Kate McGovern

Kate McGovern, Psychologist
Book An Appointment
(New Clients)
Book An Appointment
(Existing Clients)

Kate McGovern

(she/her)
“I believe authenticity, collaboration, and genuine connection are central to effective therapy. I aim to create a warm, non-judgemental space where clients feel safe to explore their experiences, relationships, and patterns at a pace that feels collaborative and sustainable for them. While my work is grounded in evidence-based approaches, I tailor therapy to each person’s unique goals, values, and life experiences, balancing compassion with gentle challenge where helpful.”

AREAS OF EXPERIENCE

I work with adults experiencing a wide range of mental health and wellbeing concerns. I commonly support people with:

  • ADHD and neurodivergence: Challenges with attention, organisation, overwhelm, emotional intensity, masking, self-criticism, and finding ways to work with your brain rather than against it.
  • Eating disorders and disordered eating: Difficulties with food, eating patterns, restriction, bingeing, compensatory behaviours, guilt, shame, or feeling preoccupied with food and body concerns.
  • Body image concerns: Harsh self-judgement, body dissatisfaction, comparison, avoidance, and distress about appearance, shape, weight, or feeling uncomfortable in your body.
  • Anxiety and mood-related difficulties: Ongoing worry, emotional ups and downs, panic, avoidance, irritability, low motivation, or feeling overwhelmed by everyday demands.
  • Depression: Low mood, loss of interest, reduced motivation, hopelessness, withdrawal, numbness, or feeling disconnected from yourself, others, or life more broadly.
  • Burnout and workplace stress: Exhaustion, pressure, difficulty switching off, self-doubt, workplace conflict, and feeling depleted by work or unsustainable expectations.
  • Perfectionism and self-esteem concerns: Harsh inner standards, fear of failure, difficulty feeling good enough, overworking, people pleasing, and struggling to recognise your own worth.
  • Relationship and attachment difficulties: Patterns of conflict, anxiety, disconnection, fear of rejection, trust difficulties, reassurance seeking, or feeling stuck in painful relational dynamics.
  • Emotional regulation difficulties: Intense emotions, reactivity, shutdown, irritability, overwhelm, or difficulty calming your nervous system once you feel activated.
  • Life transitions and adjustment difficulties: Feeling unsettled, lost, overwhelmed, or emotionally thrown during major changes, endings, new roles, or uncertain periods of life.
  • Identity, values, and interpersonal difficulties: Uncertainty about who you are, what matters to you, how to relate to others, or how to make choices that feel aligned with yourself.

ABOUT KATE

A significant part of what drew me to psychology was my early interest in health, sport, and the connection between physical and emotional wellbeing. After completing my Masters in Health Psychology, I initially worked in the fitness industry and quickly noticed that many people’s struggles extended far beyond food, exercise, or weight. Often, what people were really seeking was support with stress, self-worth, relationships, or difficult life experiences.

This led me towards rewarding therapeutic work that explores not only behaviours themselves, but also the emotional needs and coping patterns underlying them. I have worked across Eating Disorder Inpatient and Private Practice settings in both Ireland and Melbourne, supporting clients experiencing eating disorders, body image concerns, anxiety, depression, perfectionism, disability, low self-esteem, burnout, and relational difficulties.

I’m known for being warm, genuine, and relatable, and I value creating a therapeutic space that allows for both meaningful emotional work and moments of humour, and connection where appropriate.

In my spare time, I love to spend time with friends/family, or at aerial lyra (circus for adults), nature, art exhibitions, and listening to pop culture podcasts for smart people who love dumb stuff.

THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES

I primarily work from a Schema Therapy framework and integrate other evidence-based approaches depending on each client’s needs, preferences, and goals. In therapy, this may involve understanding long-standing patterns, building practical skills, improving emotional regulation, or exploring the relational and personal meanings behind current difficulties. Some of the approaches I commonly draw from include:

  • Schema Therapy for Eating Disorders: A deeper, pattern-focused approach that helps identify unmet emotional needs, self-critical parts, coping modes, and long-standing beliefs that may contribute to eating disorder symptoms and distress.
  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and CBT-E: Structured, evidence-based approaches that explore the links between thoughts, feelings, behaviours, eating patterns, body image concerns, and the factors that may be maintaining distress.
  • Specialist Supportive Clinical Management (SSCM): A supportive, collaborative approach for eating disorders that combines practical guidance around eating and physical health with space to explore broader emotional and life concerns.
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Helps build psychological flexibility by supporting you to make space for difficult thoughts and feelings while moving toward values, self-care, and meaningful change.
  • Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT): Focuses on how relationships, communication patterns, role changes, grief, and interpersonal stress may contribute to emotional distress or eating difficulties.
  • Family-Based Treatment (FBT): An evidence-based treatment for young people with eating disorders that supports families to play an active role in recovery, nourishment, and reducing eating disorder behaviours.
  • Narrative Therapy: Supports you to explore the stories you hold about yourself, your body, your relationships, and your experiences, while making room for preferred identities and new meanings.
  • DBT-informed approaches: Skills-based strategies that can support emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, self-compassion, and more effective ways of responding during difficult moments.

Additional training includes:

  • ACT for ADHD: Using acceptance, values-based action, and psychological flexibility strategies to support attention, overwhelm, avoidance, motivation, and self-criticism.
  • Emotion Focussed Therapy in Attachment Science: An approach informed by attachment theory that supports deeper emotional understanding, relational safety, and awareness of patterns in connection and disconnection.
  • Clinical Hypnosis and Strategic Psychotherapy: Approaches that may support focused attention, emotional regulation, habit change, and shifts in unhelpful patterns where clinically appropriate.
  • FBT and Advanced FBT: Further training in family-based approaches for eating disorders, including supporting families through complex recovery challenges and treatment barriers.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • MSc in Health Psychology, University of Galway
  • BSc in Psychology, Ulster University
  • Diploma Clinical Hypnosis and Strategic Psychotherapy

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  • Registered Psychologist Psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
  • Member of the Australian Psychological Society (APS)
  • Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED) Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician