Bachelor of Counselling Staff
BA, MA, GrDipPsych, MScMarrFamTherapy, MATh, CertIVTAA, MTh(Hons), PhD
Casual Academic (Counselling)
John is a psychologist and marriage & family therapist with over 25 years of clinical practice, an experienced educator, and the Director of Mount Evelyn Counselling Centre. Therefore John is well placed to lead both Human Development, Personality, And Identity as well as What Is Abnormal?: The Individual, Diagnostics, And Society. In addition to his clinical experience John brings with him both cross-culture knowledge and an ability to integrate faith and practice. This he brought to the fore in his PhD which was about identity and shame within a theological framework. His understanding of shame is timely as this is a growing topic in both the literature and in clinical practice. Finally, John has served as the President of the Christian Counsellors Association of Australia, the Chair of the Board of Careline Connections, and on the Board of the Asia Christian Counselling Association.
BA(Hons) Law, MPP, MEd
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Prior to emigrating to Australia, Diana was a barrister (UK) with both a criminal and civil practice. In Australia Diana then practiced as a solicitor. Across the last two decades Diana has taught in a variety of higher education courses covering a wide range of topics aligned to wellbeing, mental health, and professional ethics. Given her legal background a particular passion of Diana’s is rational thinking and what happens when it goes wrong, for this reason she contributes to the unit Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, And Decision-Making. Diana is also currently completing a PhD at the University of Divinity focused on Domestic Violence and perpetrator/victim-survivor identity. For this reason she also teaches in the unit Human Development, Personality, And Identity.
BSc, GradDip Ed, MCounselling
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Peggy is a counsellor at Crossway Lifecare and counsels clients in English, Cantonese and in Mandarin! Being a former teacher Peggy is passionate about the wellbeing of children and adolescents, having experience working with children who have special needs and learning difficulties. Peggy also works with families to improve parental attachment and teaches positive parenting.
BSc(Hons), MCounselling, PhD, Grad Cert Higher Ed
Director of Counselling Programs, Lecturer in Counselling
Beginning his career in embryology and then receiving a PhD in behavioural neuroscience, all before training as a counsellor, allows Tom to bring a wide breadth of knowledge to both course design and to his teaching. Seeking to work alongside students as colleagues-in-training Tom is passionate about helping junior students to case conceptualise well, treatment plan appropriately, and evaluate clinical outcomes accurately. When working with senior students Tom enjoys extending their knowledge into area of counselling which may be considered state-of-the-art.
BCouns
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Originally trained as a counsellor, Jen has since expanded her remit to include school chaplaincy and now hospital chaplaincy. Jen has a deep and abiding interest in how to integrate faith-based practices into mental health work. Extensive experience sitting at the bedside of people of all faiths and none has given Jen the ability to share deeply with students about how faith, religion, and spirituality influence one’s wellbeing.
BA+MA [equiv.] PhD
Director of Research, Research Supervisor, Lecturer in Biblical Studies
Anna is Director of Research at ALC, responsible for ensuring the excellence and quality of research at the College. She is also Lutheran Theological Journal Co-Editor and serves as Lecturer in Biblical Studies.
Research areas: Early Judaism, New Testament, Early Christianity, Biblical Theology, Educational Theology
M Psych (Ed & Dev), PhD, PsyBA Endorsed
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Jennifer is an Education & Developmental Psychologist in private practice with a special interest in spectrum-based disorders (e.g., ASD, ADHD, and learning disorders). She has published research in individual differences and community mental health and is a research supervisor with Monash University. Jennifer’s clinical experience and expertise is invaluable to our 3rd year students as they go beyond common client presentations and manualised counselling to engage “the real world”.
BCouns, Certified AutPlay Therapist
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Kate brings to the Bachelor of Counselling tremendous cross-cultural experience growing up in both Canada and Russia before moving to Australia. Kate is a registered clinical counsellor in private practice (i.e., Doongalla Counselling) with a particular interest in trauma recovery and also neurodiversity. She is also pursuing post-graduate studies focusing on faith deconstruction and reconstruction. Given her professional specialisation Kate leads the unit Trauma-Informed Counselling In The Context Of Loss and Grief.
Casual Academic (Counselling)
Jim comes to teaching with a significant background in both counselling practice and scholarly pursuits. Having been a counsellor at QPASTT Jim has counselled people who have faced persecution, torture, and war-related trauma. Jim is also a lecturer at the University of Queensland where he is completing his PhD in how certain personal strengths (i.e., virtues) improve psychotherapy outcomes. Given his interest in virtues, and a background in philosophy more generally, Jim also teaches within The Human Condition, specifically highlighting to students the historical and social roots of a number of counselling modalities. Jim also has strong family ties to Australian Lutheran College and to Lutheranism in general.
