Your Committed Mental Health Partner 

Magnolia House Psychology And Therapies Centre

A team of experienced practitioners offering a comprehensive range of counselling and assessment services for individuals, couples, families, and organisations.

Individual Counselling

Our team of Toowoomba psychologists and counsellors offers therapy for individuals of all ages and situations. We support people through a wide range of difficulties and challenges, such as anxiety, depression, workplace stress, grief, change of life circumstances, addiction, anger, illness, and life’s overwhelm, just to name a few.

Couple & Family Counselling

Families and couples face many challenges; our Toowoomba counselling team is highly experienced in supporting couples and families through relationship stress, changes, transitions, and the trials and tribulations of staying together or working together in this society.

EAP / Workcover

We work with many organisations and Employee Assistance Programs and can offer support for a wide range of difficulties, such as workplace stress or conflict, life difficulties, or any of the individual needs previously mentioned. We also offer support for you if you are currently supported by Workcover and require support to return to work or transition to something different.

NDIS Psychological Therapy

Our Toowoomba-based therapists are qualified to offer therapy and assessment to individuals under NDIS funding. This support may be individual psychological therapy, parent training and support for early intervention, support worker training in managing the needs and emotions of their participant, as well as functional and cognitive assessments for NDIS access or reviews.

Assessment

Our therapists can offer assessments in a wide range of areas, such as Cognitive assessments, functional assessments, learning difficulties, or Gifted assessments, and psychological functioning assessments.

Workshops & Training

Some of the areas we are often asked to provide workshops in are organisational conflict resolution and management, workplace communication and stress reduction, sleep, wellbeing, change management, trauma relief, education stress management, resilience, as well as significant incident debriefing, just to name a few.

Career Counselling

The average person spends around 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime. What you do for work can have a huge impact on your quality of life. Getting help from a career professional will help you explore, re-evaluate, make decisions, plan, and move forward in your career with optimism and confidence. 

FAQs


  • Appointments

    Q: Can I get an appointment immediately?

    A: Most of our practitioners have waiting times. Our reception staff will do their best to give you the earliest appointment available. We appreciate that this can be frustrating and value your patience.

  • Choice of Therapist

    Q: Can I choose my therapist?

    A: Yes. You can talk to our friendly team about your preferences for a therapist.

