to approach a state of remorse. But never be accusing. Remember people, especially those with mental health issue never respond well to judgements and are too often supersensitive to what judgements are made behind their backs or in silence. See more

18.01.2022 In the last few weeks North Richmond where my office is has endured an incredible deluge including a prolonged closure of the North Richmond bridge because of the Hawkesbury River's flooding, ably assisted by an overflowing from Warragamba Dam. There hasn't been a decent flood for some years now and the area has grown considerably in population so there are plenty of new chums around. Since getting back to my office last Monday, the racket around the North Richmond Shopping C...Continue reading

18.01.2022 I have been listening/viewing om Facebook and on other media various people especially those living alone who have great fears for their mental health while the self isolating continues. I am wondering if people really thought through what they werre going to do while this occurs. I have been very surprised how unprepared a lot of people seem. Me, I am loving it - not the COVID-19 thing, not sick and dying Australians, but the challenge of keeping my business running in t...he faceof it all - all of the Govt safety regulations, the rapidly changing face of business and coping with the enormous pressure to keep everything going forward while staying safe. After a frightening week or two in March leading into April where it seemed that clients were 'heading for the hills' so to speak and I was looking at a total of four clients for the week and probably fewer than that the following week, I began to take serious stock of where I and my business now are. Again. leaving aside the biohealth problems we are facing, I am seeing this time as terribly exciting - both terrible and exciting. So my ear is glued to the Aust Psychological Society's updates and to whatever is comingfrom the ATO and to my clients who seem willing to swim through all this with me: never enough time in the day! The trick, I think is not to concern myself with how troubled the waters seem but to start developing new systems of coping. More on these later. These times are not fun times, but they are really challenging, times that test your mind and your muscle to the hilt.

18.01.2022 The central purpose of the North Richmond site has been directed towards the management of pain using Allied Health professionals. In January I want to push for another psychologist here and I keep looking for a good physiotherapist/Exercise Physiologist and if we can fit one, a Nutritionist. There are two spare rooms here both unfurnished but I have insisted in the light of COVID-19 handbasins remain in each room usually with small cupborads attached. In the first instance ...I am looking for another psychologist preferably with a Masters Degree though not necessarily with area of the Masters endorsed or a very experienced older psychologist. I am not looking for an endorsed Clinical Psychologist because I know very well that there are many very good psychologists wanting to move into newer frontiers of psychology. Most psychologist centres for a long way around rotate around Depression, Anxiety, Victims of Crime and Work Cover. Except for VCT work, all that and more is done here but to make an exceptional practice, we need to have a wider concept added to make this practice site really stand out in the Hawkesbury and beyond. Room hire can be done on a weekly or daily basis as I understand most registered Allied Health professionals work several practices each week. I am happy for enquiries to come direct to my business phone or to messenge. See more

17.01.2022 since July 31st I have had a room at North Richmond and found that I was starting to make reasonable money after 11 moves of office in 7 years. COVID-19 hits and I moved into number 12. My landlord allowed a medical practice to gain entrance, told me to go home and ring all my clients until further notice. The doctors however are there, he said indefinitely. So I packed up a few items and took them home, but retained the key to my room. The first week of the enforced exile my income dropped 80%. At the end of the second week it had climbed to 75% loss. I didn't bother with week 3 totals until next week.

13.01.2022 I have been very pleased with my reports for court lately. Not just that people who need a fairer go in the court system get it, sometimes for the first time, but also because the quality of my reports are getting better, I believe. They take a lot of work - relevant testing has to be completed by the client and the client profiled according to the diagnosis derived from the testing, then from all the sources available the writer, me, some psychological assessment of the ps...ychological issues that created the scenario in which the client has apparently offended. Then if section 32 opinion is required, how to report that opinion and finally the treatment plan. I didn't learn this in my psychology lessons, I started learning objectivity in my second year Undergrad University classes with Mr Dewey, our Demography lecturer and writing up results of Geography excursions, especially his. Then writing reports for the Guardianship Board while I was at Rydalmere and in particular studying the very good psychologists' reports there. While studying Ancient History with Prof Judge and with Associate Prof Carney I learnt to allow the evidence to speak for itself as both were pretty tough on minimising your own bias. Speaking of Ancient History I learnt the strength of quantitative evidence (eg as in Content Analysis) in studying ancient documents and gathered more of that when studying statistics in all my years of studying psychology. But I think that writing reports for courts is one of the toughest jobs that a psychologist can undertake. It is so important to get it all right for the magistrate to follow and understand. In particular it is absolutely essential that you write in a tight, easily understood style. Most magistrates and judges take these reports really seriously in that they read the report from start to end very carefully and then debate its evidence with the various legal representatives coming to what to me as a psychologist seems a very fair decision for my client.

