Sarah is an experienced Clinical Psychologist and one of the founders of Cova Psychology. She provides therapy to adults experiencing a wide range of mental health concerns, and has particular expertise in supporting people living with personality disorder, emotional dysregulation, and longstanding behaviour patterns that are causing distress, including self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
She is also highly experienced in helping those with complex trauma, specific trauma, and dissociative symptoms to find stability, safety, and an improved quality of life. Many of the people she works with describe feeling stuck in repeating patterns or overwhelmed by their emotions, even when they have tried therapy before.
With nearly 20 years of experience in private practice, Sarah has also worked extensively in public and private mental health services. She has been a board-approved supervisor for many years, mentoring dozens of psychologists and other health professionals, from provisional level through to senior clinicians.
Sarah also has significant leadership experience, having worked as a manager and clinical lead across several hospitals and NGOs in Melbourne. She is passionate about supporting clinicians to grow both as therapists and as professionals navigating their own business. Her supervision style blends warmth with honest, constructive feedback, so supervisees feel both supported and appropriately stretched in their professional development.
Clients working with Sarah can expect a therapy process that balances empathy with clear guidance. She places importance on understanding each person’s goals and tailoring sessions to meet their needs. This might involve building skills for managing intense emotions, processing traumatic experiences, improving communication in relationships, or breaking unhelpful behavioural patterns.
Sessions move at a pace that feels manageable, with space for both reflection and practical tools. Sarah sees therapy as a collaborative journey, where the client is the expert in their own life and the psychologist brings tools, structure, and an outside perspective to help create meaningful change.
Sarah’s therapeutic style is client-centred and trauma-informed. She works with warmth and validation while encouraging positive change and personal growth in a direct yet empathic way. She tailors her approach to each person, drawing on a range of evidence-based therapies:
Mentalisation Based Therapy (MBT) – Helps clients better understand their own thoughts and feelings, as well as those of others. This can improve relationships, reduce emotional reactivity, and support more balanced decision-making.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) – A structured approach designed to help people regulate intense emotions, manage distress, and build healthier relationships. DBT is particularly effective for emotional dysregulation and self-destructive behaviours.
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) – Focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours, helping clients develop practical strategies to cope with anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges.
Mindfulness-based strategies – Teach skills for staying present and reducing stress. These approaches can help people become less caught up in negative thoughts and more engaged in the moment.
Schema Therapy – Addresses deep-rooted patterns and beliefs formed in early life that can cause ongoing emotional and relationship difficulties. This therapy supports lasting change by combining cognitive, behavioural, and experiential techniques.
Motivational Interviewing (MI) – A collaborative, goal-oriented approach that helps clients resolve ambivalence and build motivation for making meaningful life changes.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) – An evidence-based treatment that helps people process and heal from traumatic memories, often leading to a reduction in symptoms such as flashbacks, anxiety, and distress.
