About

Accredited Mental Health Social Worker

Steve practises as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker (AMHSW) — a credential that sits above general AASW membership. It requires a Bachelor or Master of Social Work, plus additional mental-health-specific training, clinical supervision hours, and ongoing professional development in mental health practice, all accredited through the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).

• Degree Double degree — Bachelor of Social Work and Bachelor of Human Services, completed 2008
• Specialisation Trauma-informed mental health practice

A trauma-informed practice, by design

Steve's work has a strong trauma-informed focus, particularly on how our early relationships and formative years shape us. The relationships we have — or sometimes don't have — with our caregivers can influence how we learn to attach, connect, and relate to ourselves, other people, and the world around us.

When those early experiences involve fear, instability, disconnection, or not feeling safe, we can develop ways of protecting ourselves that continue well into adulthood. Our nervous systems can remain unsettled or easily activated, and patterns that were once protective can eventually become ways of operating that no longer serve us. Steve doesn't see those parts of a person as something to be judged or simply gotten rid of — there's real value in becoming curious about why they developed, and learning to meet them with greater kindness and compassion.

Working with story, and working with the body

We all develop stories and narratives about who we are, what has happened to us, and what it means about us. Sometimes those stories are helpful, but sometimes they keep us stuck. A big part of Steve's work is helping people recognise those narratives and patterns, and explore whether there are other, more compassionate and helpful ways of understanding themselves and their experiences.

Alongside that, Steve works somatically — with the body as well as the mind. Our bodies give us valuable information about when we're regulated and coping, and when our nervous system is becoming activated, overwhelmed, or unsettled. Steve helps people learn to recognise these signals and work with them using breath, grounding, mindfulness, and other nervous-system regulation strategies.

The aim isn't always to make uncomfortable feelings disappear. An important part of the work can be learning to become more comfortable with the uncomfortable — developing the capacity to experience difficult emotions and sensations without immediately needing to avoid, suppress, or react to them. When we can notice what's happening inside us and stay with it, we create space between what we feel and what we do — and begin to respond with greater awareness and choice, instead of reacting from old protective patterns.

Ideas that guide the work

• "Becoming more comfortable with the uncomfortable."
• "Moving from reacting to responding."
• "Our past influences us, but it doesn't have to determine our future."
• "Many of the patterns we struggle with today began as ways of protecting ourselves."
• "Therapy isn't about deciding what is wrong with you. It's about becoming curious about what shaped you."
• "Sometimes we need to get out of our heads and become curious about what our body is telling us."
• "When we understand where our patterns come from, we can begin to relate to ourselves with compassion rather than judgement."
• "Awareness creates choice."

Around 20 years, across these settings

Steve has worked in the mental health and human services field for around 20 years. A number like that doesn't tell you much on its own — here's what that time actually involved.

• 2006–2025 — Child protection & out-of-home care
  Numerous roles across child protection and out-of-home care, from front-line worker through to Service Manager of Anglicare Southern Queensland's Foster and Kinship Care Programs for the Gold Coast region
• 2011–2014 — Men's Behaviour Change
  Facilitator and Counsellor, Men's Domestic Violence Behaviour Change Program
• 2021–present — Private practice
  Private practice at Heart Earth Alliance, specialising in trauma, couples, and NDIS support

Certified training in the approaches Steve uses

As a trauma-informed Mental Health Social Worker, Steve has completed the following specific training on top of his base qualification:

Tip: if Steve did short courses or CPD workshops rather than full certifications for any of these, say so honestly (e.g. "CPD training in..." rather than "Certified in...") — accurate is more trustworthy than impressive-sounding.

Accountable to a professional body

Steve's practice is bound by the ethical standards, clinical supervision requirements, and continuing professional development obligations of:

This accreditation requires Steve to maintain ongoing mental-health-specific supervision and professional development each year — please confirm the exact membership/accreditation number above so this is fully verifiable.

Why I do this work