12.01.2022 My therapy dog, Phoebe, died early last May. She was the third of dogs I train to work with my clients as needed, but she had a lot of illnesses during her short life and did very little 'official' work. For some odd reason, people seemed to think that I preferred to be with animals rather than with people, kind of like I was supposed to choose animals over people. Odd distinction since I also work closely with people. So I figure it this way: I like my small animals becau...se they live with me, not any one else, so they know me and I know and recognize them. I like my clients and various health providers with whom I work because they are all people. The distinction for me is that I have been told I have a talent for working with animals, not just the small ones either. So it is the talent that goes on display with my small animals, not some peculiar preference for animals over people. In my household, understanding my little animals is critical. They are flesh and blood. They are not substitute children; they are not the target of our fantasies about dogs or cats being some kind of little person to whom you have to speak Baby Speak to or run a routine around them without giving them choices. They too are born with their gifts and their inheritance as animals. But I find that when I arrive home after a long day at the office, Heurisko greets me with a series of little meows.I bid him farewell when I leave, greet him when I return, and say good night when I go to bed. Phoebe too always put on a fine display of sheer happiness whenever I arrived at the gate and I loved that and now miss it dearly. I don't see my animals as inferior, but rather as themselves and respected for such. So losing a loved family member is hard for me and I have spent a lot of time grieving quite deeply for my beloved Happy Dog, Phoebe. As it should be.

12.01.2022 I found I couldn't really get warm today but I ran around the district doing the usual Saturday things-washing and washing up feed Londonderry horses, buy feed,go to the physiotherapist's gym for a workout etc. I went home and had a long lunch while cooking tea - does that make sense? I was about to work Lightfoot when I spotted a dog in his paddock. I wasn't sure whose it was. I have had a lot of trouble with the dogs next door going into his paddock and I wanted to see w...Continue reading

10.01.2022 It has been pretty hectic lately - famine, fires and floods all around in that order. Kipara Psychology's North Richmond office certainly saw plenty of action with the fires - howling winds, screaming fire trucks, police and ambulance speeding for some three months and always always the smoke, grey, red and too often deep dark black. Next rain came in bucketloads and the North Richmond Bridge closed for a few days, so it was work from home time. A few days later we waded to ...the road down the long driveway. More work from home time.... A doctor's office a few doors away was flooded and the spare rooms and part of the reception area is being used by them to conduct their business, not without some difficulties of fit. But being back at the office felt good again and work is going ahead quite well. Amazing how you can find locations from which to base your work and things keep going further and further ahead. Whereas the previous location was hopeless and no street front from which to advertise... and the one before that, similar.

07.01.2022 I have some lovely NewYear wishes from past clients this week. These are ones who have had to deal with quite serious crises that in the end, though them dealing with their own crises, brought their family closer together than ever! I admire their courage in such adversity and thank these courageous people for being in my rooms or on the end of a phone at such critical moments for their families and allowing me to see how they handled the unexpected. Consequently, I cannot but anticipate that their 2019 will be far better than it used to be for these people who now know how to win through some incredible challenges. A very happy New Year to you and your loving families and thank you!

07.01.2022 I gave the workshop on a psychologist's view of pain management to the Mental Health Professionals Network at Blacktown a couple of weeks ago. Wow what a great group they were! Not one person left until it was all over.I was blocked in for a two hour workshop all on my own and had been steadily putting it together since I'd been asked to do it. It was the weirdest feeling - At 6.30 I stepped up to begin the workshop and did not miss a beat until I concluded at 8.30. Talk about 'flow state' - no pain, no stiffness, no difficulty getting up or down like I usually do around my work. Just me on my own with a great crowd of good people and loving it!

