The Ascending Team

Sarah Campbell

Director, Clinical Psychologist

Sarah is a Clinical Psychologist passionate about the treatment of complex and chronic conditions. She is a board approved supervisor. She started her career working in the forensic field, treating high risk clients who suffered from severe mental health difficulties, addiction, and who had committed serious offences. In this capacity, she served as an expert witness to the courts, preparing reports to assist in determining whether someone was fit to stand trial or a risk of re-offending.

Thereafter, she has worked in offshore processing and in remote indigenous contexts. Sarah therefore relies on various different therapy techniques and theories to meet the needs of her clients. This includes Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, Mindfulness, Trauma Informed Practises, Narrative Approaches, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Most importantly, she passionately supports clients to identify the underlying difficulties that are contributing to their suffering and encourages them to move through this with a balance of acceptance and the need for change.

Available: Not currently taking new clients

Dr. Sierra van Wyk

Senior Clinical Psychologist

Dr Sierra van Wyk is a clinical psychologist with extensive experience in public and private settings. Sierra draws from multiple approaches in her treatment including psychodynamic, attachment and relational work. She also integrates practical strategies as necessary, drawing on CBT and mindfulness-based approaches. Sierra’s treatment approach is focused on providing an emotionally supportive space for people to reflect on their own experiences and develop a deeper understanding of the patterns that are causing them to feel stuck within their lives. Through self-knowledge, clients will develop an increased capacity to identify their own experiences, care for themselves in a more adaptive way and develop new ways to engage with themselves and the world around them. This treatment approach can be adapted to best suit the needs of the individual.    

Sierra works across the lifespan and supports people with varied and complex presentations. Sierra is experienced in treating mood disorders, anxiety disorders, relationship difficulties, trauma, risk and self-harm. She is available to provide Medico-Legal Assessments, Parental Capacity and Cognitive Assessments.   

Sierra has a special interest in supporting families, parents and their children. Sierra works from an attachment informed, family systems approach to support people in their parenting journey. This work may include the transition to parenthood, managing the challenges of early parenting, or supporting parents to manage the behavioural and emotional needs of their children and adolescents.   

Sierra provides professional supervision and consultation to psychologists, provisional psychologists, and other health professionals. She is an approved supervisor with the Psychology Board of Australia and offers supervision for: 4 + 2 internship (primary and secondary supervisor), work in addition to higher degree training, higher degree programs, clinical psychology registrar program and peer supervision.

Available: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Dr. Christopher Zurawic

Senior Clinical Psychologist

Christopher works with individuals, couples, and facilitates process group therapy. He helps clients struggling with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, current and past trauma, grief and loss, major life transitions, and interpersonal difficulties. He is also experienced in supporting clients identifying as LGBTQ+ and non-binary.  In therapy, clients will expand their repertoires of self-care tools, understand the stuck beliefs that keep them repeating maladaptive patterns, and develop guiding insight to carry them toward healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Christopher believes that the most important element to any experience of psychotherapy is the relationship that is established. He provides a supportive and radically non-judgemental approach where clients can work through their difficulties and challenges. As we move through issues rather than around, clients learn to live in the moment and clear the way for new relationships – with themselves, their partner/friends/family, and their world.

Christopher draws from the most relevant areas of therapeutic care including ACT, Mindfulness-based, existential and psychodynamic therapies – amongst others.  He does not believe psychotherapy to be a one-size-fits-all experience, and works with his clients to ensure the paths we take are effecting positive change.  The foundation of his work is a commitment to supporting health and hope based on the individual’s values. Christopher is also a board approved clinical supervisor.

Avaliable: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Kate McLisky

Clinical Psychologist

Kate is a registered Clinical Psychologist who is passionate about working with people of all ages to form meaningful connections and work collaboratively towards their goals. Kate has previously worked in a private setting in Brisbane with children, adolescents, parents, families and adults. She is experienced in treating depression, anxiety, trauma & abuse, relationship issues, behavioural issues and skills-building for neurodevelopmental diagnoses such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Before becoming a registered psychologist, Kate had over 12 years’ experience working with children and families, as well as five years’ experience in mental health research and implementation. This has helped to inform her evidence-based approach which utilises the family system to effectively address any areas of difficulty for children.

Kate uses an integrative approach to therapy, finding the best way to work uniquely with each client collaboratively. She is comfortable working with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), acceptance commitment therapy (ACT), compassion-focused therapy (CFT) and trauma-focused approaches such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT). Kate also provides ASSESSMENTS of neurodevelopmental disorders, cognitive function, memory, attention and adaptive behaviour.

