Stephanie Pemberton

Stephanie Pemberton

(she/her)
“I care about creating a space where you feel heard, understood, and not alone in what you’re going through. From there, we make sense of your experience and explore practical, meaningful ways forward. I thoughtfully tailor clinical knowledge to your specific needs, and work collaboratively with you toward your goals.”

AREAS OF EXPERIENCE

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

  • Stress and burnout: Ongoing pressure, exhaustion, irritability, difficulty switching off, and feeling depleted by work or life demands.
  • Depression: Low mood, reduced motivation, hopelessness, withdrawal, or feeling flat and disconnected from yourself or others.
  • Anxiety disorders: Generalised anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobias, panic attacks, chronic worry, and avoidance that can make daily life feel smaller or harder to manage.
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Intrusive thoughts, compulsions, checking, reassurance seeking, and patterns that can feel hard to interrupt.
  • Trauma and PTSD: Hypervigilance, intrusive memories, nightmares, avoidance, or feeling unsafe, on edge, or emotionally stuck after traumatic experiences.
  • Complex trauma and C-PTSD: Longer term trauma impacts such as shame, emotional flashbacks, difficulty trusting, and feeling unsafe in yourself or relationships.
  • Adjustment difficulties and life transitions: Feeling unsettled, overwhelmed, or emotionally thrown after stressful events, trauma, or major changes in life circumstances.
  • Relationship and interpersonal difficulties: Conflict patterns, disconnection, people pleasing, trust strain, communication difficulties, or feeling stuck in painful relational dynamics.
  • Attachment difficulties: Particularly anxious attachment, including fear of rejection, overthinking relationships, reassurance seeking, and difficulty feeling secure.
  • Grief, loss, and divorce: Sadness, identity disruption, emotional pain, and the difficulty of adjusting after endings, separation, or significant loss.
  • Identity, self-esteem, and confidence issues: Self-doubt, uncertainty about who you are, harsh self-criticism, and difficulty backing yourself.
  • Assertiveness difficulties: Struggling to set boundaries, express needs clearly, or speak up without guilt, fear, or second guessing yourself.
  • Neurodivergence, particularly ADHD: Challenges with attention, overwhelm, emotional intensity, self-criticism, and navigating life in ways that work with your brain rather than against it.
  • Managing intense emotions: Emotional overwhelm, reactivity, shutdown, irritability, or difficulty calming your nervous system once activated.
  • Job and work-related stress: Pressure, burnout, self-doubt, workplace conflict, and the emotional toll of demanding or unsustainable work environments.
  • Concussion and persistent post-concussion symptoms: Support with the emotional, cognitive, and identity impacts of concussion, including longer term symptoms associated with Persistent Post-Concussion Syndrome (PPCS).

ABOUT STEPHANIE 

I’m drawn to this work because I value creating a space where people can feel genuinely understood, especially during times when things feel overwhelming, stuck, or uncertain. I find it meaningful to sit alongside people as they make sense of their experiences, reconnect with what matters to them, and begin to move forward in ways that feel more aligned and sustainable.

My style is collaborative, thoughtful, and flexible. I aim to balance warmth and validation with gentle curiosity and evidence-based strategies, adapting the work as we learn more about what supports you best. I understand that each person’s life and functioning are unique and set within a larger context that must be understood holistically. I aim to support not only insight and self-understanding, but also the development of practical skills that feel relevant and sustainable in everyday life.

A significant part of my experience comes from working for over five years in a dedicated anxiety clinic, where I developed strong skills in the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders. I particularly enjoy working with presentations such as generalised anxiety, social anxiety, perfectionism, burnout, and OCD, supporting clients to better understand patterns and build more effective and flexible ways of responding.

Throughout my career, I’ve also worked across private practice, community mental health, and multidisciplinary rehabilitation settings. This has included supporting people experiencing trauma and mood-related difficulties, as well as those navigating the psychological impact of injury, chronic pain, concussions / traumatic brain injuries, and neurodivergence. My work has involved developing treatment plans, delivering structured, evidence-based interventions, and collaborating with broader care teams when needed. Alongside therapeutic work, I’ve contributed to triage processes, service development, and coordinated care planning, which has strengthened both my clinical judgement and my understanding of how to support people within larger systems of care.

Outside of work, I enjoy creative projects, time with friends, and exploring new places (often with a good matcha latte involved).

THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES

During our sessions, I tailor my therapeutic approach to best match your needs, preferences, and goals. Sometimes that means using practical, structured strategies to help reduce distress and build confidence in day to day life. At other times, it means creating a reflective, supportive space where we slow things down, make sense of what is happening, and work toward meaningful change. I draw on a range of evidence-based approaches rather than using a one-size-fits-all model. Some of the approaches I may use include:

  • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT): Practical strategies to identify and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviours that may be maintaining distress.
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): Builds psychological flexibility by helping you make space for difficult thoughts and feelings while moving toward what matters to you.
  • Trauma-Focused ACT: Uses ACT principles in a trauma-informed way to support healing, reduce avoidance, and help you reconnect with safety, values, and the present.
  • CBT Trauma Processing: A structured approach to working through traumatic experiences, including the beliefs, fear responses, and patterns that can continue after trauma.
  • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills: Skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and improving interpersonal effectiveness.
  • Person Centred Therapy: A warm, non-judgemental approach that values empathy, authenticity, and creating a safe space for self-understanding and growth.
  • Motivational Interviewing: Helps clarify goals, explore ambivalence, and strengthen motivation when change feels hard or conflicted.
  • Mindfulness: Grounding and awareness-based strategies that can support regulation, reduce overwhelm, and help you respond more intentionally.
  • Exposure strategies: Gradual, supported steps toward feared situations, thoughts, or sensations to reduce avoidance and build confidence over time.
  • Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP): A specialised treatment for OCD that helps reduce compulsions and loosen the grip of intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Master of Health Science in Psychology (Honours, First Class) at Auckland University of Technology
  • Bachelor of Health Science (Honours, First Class) at Auckland University of Technology
  • Bachelor of Science at the University of Auckland

 

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP

  • Registered Psychologist / Counselling Psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)