Dr Sara Partow
(she/her)
Clinical Psychologist
Sara is a clinical psychologist who works with adults. A lot of the people she sees come to her with trauma, and she also works in eating disorder treatment.
Adults
Trauma, eating disorder treatment, autistic and ADHD adults
EMDR, schema therapy, IFS, ACT, CBT and CBT-E
Brunswick East on Wednesdays, and telehealth
15 minutes, by telehealth
Medicare, NDIS, private health and EAF
Who does Sara see?
Sara sees adults.
What does Sara work with?
Sara supports adults with:
- Trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD
- Anxiety, social anxiety, phobias and shyness
- Depression, low mood and other mood disorders
- Bipolar disorder
- Grief and loss
- Stress and coping with difficult emotions
- Eating disorders, disordered eating and body image concerns
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Hoarding
- Personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder (BPD)
- Relationship difficulties, family conflict and codependency
- Anger
- Self-esteem and confidence
- Behaviours that are causing you difficulties
- More than one mental health concern
- The emotional impact of disability, chronic health conditions or chronic pain
- Self-understanding and personal growth
She also works with Autistic and ADHD adults, and with people from different cultural backgrounds, gender identities and sexual orientations.
She is an ANZAED Credentialed Eating Disorders Clinician.
How does Sara work?
Sara takes a warm, personalised approach to therapy. She chooses approaches according to your needs and goals.
EMDR
- Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) involves briefly focusing on an agreed distressing memory while following side-to-side eye movements, taps or sounds.
- The aim is to reduce the distress linked to the memory.
Schema therapy
- Schema therapy addresses longstanding patterns in how you feel about yourself and relate to other people.
- You may understand a pattern and still feel or react in the same way.
- Sessions include exercises aimed at changing those emotional responses.
Internal Family Systems
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) describes different feelings and impulses as parts.
- For example, one part may push you to keep achieving while another feels exhausted.
- Therapy explores what each response is trying to protect you from, with the aim of reducing the conflict between them.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps you practise responding to difficult thoughts and feelings while taking action towards what matters to you.
- For example, you can notice a self-critical thought without automatically acting on it.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
- Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) examines how your thoughts, feelings and actions affect one another.
- Sessions include testing beliefs against what happens in everyday life and practising changes, such as gradually returning to an activity you have avoided because of anxiety.
CBT for eating disorders
- Enhanced Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT-E) is a form of CBT developed for eating disorders.
- It addresses the eating patterns and beliefs that keep the eating disorder going.
- Sessions can include establishing regular eating and addressing concerns about body shape or weight.
She usually starts a session by asking what’s on your mind. If nothing is pressing, she goes back to the goals you set together, and checks in on them over time.
You can request a short written summary after a session.
Qualifications and background
- PhD in Clinical Psychology from Swinburne University of Technology, focusing on experiences of disability
- Master of Arts in General Psychology
- Bachelor of Arts in Education Sciences
- Endorsement in clinical psychology
- Member of EMDR Association Australia
What to expect in your first session
Sara asks what’s on your mind and what brought you to therapy. Together you set some goals to come back to, and you can check whether Sara feels like a good fit for you.
When and where
- In person in Brunswick East on Wednesdays, from December
- Telehealth, from December
- Free 15-minute introductory calls by telehealth, from 10 November
Fees, rebates and funding
You can see Sara privately, or use one of these to help with the cost:
- Medicare, with a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP
- Medicare, with a GP Chronic Condition Management Plan
- Medicare, with an Eating Disorder Treatment and Management Plan
- NDIS, if you’re self-managed or plan-managed, subject to approval from your plan manager
- Private health insurance, if your Extras cover includes psychology
- The Employment Assistance Fund (EAF) through JobAccess, if your health affects your work
You can find our current fees on the Individual Therapy page.
Book with Sara
In person at 81 Holmes St, Brunswick East on Wednesdays, and telehealth on Tuesdays, from 1st December.
