Meet the Team

DIRECTORS

Christine Senediak

BA (Hons), M Psychol (Clin), M Family Therapy

Principal Director, Clinical Supervision Services

Christine Senediak is an accredited PsyBA Supervisor Trainer with 40 years clinical experience and over 35 years experience as a supervisor and educator. She supervises widely providing individual, peer, group and organisational supervision to psychiatrists, psychologists and other health clinicians working in child, adolescent and family services, schools, adult mental health, drug health, gambling, sexual assault, cross-cultural and trauma services. She divides her time between education, clinical work and supervision. Christine has trained as a systemic family therapist, which influences her approach to clinical supervision where the wider context is considered in understanding the development and maintenance of problems in clinical practice. She employs a reflective practice approach to supervision enhancing self-awareness of relational issues between therapist, client and systems. Christine incorporates elements of systemic, cognitive behavioural, mindfulness and person-centered therapies in supervision and training.

Sam Vasta

BA, B Soc Studies, M Arts (Counselling)

Director, Clinical Supervision Services

Sam Vasta has worked in public community mental health services for over 35 years as a senior clinician and Service Manager. He holds both Social Worker and Counselling Psychologist degrees and has a wealth of clinical experience and supervision practice in a range of service settings. These range from specialist services for young people experiencing mental health problems to clients experiencing enduring mental illness, as well as drug and alcohol issues, complex trauma and cross-cultural problems. As a Service Manager, Sam supervises health practitioners and team leaders, often involving complex clinical scenarios and risk presentations, in addition to supporting and debriefing staff following critical incidents.

Sam is a PsyBA Accredited Supervisor trainer for psychologists and provides accredited supervisor training for PACFA (Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia) and ACA (Australian Counselling Association). He lectures across Australia and Singapore and provides in-house supervisor training for mental health and allied health staff.

Currently, Sam also provides individual and group supervision to a range of practitioners across various government, NGO and private sector settings. Given his background and extensive experience, he also offers consultation, supervision and mentoring to Team Leaders and Managers to support them to survive and grow in challenging leadership positions.

ACADEMIC STAFF

Judy Dougherty

BA, Grad Dip Ed, Postgrad Dip Psy

Judy Dougherty has extensive experience working in psychological services in schools. She has qualifications and experience in psychology and education with a focus on supervision in the school context. Judy led the development and implementation of effective models of peer consultation and group supervision, provided individual and group supervision, in particular in regional, rural and remote areas of NSW. Recently retired from NSW Department of Education she continues to provide PsyBA supervision.

Dr Roy Laube

BSc, MA (Clin Psychol), Dip Clin Hypnosis, PhD

Dr Roy Laube currently divides his time between private and public health and academic responsibilities. He has a strong background in clinical psychology and specialises in adult mental health, research and ethics and cross-cultural practice. Roy also provides PsyBA/AHPRA and Psychology Council mandated clinical supervision. As Postgraduate Clinical Psychology Placement Coordinator at UWS, Roy understands the specific requirements of psychology students undertaking the learning pathways for psychology and his 35 years of experience as a clinical psychologist, educator and supervisor, is demonstrated in his teaching.

Dr Diba Pourmand

BA, M Psychol, PhD

Dr Diba Pourmand is a clinician with strong interest in trauma care. She has been extensively involved with educating, training, and supervising clinicians in complex trauma and cross-cultural mental health. Her other academic interests revolve around studies of the influence of family life on the course of severe mental illness. This research further developed to investigating expressed emotion of carers and relapse, where she focused on development of multiple family intervention groups in early psychosis in Australia and resource-limited regions, with the goal of improving early intervention and youth mental health in the community. As a course coordinator at NSW Institute of Psychiatry her interest shifted to mental health of older persons and dementia care.

Mrs Gayle Roe

Mrs Gayle Roe is a clinical psychologist and a psychology forensic registrar with over 20 years’ experience, with a special interest in the treatment methods of trauma, and her neurodivergent clients on NDIS. As an Aboriginal woman from the Wangan and Jagalingou tribe, Mrs Roe started the first six years of her career supporting her community in managing their trauma responses. Following this introduction to mental health services, she spent 12 years working within the Department of Defence, and the Townsville Veteran community. It was then working at headspace Townsville as a child and adolescent trauma clinician, where she found her passion for working with children. During her career she has been a supervisor for over 20 years delivering the 4+2, 5+1, and clinical registrar programs, as well as supervising students on placement, giving specific direction on Aboriginal and forensic issues. She has throughout her career worked for James Cook University as a lecturer for mostly 3rd and 4th year psychology subjects. In 2019 and 2020 Mrs Roe was part of a team at James Cook University, College of Healthcare Sciences, that constructed postgraduate subjects for rural and remote health providers. Now Mrs Roe is in private practice, mostly in the area of forensic work such as Family Law, assessment of children and adults and their capacity to give evidence, treatment of sexual offenders and a variety of activities with child safety clients.

Jenny Shaw

BA, B Soc Work

Jenny Shaw holds a degree in Social Work and for the past 8 years has worked at the NSWIOP, (now HETI) Mental Health portfolio) providing mental health education and training. She has coordinated a number of projects across the child and adolescent specialisation, including developing training materials and online modules for staff. She is involved in developing and/or editing content for E-Learning training on CSS and Sydney Family Training Institute (SFTTI) website. She has had over 18 years’ clinical experience working with adolescents and their families and has been involved in teaching and supervision roles in health.

SUPPORT STAFF

Sue Cairns

BA (Hons), Grad Dip Library and Information Sciences

Office Manager responsible for student registrations, invoicing and general administration enquiries.

Part-time: Mondays, Tuesdays

Liz Moore

BA, Postgrad Dip Editing and Publishing

Education Support Officer responsible for communications and course support.

Part-time: Tuesdays, Fridays

Angelyn Taruc

Dip Management, Dip Business Administration

Administration Officer assisting with student certificates and other student support services.

Part-time: Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays