genafawns.com.au
Somatic Psychotherapist
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Hello, my name is Gena Fawns. I’m a somatic psychotherapist practicing in Northcote, Melbourne, both in person and online.
I work with adults facing difficulties in any area of life, particularly
I provide a supportive, understanding and safe place where you can explore your concerns and find a way forward. I draw on many techniques, theories and my own experience, to listen and respond to each individual.
My therapeutic focus is on the person and their lived experience, which includes their feelings, emotions and thoughts. Through empathic understanding I help clients build cohesion and resilience. I work relationally, and combine somatic (bodily) awareness with a humanistic integration of all parts of the self.
Before starting my practice 35 years ago, I qualified and worked as a social worker, and completed five years’ training in somatic psychotherapy. Since then I have taken additional courses in self psychology, emotion-focused therapy, EMDR, mindfulness, couple therapy, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, embodied imagination, neurotherapy, and intersubjectivity.
I am listed on the Referral Database of the Blue Knot Foundation as a mental health practitioner with experience in supporting adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse.
I have studied various forms of meditation, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Kum Nye Tibetan Yoga and Transforming Stress into Well-Being. I completed a Master of Counselling at La Trobe University in 2014. I studied contemporary relational psychotherapy with the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity (IPSS), New York, in 2018.
In 2021 I began a three-year dreamwork training in Embodied Imagination, with Jungian analyst Robert Bosnak. In 2022, I trained in EMDR (eye movement desensitisation reprocessing) with Graham Taylor at Therapist Training. Both these methods have enriched my practice and brought fresh skills to my work with trauma and experiential processing.
In 1986 I was a founding member of the Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapists (AASP); I gained accreditation as a Somatic Psychotherapist in 1991. I am an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). I am also a member of the International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy (IARPP) Australia. I follow and comply with the Ethical Codes of all these associations.