Available: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

Brigid Blanckenberg

Clinical Psychologist Registrar

Brigid is a warm, collaborative and non-judgmental psychologist who is passionate about empowering her clients to connect with values and to pursue purposeful lives.

She draws on a range of evidence based therapeutic modalities including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Schema Therapy, DBT skills and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to support her clients to explore life difficulties. As a former yoga teacher and longterm meditator, Brigid is also particularly interested in using mindfulness based approaches to deepen awareness of the mind, while strengthening self-compassion and acceptance.

Brigid has experience working with adults and adolescents experiencing anxiety, mood disorders, work stress, complex personality, relationship issues, low self esteem, trauma, identity and body image concerns. She is also experienced working with members of the LGBTIQ+ community.

Brigid has a Master of Clinical Psychology from the University of Melbourne and has completed research in mindful parenting and positive psychology. In addition to her clinical psychology training, Brigid has a professional background in law and secondary education, which has allowed her to work around the world in a range of private, government, NGO and community settings. These experiences allow Brigid to build authentic therapeutic relationships and to collaboratively develop therapeutic approaches to suit diverse client needs.

In her spare time Brigid loves getting her hands dirty as a ceramicist, taking long walks with her dog and getting into nature as often as she can.

Available: Tuesday & Thursday

Cassandra Burford

Clinical Psychologist

Cassandra was raised in the Northern Rivers and is offering Telehealth Appointments. She works predominantly with adults, and can also provide couples therapy, and parenting interventions. Cassandra enjoys supporting people experiencing anxiety and mood disorders, substance use issues, grief and loss, interpersonal difficulties, challenges managing emotional distress, and those adjusting to change. She has a special interest in supporting older adults, and people experiencing physical health issues such as Cancer and blood disorders.

As a Psychologist, Cassandra has previously worked in settings designed to support people experiencing substance use issues and acute mental health distress. She has facilitated group therapy programs including mindfulness, distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills. Most recently, Cassandra has worked across medical and surgical wards in a public hospital setting, helping people cope and adjust to illness, injury and treatment.

Drawing on the therapeutic frameworks of CBT, DBT and ACT, Cassandra provides a variety of skills and strategies to assist clients with their challenges. She also has a interest in the Psychodynamic Psychotherapy framework, aimed at understanding unconscious emotional processes and relational patterns. She has also completed Level 1 Gottman therapy training.

Available: Wed, Thurs, Fri. Available via Telehealth. Afterhours Appointments Available.

Susanne Lohmann

Clinical Psychologist Registrar

Susanne has experience working with people of all ages including children, adolescents and older adults. She enjoys working with individuals, couples and families in individual and group therapy settings. She is experienced in assisting clients with a wide range of challenges including anxiety, depression, PTSD, complex PTSD and personality disorders, as well as issues that arise in relationships, parenting or career related roles. Susanne uses an integrative and strength-based approach to therapy and draws on a variety of evidence-based therapeutic modalities to meet her clients’ individual needs and to assist them to achieve their goals and potential, including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), mindfulness based therapies, somatic and attachment informed approaches, systemic therapies and trauma focused therapies, particularly schema therapy and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Most importantly, Susanne is open-minded and provides a warm, safe, inclusive and welcoming space for her clients so that they can explore any issues and can achieve their therapeutic goals in a safe and encouraging environment.

Susanne is in the final stages of her Clinical Psychology PhD at the University of Melbourne. Her PhD investigates the mental health impacts of intimate partner violence, particularly the complex trauma impacts of psychological abuse and coercive control. She is a member of the Australian Psychological Association and the EMDR Association of Australia and regularly attends trainings and conferences to improve her therapeutic skills and to stay up to date with the latest developments and treatments approaches.

Susanne is a long-term Northern Rivers resident. Originally from Germany, she has lived several years in India and Indonesia. During her clinical psychology training she spent five months in Alice Springs providing culturally informed psychological care for First Nations women and adolescents. Living and working in different cultures has equipped Susanne with the cultural sensitivity to provide culturally informed psychological support for clients from different cultural backgrounds.

Available: Tuesday & Wednesday

Sheree Campbell

Full-time Receptionist

Sheree is our full-time receptionist, dedicated to ensuring you feel welcomed into the practice and that your experience in therapy runs smoothy. Accompanied by the cutest little pup, Sachi, Sheree is our master coordinator.