07.01.2022 Fearfulness is made up of two components: the first is fear itself (ie the threat of possible harm) and the second is lack of confidence. They are actually quite different but they come from the same source: The flight/freeze/fight instinct planted in the oldest part of the brain. This mechanism is there for preserving our lives in the face of preceived danger. You only have to look at films such as Braveheart and Dances with Wolves to get some idea of the concerns of the p...Continue reading

07.01.2022 Just received the latest weekly information from the APS. There are three items addressing responding to natural disasters. Since I work in the flood affected Hawkesbury area, the information is especially important to me and my clients, Of especial importance is a section on 'first aid' ie first reaction to people affected by a disaster. In it there are a number of simple 'how to dos' which are very useful for first responders. Phone me or leave a message on my home page for further information.

07.01.2022 In the first full week of November 2020, it will be the Annual Psychology Week. The Theme for the week is Pain Management. Expect some input from me here as Pain Management is one of the skill areas that I particularly like working with my clients. I am very happy to give talks public or on Zoom (under COVID-19 regulations) and work with small groups for several sessions or longer. I will be posting information on this site from now until Christmas on the Management of Pai...n and you are most welcome to contact me via Kipara Psychology's phone number for further discussion. But please note I do not answer private numbers. Kindest regards Helen Baker Kipara Psychology

04.01.2022 A couple of days ago, I went to my skin care doctor for a checkup. He was gowned up as people who do his work need to be. As I entered his surgery, he asked, 'Are you afraid of the coronavirus?' I replied 'No'. I think behind his mask and gown, he was surprised, so I added quite calmly " I do what the regulations require, use social distancing, wash my hands as often as I should and so on'. then we went on with my session. It had struck me that COVID-19 has epicentres like various parts of New York, like Wuhan in China, like a stricken nursing home in Penrith. In the epicentres it intensifies and is very fatal, but it lacks victims when it moves away from intense housing, and tends to lose its power, so to speak. But fear reigns supreme when the attacker remains anonymous.

04.01.2022 Just been reading the APS White Paper addressed to the Medicare issues for psychologists. Fundamentally, it is based upon a two tier system: only those who have endorsement in a particular area can take on clients in the higher tier. Fundamentally, the paper remains biased towards Clinical Psychologists. Regrettably there are many other psychologists who have studies enough and experience enough to sit alongside experienced Clinical Psychologists and continue to have excel...lent outcomes with their clients without being endorsed as a Clinical Psychologist. Consequently their clients if they are rated as a second tier client will be given only 20 Medicare rebate paid sessions from the non-Clinical psychologist who then has to hand their clients on to a Clinical Psychologist who, by the way, may object to the manner in which the previous psychologist has proceeded. It makes recovery extraordinarily difficult for the client to have to go and explain the earlier process of recovery to someone whom they don't know. Difficult all round See more

03.01.2022 Thank you Dean Martin: for the past few weeks I have been sitting up late at night watching a lot of songs and programmes that the 'King of Cool' Dean Martin sang and involved himself in. I was so focused on finding out about Dean and his work that I began to wonder what these late night searches were actually about. Finally It came - the insight into Dean's life that turned my world upside down, actually 'right side up' I have been brought up to honour the family value, e...Continue reading

01.01.2022 Watching reality shows is not my great strength but I have been watching 'Married at First Sight' lately and want here to elaborate on a model of behaviour that has been so clearly illustrated in the current edition. The model begins (and unfortunately ends) with overuse of alcohol to a point of death, jail or insanity if no recovery is ever achieved. Grim indeed!. According to Prof Saunders a World recognised expert on Drugs of Addiction, Borderline Personality Disorder ...is often a mental illness associated with Alcohol overuse (old parlance: = alcoholism). The Prof likes to lump in Bi Polar Affective Disorder with alcohol overuse,but in my long study of such issues, I would suggest that drug addiction rather than alcohol addiction can often include Bi Polar. I would also add Attention Deficit Disorder into the alcohol overuse mix. However, I would caution that nowhere everyone who suffers from any of the three Mental Health issues (BPD, Bi Polar or ADHD) inevitably ends up addicted. See more