Dr Sarah Cavanagh

Sarah is a clinical psychologist who works with adults, as well as with parents, children and young people who are experiencing stress or mental health difficulties and want to enhance their wellbeing or achieve personal goals. Please note Sarah only works in the practice on Thursdays. Sarah has a particular interest in working with young people and their parents and spent two years working with young people with mental health difficulties at a Headspace centre in Melbourne. 

Sarah is keen to support parents in their parenting role, particularly through the pre-teen and teenage years.  These years are characterised by lots of social and emotional change for young people as their brains go through significant growth and development.  It can be a challenging time for parents to stay connected with their teen, even though it is a time when teens desperately need support and guidance from their parents as they negotiate new relationships with peers and the responsibilities and stresses of growing up. 

Sarah is trained in the Tuning into Kids and Tuning into Teens parenting programs.  These programs teach parents about how they, as a parent, can help their children develop good emotional skills. Children and young people with good emotional intelligence often have better emotional, social, and physical functioning, as well as fewer behavioural difficulties.  The Teens program provides parents with a greater understanding of their teen’s emotional experiences while teaching specific skills that can assist in being supportive, empathic and staying connected with the young person through the teen and into early adult-hood years.  Sarah has delivered these programs in a group setting, and worked through individually with parents in sessions.

In addition to clinical work, Sarah has been working in mental health policy and program development at a national level with both government and non-government agencies for over 18 years.  She has worked on the successful KidsMatter program for early childhood services and primary schools and authored a number of articles about children’s social and emotional development and mental health.  She is an accomplished presenter and has delivered workshops and presentations to education and health professionals as well as directly to students on mental health and wellbeing.

Sarah also has over 20 years of experience managing and leading teams and in change management across the government and non-government sectors.  She is able to support people in coping with workplace issues and in achieving career and life goals. Sarah has a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Australian National University where her university research focused on suicide prevention.   She is trained in:

  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) which is effective in treating a wide range of mood and anxiety disorders for children, young people and adults

  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) which has benefits for some mood and anxiety disorders

  • Interpersonal therapy for interpersonal or adjustment problems e.g. postnatal depression, coping with a chronic illness 

  • Emotion coaching for children and young people experiencing social, emotional or behavioural difficulties

  • Motivational Interviewing for supporting behaviour change e.g. healthy eating, reducing substance abuse

  • Parenting interventions, including Tuning into Kids and Tuning into Teens, for improving parent-child relationships and helping parents support their children’s social and emotional wellbeing

  • A combination of CBT, Mindfulness, ACT and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy techniques for improving coping and quality of life and managing distress and reducing self-harm behaviours.