Dr Kelsi Semeschuk
Dr Kelsi is a warm, kind, gentle and deeply compassionate Psychologist. Her empathetic nature and ability to listen deeply allow her to establish a strong rapport with her clients, creating a safe space for them to explore their deepest emotions and concerns. Kelsi is dedicated to an approach that is tailored to each individual that walks through her door – one that is focussed on genuine care, gentleness, attunement, the belief that people are the experts in their own lives, and the importance of relational presence.
Dr Kelsi assists with trauma, sexual assault, family and domestic violence, suicidal thoughts, self-harm, depression, anxiety, grief, loss, experiences of panic, obsessions, compulsions, and disordered eating.
Therapy with Dr Kelsi
Kelsi is a kind and very empathetic psychologist who prefers to engage with her clients in a warm, collaborative and respectful manner, helping them to clarify, deconstruct, and understand the shape of the difficulties they’re facing, while also noticing the quieter acts of resilience, resistance and response to problems in their lives - which can so often be overshadowed in the wake of hardship. Her therapeutic approach has been shaped most profoundly by Narrative Therapy, as well as trauma-informed, Systems Theory, Schema Therapy, Mindfulness Based therapies, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and other evidence based approaches which lean on a holistic and compassionate way of seeing clients.
Integral to her approach is the strong belief that every person holds within themself the capacity to heal and to overcome. Kelsi supports every person she works with to regain a sense of dignity, respect, and agency. She acts with genuine care and gentleness as she guides her clients back to wellness in a thoughtful, client-centred way.
Kelsi has experience supporting people who navigate difficulties such as trauma, sexual and domestic violence, abuse, grief, relational ruptures, anxiety, depression, OCD, disordered eating, identity distress, and other challenges of being human.
Narrative Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma and Loss
Narrative Therapy was developed in a collaboration between Australian Michael White and New Zealander David Epston, psychologists who developed a form of psychotherapy that helps people separate their identity from their problems by re-authoring their life stories. As such it is a hopeful therapy which focusses on strengths such as existing skills, abilities, and competencies.
Stories or ‘narratives’ are how people remember and describe their life histories. They are made up of snippets of remembered events and the meanings attached to them, merging into themes, including the themes of how we define ourselves. Our stories describe ourselves and our loved ones as heroes, victims or villains, and inform our identities and colour our expectations of our future. Sometimes these stories and histories we remember can become problematic, for instance when we start defining ourselves in terms of our problematic stories as, say, depressed, traumatised, or victimised. By externalising these labels, eg rather than saying 'I am depressed', perhaps try 'I am experiencing the symptoms of depression right now', in this way a problem is externalised as separate from one's identity, and becomes easier to deal with.
As an extensively trained Narrative Therapist with two Masters degrees and a PhD in Psychology, Kelsi sees her role as someone who helps a person disentangle themself from the problem-saturated storylines, and also notice times when they were acting with dignity, courage and strength. Narrative Therapy is a highly respectful and collaborative model based on the belief that people are the experts in their own lives and that they can, with the help of their therapist, regain agency and well-being by rescripting how they see themselves in the world.
Areas of Practice
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Life challenges and changes
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Relationship challenges
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Disordered eating
Qualifications & Professional Associations
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PhD Psychology, University of Melbourne
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Master of Narrative Therapy & Community Work, University of Melbourne
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Master of Counselling Psychology, Athabasca University, Calgary
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Bachelor of Arts (Psychology Major), Mount Royal University, Canada
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Registered Psychologist, Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)