My experience and vision as a therapist:
I have worked in the mental health field for more than 10 years, first within a research capacity and more recently as a therapist.
My early work as a research assistant set me up to be able to assess and identify complex mental health presentations including psychoses and personality disorders. As a therapist, I have worked within both the public and private sectors. This has allowed me to see clients presenting with both acute and chronic presentations ranging from mild to severe. I have also had experience working with children and families impacted by trauma within the child protection system, where I was required to support the child’s caregivers and parents to understand the negative impact trauma has had on development, and to promote healing using attachment and developmental based approaches.
From all of these experiences, what I have found most rewarding, is the therapeutic trust and relationship developed with clients. It is a privilege for clients to be able to entrust me with their stories, experiences, challenges, and deepest thoughts, worries, and concerns. Therefore, it is my upmost priority to hold this space for my clients, and to sit with them through feelings of shame, guilt, fear, and pain, in a space that feels safe, comfortable, and respectful.
I work with a range of presentations, but my experience to date has led me to be particularly interested in supporting those impacted by developmental trauma. As humans, we are social beings, connected to others and impacted by our environment. Therefore, helping clients to unlock the impact their life experiences have had on their sense of self and relationships with others is a key way in which I like to work.
I like to utilize an integrated approach that is tailored to the unique needs of each client throughout their therapeutic journey. Modalities and frameworks I draw upon include:
Schema Therapy
Attachment & Developmental Theories
Trauma Focused Therapies
Interpersonal Psychotherapy
Mindfulness Based Therapies
Publications:
Barata VA, Lavoie S, Gawęda Ł, Li E, Sass LA, Koren D, McGorry PD, Jack BN, Parnas J, Polari A, Allott K, Hartmann JA, Krcmar M, Rasmussen AR, Whitford TJ, Wannan CM, Nelson B.(2025). The neurophenomenology of basic self-disturbance in early psychosis: Association with clinical outcome in an ultra-high risk sample. Australas Psychiatry. 2025 Jun 4:10398562251346619. doi: 10.1177/10398562251346619. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40464568.
Berger M, Li E, Rice S, Davey CG, Ratheesh A, Adams S, Jackson H, Hetrick S, Parker A, Spelman T, Kevin R, McGregor IS, McGorry P, Amminger GP. (2022). Cannabidiol for Treatment-Resistant Anxiety Disorders in Young People: An Open-Label Trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2022 Aug 3;83(5):21m14130. doi: 10.4088/JCP.21m14130. PMID: 35921510
Spark J, Gawęda Ł, Allott K, Hartmann JA, Jack BN, Koren D, Lavoie S, Li E, McGorry PD, Parnas J, Polari A, Sass LA, Whitford T, Nelson B. (2021). Distinguishing schizophrenia spectrum from non-spectrum disorders among young patients with first episode psychosis and at high clinical risk: The role of basic self-disturbance and neurocognition. Schizophr Res. 2021 Feb;228:19-28. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2020.11.061. Epub 2021 Jan 9. PMID: 33434729.
Berger M, Li E, Amminger GP. (2020). Treatment of social anxiety disorder and attenuated psychotic symptoms with cannabidiol. BMJ Case Rep. 2020 Oct 7;13(10):e235307. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2020-235307. PMID: 33028567; PMCID: PMC7542610.
Nelson B, Lavoie S, Gaweda L, Li E, Sass LA, Koren D, McGorry PD, Jack BN, Parnas J, Polari A, Allott K, Hartmann JA, Whitford TJ. (2019). Testing a neurophenomenological model of basic self disturbance in early psychosis. World Psychiatry. 2019 Feb;18(1):104-105. doi: 10.1002/wps.20597. PMID: 30600614; PMCID: PMC6313695.
Rasmussen, A, Reich, D, Lavoie, S, Li, E, Hartmann, J, McHugh, M, Whitford, T & Nelson, B. (2019) The relation of basic self‐disturbance to self‐harm, eating disorder symptomatology and other clinical features: Exploration in an early psychosis sample. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. DOI:10.1111/eip.12850
Nelson, B, Li, E, Cicero, D, Gawęda, Ł, Hartmann, J, Koren, D, Polari, A, Whitford, T, & Lavoie, S. (2018). The construct validity of the Inventory of Psychotic‐Like Anomalous Self‐Experiences (IPASE) as a measure of minimal self‐disturbance: Preliminary data. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 13. 10.1111/eip.12711.
Gawęda Ł, Li E, Lavoie S, Whitford TJ, Moritz S, Nelson B (2018). Impaired action self-monitoring and cognitive confidence among ultra-high risk for psychosis and first-episode psychosis patients. Eur Psychiatry. 2018 Jan;47:67-75. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 22. PMID: 29107832.