Mary is a Couple and Family Therapist with more than 20 years of experience. She is also an accredited Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner (FDR) specialising in private mediation and facilitation post separation. Areas of FDR practice include mediating parenting, living arrangements and/or financial settlements, legally assisted mediation, child inclusive practice, collaborative family law practice, and family focused therapy to address co-parenting issues involving communication breakdown, high conflict and child rearing.

Mary has worked intensively with parents and families in NSW mental health services, and since her postgraduate clinical training at Relationships Australia she has worked with couples to improve intimacy, identify and break unhealthy patterns of interaction, help couples manage emotional reactivity and adopt positive communication strategies. Mary structures sessions so that her clients can develop skills which are practiced during the session and between sessions. Mary helps her clients understand themselves better, their triggers, and their hopes and steps for change. Her passion and commitment to working with couples and families extends in her work as a social work educator, researcher, and supervisor within allied health. Mary holds a Bachelor of Social Work (Honours), Masters in Couple and Family Therapy (Distinction), and PhD from the University of New South Wales.

Mary’s research informs her work with couples, parents, and families. She has completed an honours thesis that explored perceptions and experiences of family therapy treatment in NSW mental health. Her PhD explored the parent and family help seeking experiences during adolescent acute mental health crises and the first psychiatric hospitalisation. Mary is a full member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) and maintains ongoing professional development, training and clinical supervision in accordance with AASW guidelines. Mary is also a professional member of Resolution Institute and is accredited by the Federal Attorney General for mediation services.

Mary is warm, empathic and non-judgmental. She enjoys working with couples and families and is highly skilled in working with a range of presenting issues that include developmental lifecycle transitions such as coupling, marriage, affairs, separation and divorce, pregnancy, parental adjustment, blended families, child rearing, mental and physical illness, disability, and grief and loss. Mary helps her clients of all ages create better lives and healthier relationships.

Mary offers appointments at Bondi Junction on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.