Karen Potter
Psychotherapy & Mentoring
Lismore, NSW

Perinatal

For those in the stages of thinking about having a baby through to early parenting of infants and toddlers:

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  • Fertility issues
  • Anxiety or depression during pregnancy
  • Pregnancy or infant loss
  • Problems during birth
  • Depression or anxiety after giving birth
  • Issues with infants sleeping, feeding, or settling
  • Infant attachment issues
  • Change in family dynamics
  • Behavioural concerns in toddlers
 

Many of the above are common during the journey to and through early parenthood. Therefore, the support of a perinatal specialist can help better understand these issues. Importantly, you will develop understanding, skills and capacities to work through these issues and enjoy your family life even more.

Parenting, Children and Adolescents

Raising children is one of the most important roles in life and it can also be the most challenging.  All parents want to be the best they can for their children, but sometimes this can be difficult.  Sometimes parents can experience emotions like: uncertainty, anxiety, frustration, irritability, doubt and overwhelm.  Understanding what these emotions are about and learning parenting skills can help parents feel more satisfied and competent in their daily life.

Children & Adolescents

There are many developmental changes throughout childhood and adolescence. Sometimes issues arise, and this is common. These may include social, emotional, and/or behavioural problems such as depression, anxiety, difficulty regulating emotions and friendship challenges.

Karen’s work with children has evolved into a different approach.  Her work now centres around supporting, providing developmental education and strategies to parents/caregivers. This is because the child-parent relationship is the most fundamental and crucial relationship for children.  Karen has found that sometimes working with parents can be enough to resolve the issues.  However, at other times, Karen will meet with your child to better understand what might be going on for her/him and also to determine what might be the best therapeutic approach at this stage of life.

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With adolescents, Karen begins with meeting parents to gain a detailed picture of their current concerns, obtain a developmental history and also to better understand all contexts of the teenagers life, including home, school and other activities.

When children and adolescents feel more supported and understood by their parents, we see better results for them.  Also, working with parents often results in a stronger bond between kids and their parents.

If you have questions about parenting, or your child or teenager, please Contact Karen to find out more.

Couples and Individual

Individual psychotherapy is for people wishing to increase their self-awareness. Developing a deeper understanding of oneself, ones relationships and life fosters more satisfaction and joy.

Couples therapy is for couples who wish to resolve issues in their relationship and/or to build a stronger bond between one another. In couples therapy, we explore the relationship in many ways. Improving communication skills is often a central aspect.

Do you have questions about couples or individual psychotherapy? Contact Karen to find out more.

Mentoring

The mentoring relationship is an extremely rewarding experience.  It is a one-on-one opportunity for learning, encouragement, support, guidance and development in any or all areas of one’s life.  

The process explores and clarifies who and where you are now in life and who/where you want to be and identifies how to get there.  It could be about life in general, in work, and/or relationships.

Supervision

Karen offers supervision for anyone seeking support, guidance and/or processing around their work with clients. Supervision helps to further develop knowledge and understanding of issues that arise for clients. It can expand and deepen the understanding of the relational issues that can arise between practitioners and clients.  In addition, supervision builds greater capacity and offers skills and tools to manage all the various issues that can arise.