Resources


By admin 22 Sep, 2020
Sleep is one of our most powerful healing mechanisms for both our mind and body. When we are facing high stress, we require sound sleep to assist our body and brain to “clear out” the neurochemicals associated with stress, heal the harmful effects of prolonged stress, and to recharge for the next day. Ironically, when we are under significant stress, sleep can be elusive. It can be very difficult to get to sleep before the early hours of the morning, and also to stay asleep throughout the night. As we become sleep deprived, we can experience a decreased ability to cope with stress, remain calm and use our logical and clear-thinking skills in daily situations. In addition to this, we can then begin to feel anxiety about not sleeping; which in itself can disrupt our sleep. Under these stressful times, we may experience disrupted sleep; the most important thing to remember is that there are some steps you can take to help. Most importantly, do not worry about not getting to sleep. Anxiety and frustration are major elements in keeping you awake. If you are not able to fall asleep, trust that solid rest in a relaxed state is the next best thing. As you are lying in bed, take deep breaths, letting your muscles fall heavy and relaxed with each exhale. Plan what you will focus on as you are trying to get to sleep. Enjoyable memories, your favourite movie, future holiday or your favourite place in nature can all assist in accessing a relaxed state for your muscles and your mind. Consider Sleep Stories. Sleep stories are a combination of a relaxing visualisation, plus a narrated story and a progressive muscle relaxation. Sleep stories of all subject matters can be accessed through YouTube, sleep apps such as Sleepio, Calm, or Moshi (for children). Just remember to use a speaker or Bluetooth headphones to reduce your exposure to your device in your bedroom. If you are restless in your bed, consider a quiet activity which can calm your mind, such as Wordfinders, Sudoku, reading (nothing too engrossing), until you feel sleepy enough to turn out your lamp. Remember to avoid electronic devices, bright lights and anything too engrossing. Consider progressive muscle relaxation as you settle into bed. This can assist in relaxing your muscles, which tense up the more active your brain becomes. If you are feeling tense before bed, or have a lot of things on your mind, consider writing them all down before getting into bed. Some people find it helpful to keep paper and pen beside the bed to allow them to add to it as they find themselves thinking when they wake up at night. Consider sleep aids such as chamomile tea (or specific sleep teas), lavender oil, stove-warmed milk, magnesium (including magnesium cream directly applied to the muscles). It is vital to keep your usual good sleep hygiene practices in place during these times. These include exercising during the sunlight hours for at least 30 minutes, keeping a sleep / wake schedule, and turn off devices and bright lights an hour before bedtime.
By admin 20 Sep, 2020
As the media keeps reminding us, we are in unprecedented times. Unsailed waters. Unmapped terrain. So, everyone is making it up as we go along, and having to adapt to a new twist, and a new limitation to our freedoms on a daily basis. As we adjust to life staying in our homes, and limiting our contact with the outside world where possible; our attention to our daily life, routines and mental health is more important than ever before. This can trigger different emotions in the best of us, such as fear, loneliness, anger and listlessness. There are limited ways we can control what is happening on our planet right now (aside from staying home and personal hygiene), however the one thing we can control is how we manage our days, ourselves, and our emotions in this new territory. Routine and purpose are two important anchors for psychological wellbeing; we are creatures of habit. Routine is an integral part of our wellbeing, and sense of control and predictability in the world. And at a time when all else feels out of control, your routine can help you feel more stabilised.  Some quick tips on establishing your wellbeing: Get out of bed each day at the same time (similar to what time you would get up for school or work). Structure is essential. Allocated time for exercise each day – exercise burns adrenaline and releases endorphins, which allows us to feel more optimistic and positive. Physical health is also important in fighting COVID-19. Try to combine your cardio with strength training at your level. Eat regular meals, with good nutrition. With so much time on your hands, it is easy to think “regular” means “65 of them”. Regular means same times each day, whether you eat 3 times a day, 5 times a day or are fasting intermittently. Remember to consider your colours in your foods – your brain needs a wide range of colours for optimal health (no, skittles are not colours). When we feel high levels of stress, we are more prone to eat foods that are high in sugar and high in simple carbs. Remember to drink water regularly. Spend time with your loved ones where possible. If you are living with your loved ones, these unprecedented times are handing you the one thing you probably didn’t have before – time with your family. Crack open that Monopoly box, or 10 000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Hectic life is coming back before you know it. New apps such as Houseparty, and the internet video calls are also essential at this time – set times to call your family, and friends. Consider a virtual game or competition, such as Driveway Chalk competitions for your friends and neighbours; where all parties decorate their driveway with chalk and compare with video and photos. Start a new hobby, or take up an old one you never had time for. You have time now. Many hobbies can be done in your yard or house, such as crafting, photography, woodwork, or gardening. Plan a project or 2 around the house or yard. Again, you will likely have time now. A sense of being productive is beneficial; even vital. Limit your news and social media watching. As things are changing rapidly, it is important you stay up to date in the changes and advice. However, spending hours watching the news, Facebook or other social media and reading hundreds of people’s Armageddon predictions will only leave you feeling more distressed, and more out of control. Choose your reliable and trustworthy news source, and tap into it once a day. Write down 3 good things that this situation has brought into your life. Perhaps they are a focus on the important things in life, to slow down, family time, time in nature? Consider singing. Singing on your own to your favourite tunes, or even better – with others over Zoom, or with family, or even with your neighbours as we have seen in Italy and Spain. If you are less confident in your vocal ability, consider creating a Spotify or Amazon playlist of meaningful and uplifting songs with your family or friends for you all to play in your own homes. Think positive. This is going to pass. And you will look back and consider how you handled this page in history. How do you hope you look back at this?
By admin 18 Jan, 2019
By Ian Goldsmith, Psychologist A popular explanation couples often give me for difficulties in their relationship is that they “can’t communicate”. Though there is often some “truth” in this statement in the sense that the couple find communication difficult, it it’s literal sense it runs counter to the idea held by therapists that “it’s impossible not to communicate”. Indeed, on some exploration, the couple generally reveal that they do communicate very powerfully, though their communication tends to be centred on things they don’t like, complaints, anger ,frustration and disappointment. Hence the couple can communicate but not necessarily about the things which help their relationship to be loving and constructive. Often the value of helping a couple to recognize that their description of their problem, that is that they “can’t communicate”, is not quite accurate, is that it opens up the possibilities of them looking at their relationship from a less self defeating perspective. Not infrequently I ask couples to prepare, as homework for our next session, a list of those things they like or appreciate about their partner or to nominate those things that they would like to “keep the same” rather than change. Again, this orientation can provide a different focus or perspective than the one which had been dominated by what is wrong with their partner and what things have to change. While this approach is not meant to ignore those things that happen in a couples relationship which irk them, it can have the effect of helping them focus on what they have to build on to as opposed to simply what they need to change. I often use an analogy of a house which has been partly burnt in a fire. If we simply look at all the black bits it is possible to get very despondent and come to the belief that all is lost, whereas if we look at the parts of the house which are still standing then we can begin to formulate plans on how to add on the the existing structure and repair it. Many couples find it surprising when they complete such an exercise and then, in a subsequent session tell each other those things they like or appreciate or want to keep the same in their relationship. Often they begin to realize how much they have got out of the habit of communicating these important sentiments to each other. As couples do this simple exercise, often the partner giving the compliments notices the way, at least at this instant, that they bring a smile to the face of their partner and contribute to making them happy. Since, in my experience the vast majority of partners attempt to make their spouse happy , having some direct experience of this can remind them of the habit they have lost. This can be a good start for many couples.
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66 Lindsay Street, Toowoomba, QLD 4350

Mon to Fri: 8:15am to 5:15pm (after hours appointments available)

Magnolia House Psychology and Therapies Centre is a team of experienced practitioners offering a comprehensive range of counselling and assessment services for individuals, couples, families, and organisations.

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200+

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